JULIA WEBER: “WE HAVE EVERYTHING THE AUDIENCE'S HEART DESIRES”

Julia Weber, Global Screen, a brand of Telepool, is a leading international sales and distribution company for theatrical films, TV shows, and formats, based in Munich, Germany. Julia Weber, Head of International Sales & Acquisitions, described the firm’s current strategy, talked about the potential of the German market, and reviewed the programming offer for MIPTV.

What is the company’s current international sales and acquisitions strategy?
“We focus on content that is either series or features, and we are not limited to genres if the story is compelling and catching. Our clients are linear channels and streamers, both local and global. On the acquisitions side, we have implemented a new strategy of co-developing and co-producing series and feature content at the earliest stage. The region is not relevant as long as the setting of the film or series is authentic and fits the financial needs of the production structure”.

How would you describe the potential of German productions for Global Screen?
“Our positioning is not limited or focused on German productions. Having said that, we naturally have deep relationships with German producers that have grown in many years. Projects from German producers prove to be not only high quality but also very sellable and attractive to the international market. Overall, we have a very broad network of producers around the globe, and we love to bring great producers together, as long as they have the same vision on a project. Of course, bringing together the financial elements of the partners and their countries is essential as well”.

How would you describe the current positioning of Global Screen after all its recent internal restructure?
“Coming to Telepool, the first thing that our new CEO wanted to adjust was to unify the sales teams of theatrical films and TV programs to become one team. The differentiation of content, to its initial way of exploiting, is outdated. We see these kinds of blurring lines not only with our clients but also with producers. They no longer make a difference and do not only focus on one kind of content. Furthermore, the cooperation with our colleagues at Telepool, who deal with German-speaking rights, improved a lot. We now have more projects in common that are a good fit for international, as well as for our home territory of Germany and the DACH region”.

Will you launch any of those ongoing projects at MIPTV?
“We are very pleased to present our new highlight series ‘Fast’ at MIPTV. The 10x45' action-packed crime series comes from the renowned Finnish production company Yellow Film & TV, which is responsible for ‘Artic Circle’ and ‘Nurses,’ among others. Furthermore, one German TV hit in our line-up is the miniseries ‘Dark Woods,’ which reached up to 20.2% market share and was the most-watched program in the ARD-Mediathek in 2020. We already sold the title to France, the USA, Russia, and Spain. The second German TV hit, which had a market share up to 21.8% on ARD, is Ferdinand von Schirach's ‘Enemies’. In addition, we have new seasons and episodes of our well-known crime series ‘Buried Truth,’ ‘Modern Murder’ and ‘Streets of Berlin,’ as well as many new TV movies and feature films from comedy and thriller to documentaries and family entertainment. We have everything the audience's heart desires”.

What are Global Screen's main goals for 2021?
“Our aim is to find even more attractive and high-profile series and films for our demanding clients throughout the world. We are flexible partners and develop custom-fit strategies to bring a project to life”.

By Federico Marzullo