Titel Kino 2/2001(2 Alternativ) - German Films

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 German 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, German Screenings (joint organizer with TELEPOOL and ZDF Enterprises) Number of
titles on offer 15,000 Percentage of German 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 German 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 German 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 German Emmy, the Adolf
Grimme Award, for providing, says Spahr, ”another theme and
view; about her life and personal conflicts. She doesn’t charge in
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