www. germancinema. de/ GERMAN CINEMA INFORMATION ON GERMAN FILMS. Export-Union des Deutschen <strong>Films</strong> GmbH Sonnenstrasse 21 · D-80331 Munich · phone +49-89-59 97 870 ·fax +49-89-59 97 87 30 · email: export-union@german-cinema.de
World Sales Portrait german united distributors Established in 1997 Foreign offices Representatives in Italy, France, Spain Managing Director Silke Spahr Additional contact Rosemarie Dermühl (Bavaria Media), Ulla Lamas-Torres (Studio Hamburg) Main fields of activity World-wide distribution of <strong>German</strong> television programming (TVmovies, miniseries, collections, drama series, children’s programming, documentaries, wildlife, music) with emphasis on France, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe. Regular attendance of the following film and TV markets NATPE, MIPDOC, MIP-TV, Moscow Teleshow, DISCOP, MIPCOM JUNIOR, MIPCOM, <strong>German</strong> Screenings (joint organizer with TELEPOOL and ZDF Enterprises) Number of titles on offer 15,000 Percentage of <strong>German</strong> titles on offer 100% Buyers include TF1, RAI, SRG DRS, MTV Networks, RTV Slovenia, AQS/Nova TV, Prima Plus, MTV3 Finland, NOS Most well-known current titles on offer Scene of the Crime (Tatort), The Investigator (Der Fahnder), Schimanski’s Return (Schimanski), Expeditions into the Animal World (Expeditionen ins Tierreich), Beat Club Best-selling titles currently on sale Beast in the Lake (Das Biest am Bodensee, TV-movie), Force Majeure (TV-movie) Address german united distributors Programmvertrieb GmbH · Richartzstr. 6 - 8a · D-50667 Cologne phone +49-2 21-92 06 90 · fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 · email: germanunited@compuserve.com UNITED THEY SELL Silke Spahr So you’re looking to buy <strong>German</strong> television programming in quality and/or quantity. Who you gonna call? Forget Ghostbusters and try german united distributors instead! ”We were formed in 1997,“ says managing director Silke Spahr, ”as a joint venture between the two public broadcasters WDR and NDR and two of the largest production companies, Studio Hamburg and Bavaria Film. The idea was to pool their program stocks to meet the demand from those many broadcasters who want to buy packages.“ Just to give one example of how much easier that has made life for all concerned: Hit <strong>German</strong> crime series Tatort (Scene of Crime) is an ARD production, where the programs are made by many of the member broadcasters. Previously, buyers first had to find out who to talk to. Now they come straight to german united. For its owners and other members, such as Radio Bremen and Hessischer Rundfunk, german united guarantees extensive representation and market organization, selling their programming in Asia, Russia, South America, or wherever on a scale far beyond what they could have achieved representing themselves. The company, although ”always open to other independent producers and broadcasters,“ says Spahr, sells predominantly ARD programming: ”Our four partners produce a very large volume and our priority is to distribute it. And you only have to look into their archives to see how much material there is. Who’d have thought ten years ago that the music show Beat Club would become an international sales success?“ Being the sales arm for public broadcasters means ”dealing with subjects which are not always very commercial,“ says Spahr. Not that she means they don’t sell, but rather in terms of subject material, such as Schande (Shame) which was about child abuse, or the way the subject is tackled. She cites Die Polizistin (The Policewoman). Andreas Dresen’s TV-movie won a <strong>German</strong> Emmy, the Adolf Grimme Award, for providing, says Spahr, ”another theme and view; about her life and personal conflicts. She doesn’t charge in 21