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

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Producer’s Portrait UFA Film & TV Produktion 24 Taken over in 1964 by the Bertelsmann Group when it purchased the UFA name and created the production group operating under that label, UFA Film & TV Produktion has developed over almost 40 years into a respected address for the production of popular series and high quality TV movies. UFA productions range from such TV movies as The Policewoman (Die Polizistin) by Andreas Dresen or The Sandman (Der Sandmann) by Nico Hofmann through the daily soaps Good Times – Bad Times (Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten) and Forbidden Love (Verbotene Liebe) to weeklies like Behind Bars (Hinter Gittern) and such crime series as Balko and SOKO 5113 (and SOKO Leipzig). Together with its affiliates UFA Fernsehproduktion, UFA Film Production, Westdeutsche Universum-Film in Cologne, UFA Film Munich, UFA Film- & Medienproduktion Leipzig, Grundy UFA, UFA International and UFA Entertainment, the company became part of the holding of Luxembourg’s CLT-UFA in January 1997 and is now part of the RTL Group which was created following the merger with the Pearson Television Group in 2000. UFA Film & TV Produktion GmbH Dianastr. 21 · D-14482 Potsdam phone +49-3 31-7 06 04 02 · fax +49-3 31-7 06 04 09 · www.ufa.de · email: info@ufa.de TIME OF NEW DEPARTURES – UFA Film & TV Produktion Switch on a television in Germany and there is a very likely chance that the program showing at the moment is one created by UFA Film & TV Produktion. Indeed, nearly every channel, both public and private, airs UFA productions, whether they be TV movies, soap operas, series, light entertainment or feature length movies, making UFA the clear leader in the German TV market, ahead of such competitors as the Bavaria Group, Studio Hamburg and ndf Neue Deutsche Filmgesellschaft. Norbert Sauer (photo © Ufa Film & TV Produktion)
Producer’s Portrait UFA Film & TV Produktion However, being market leader doesn’t mean that UFA plans to rest on its laurels, since the production house has to contend with the competing attentions of reality and quiz formats and the fact that the broadcasters have either drastically reduced their program production budgets (e.g. RTL and ProSieben) or have changed their commissioning policies to favor affiliated production companies. New possibilities However, as UFA’s executive in charge of production Norbert Sauer points out, the fusion last year between CLT-UFA and Pearson has opened up a number of new possibilities for UFA Film & TV Produktion. ”UFA now has partner companies in almost every European country as well as North America and Australia“, Sauer declares, ”and we have a link to the other European markets through the person of UFA managing director Wolf Bauer who is responsible for the European activities except for the UK“. While Sauer doesn’t expect UFA as a German company to suddenly start producing for these other markets, ”one can ask how can one cooperate with the sister companies to cater for the markets together, i.e. by developing formats which can travel world-wide. Areas, in particular, where this would work are quiz and reality shows and daily series whereas the fictional area is more nationally structured and is likely to stay that way for the time being“. European co-productions The bulk of UFA’s fictional output may thus remain nationally based in the future, but another track that can be developed under the RTL Group umbrella would be the cooperation with partners in such key European territories as France, Spain, Italy and the UK to find projects which would be of interest for all five markets. ”We would aim to avoid the mistakes of the 80’s – which were usually summed up in the term 'Europudding'“, Sauer explains, ”by developing a strategy from the outset that would have us going to the national TV channels upstream and pitching them the story ideas. The KirchGroup companies though tend to work on the basis of their distribution structure whereas we want to do this based on the content in direct consultation with the broadcasters“ ”Moreover, we also have the ambition to develop projects with partners that function on the world market“, he continues. ”Hallmark is a name that comes to mind here as a model, and in the medium term, in 3-5 years, we would like to get into a position where we would also be able to organize such globally exploitable programs“. A development unit dedicated to identifying such internationally marketable projects has already been set up at UFA, but Sauer is aware that all of these plans can only be achieved in a step-bystep approach: first, having success on the European market, and then the global market ”although this would mean having to work with and from America“. That is not to say that UFA has not already been active in the international arena: the submarine thriller Hostile Waters was co-produced with HBO and BBC in 1996, and, a year later, the German company produced its first project with Warner, Disaster At The Mall, with Warner Bros. as part of a long-term framework agreement. Moreover, preparations are now underway for a two-parter on the life of 1930s screen diva Zarah Leander to be made for Swedish Television from a script by German writer Peter Steinbach (Heimat) who signed an exclusive deal with UFA in early 2001. ”The project had been developed by Peter Steinbach with the Swedish TV channel, and then as we have this exclusive deal, he came to see if we would be interested in being involved“, Sauer recalls. ”Since 80% of the action is set in Germany and Babelsberg, the Swedish station had already been thinking of working with a German production company. Shooting is scheduled to begin in late autumn but this depends on getting the right actresss to play Zarah Leander“. Foray into film Television may be the mainstay of UFA's activities, but there is always a hankering by the company to dip its toe in the high-risk waters of feature film production. Indeed, it is not for nothing that the company is based in spanking new offices in Potsdam- Babelsberg across the road from the legendary Babelsberg Studios where the old Universum Film-AG (Ufa) established a European cinematic tradition with such names as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Marlene Dietrich and such film classics as The Blue Angel, Münchhausen and Metropolis, among many others. At the moment, Sauer has three feature projects in development which are set to go into production over the next two years: – an adaptation of former East German writer Christoph Hein's novel Willenbrock which will be directed by Andreas Dresen from a screenplay by Laila Stieler, their second collaboration with UFA after the prize-winning The Policewoman (Die Polizistin); – a biopic of the life of German screen legend Romy Schneider, based on a screenplay by Susanne Schneider (Solo für Klarinette, Hölderlin); – and a big-budget adaptation of Donna W. Cross’ bestselling 1996 historical drama Pope Joan about the Catholic Church’s only female Pope from the 9th century, with Volker Schlöndorff attached to direct from the end of 2002. ”These are three very different and ambitious projects“, Sauer declares. ”If they are successful, we will certainly do more in this area“. 25 MB
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Page 5 and 6: C O N T E N T S 63 Palermo flüster
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Titel Kino 2/2001(2 Alternativ) - German Films

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