Latest news with #Seriencamp
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Smallville' Co-Showrunner Kelly Souders Tells Producers: 'Don't Give Notes When Everybody's Gone Home'
Kelly Souders, the co-showrunner of Superman drama Smallville and co-creator of The Hot Zone, has had her say on the complicated relationship between producers and creatives. In a panel hosted by Deadline in Germany at Seriencamp yesterday, Souders railed against producers whose primary goal is imposing their will on a production without considering how to connect with their creative counterpart. More from Deadline Folivari International Takes Global Rights To 'Pil's Adventures' Spin-Off Series Major TV Events Continue In Cologne Despite Huge Evacuation While German City Deals With WWII Bombs BBC Studios Producer Reveals Why 'Ghosts' Is "Indebted" To 'Friends' - Seriencamp 'As a producer, you're constantly giving notes and you need to figure out your goal. Is it being right, or is it to get a tune out of someone?,' she questioned. Her key message to producers addressing issues with creatives was to figure out how to deliver an opening line. 'There are a lot of times I get notes in meetings that say, 'Okay, there is a lot of work to be done here.' Immediately, your front cortex shuts down and you go into fight or flight mode. I'm going to walk out, and without even trying I'll forget what you said,' she added. She also criticized producers who provide notes on scenes when a production is at edit stage. 'It would have been a great note when we were shooting, but now everybody's gone home,' she added. 'They don't like to read' Souders was talking on a panel alongside Noémi Saglio, the French TV and film writer behind 2019 Netflix series The Hook Up Plan, who stunned an excited audience with her own take on producers' pitfalls. 'They don't like to read,' she said. 'That is what producers really need to work on. Guys, the creative is the basis for the whole thing: If you don't like to read, I don't know what to tell you. We have to come back to the material, and they have to know it by heart and understand every sentence.' Both agreed that producers needed to make tough financial calls, but urged this to be a collaborative process informed by the script and not a decision-making process taken alone with an 'Excel spreadsheet,' as Saglio put it. Souders said she has had few entirely positive experiences with producers. The exception to the rule was Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions, whose staff had creatively supported her vision on The Hot Zone, a Nat Geo drama adaptation of Richard Preston's book about the ebola virus. Souders joined Smallville as a staff writer on Season 1 in 2001 before rising to become co-showrunner on the Warners-then-CW young adult drama. She remained with the show through its next nine seasons. She later went on to co-create and showrun Julianna Margulies-starrer drama The Hot Zone and was consulting producer and writer on Genius: Picasso and Genius: Einstein for the same network. She was also an executive producer on WGN's flagship show Salem, and consulted on CBS's Under the Dome and USA Network's Political Animals. 'You want desperately to find a creative producer who is going to elevate what you're doing, but instead a lot of times you are just arguing with them,' she said. Both Saglio and Souders noted they worked with the same creative team on most projects. 'Everybody on set is my family, and I never change that, but I change producers,' said Saglio. 'I haven't made two projects with the same producer. I don't fight with them, but I haven't found one who has brought enough to the table to do another one with them. I am so hands-on that it is so difficult to trust someone has the same vision.' Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, the American-Icelandic actor-producer, said that a good producer 'connects with the story, brings together the best creative people they think should make that story and then stay out of their way as much as they can, but be ready to pop in when needed.' He criticized how 'ego' can derail projects, and recalled an anecdote about Mel Brooks, who quietly organized Academy Award-nominated 1980 film The Elephant Man, directed by a young David Lynch. 'He was the producer, the one who bought the rights and the one who put it in the hands of David Lynch. But Mel Brooks' name isn't on the film, and the reason he gave was if it was, people would expect something different. It is an incredible thing to have the humility to tell yourself that, and that is the mark of a great producer.' Best of Deadline 'Stick' Soundtrack: All The Songs You'll Hear In The Apple TV+ Golf Series 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'Stick' Release Guide: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Major TV Events Continue In Cologne Despite Huge Evacuation While German City Deals With WWII Bombs
This wasn't the news the German TV industry was expecting at the start of the week. The largest evacuation since World War II has been taking place in Cologne, as authorities sought to defuse three huge WWII bombs, as several major events are concurrently held in the city. More from Deadline BBC Studios Producer Reveals Why 'Ghosts' Is "Indebted" To 'Friends' - Seriencamp Euro Networks Talk Streamer Levies & "Talk Of The Town" Scripted Co-Productions - Seriencamp Screenwriter Discusses Rush To Bring Prime Video's The Elevator Boys Movie to Life - Seriencamp The evacuation is hitting businesses, schools, hospitals and residents in the affected area and some 20,500 people are being moved with tents set up to provide food and water. From a media perspective, the evacuation came as major TV and cable industry events were underway. Both TV industry conference Seriencamp and tech-meets-content event AngaCom are situated outside the affected area and will continue. The latter regularly attracts well over 20,000 participants. Prime Video is holding an upfront event this evening in the Ehrenfeld area, which is close to Seriencamp and slated to continue. The likes of Maxton Hall scriptwriter Julia Dehne, Smallville showrunner Kelly Souders and Banijay Entertainment co-fiction chief Johannes Jensen are in town for Seriencamp. We're also on the ground for the event and will update this article as developments happen. RTL has been impacted, with the broadcaster shifting broadcasts to Berlin as the bombs are dealt with. Although unaffected, travel plans for people attending events are massively disrupted. At Seriencamp, talk of co-production and industry trends took place alongside chatter about how to get to airports and stations amid the evacuation, notably for those travelling today. Some delegates also had to move hotels and alternate plans are being made. 'The evacuation is the largest operation since the end of World War II,' City authorities said. The official info detailed affected areas and infrastructure including RTL and several cultural spaces including the trade fair center, the LANXESS arena, the Musical Dome, the Philharmonic Hall and many museums. The area close to the UNESCO-listed Cologne Cathedreal, known as the tallest twin-spired cathedral in the world, is near the radius. Specifically, there are two 20-tonne bombs and a 10-tonne bomb, the City added. All three are American. Discovering unexploded WWII bombs in German cities is not unusual, but the scale of today's impacts are by far the most dramatic since end of the war in 1945. Provided the bombs can be defused, it is expected people will return to their homes this evening. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Euro Networks Talk Streamer Levies & 'Talk Of The Town' Scripted Co-Productions
Seriencamp kicked off here in Germany today with familiar themes dominating chatter – money, streaming levies and co-productions. The first morning of the German TV industry event in Cologne saw 14 European networks such as ZDF, France Télévisions and NRK outlining their international co-production strategies. More from Deadline Screenwriter Discusses Rush To Bring Prime Video's The Elevator Boys Movie to Life - Seriencamp Indie Boss & 'How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)' Co-Creator Philipp Käßbohrer To Receive The Deadline German TV Disruptor Award At Seriencamp Medical Drama 'Doc' Set For Mexican Adaptation With Juan Pablo Medina: Sony Unveiling Series At LA Screenings Unsurprisingly, given the challenged state of the market, talk around financing took up as much time as content strategies, wish lists and why most networks have pivoted to streaming-first commissioning. Smart collaborations, making money stretch and partnering with both European partners and global streamers were keys for most of those on stage. During one section of the talk, commissioning execs from Belgium's VRT and Switzerland's SRF addressed how global streamer levies in their territories had been received. Elly Vervloet, Commissioning Editor and International Drama Expert of VRT, outlined how a levy in the French-speaking Wallonia area of Belgium, which orders broadcasters and streamers with sales over €150M ($170M) up to 9.5% of their local revenues on local production, had highlighted that local networks needed to supercharge development. 'We have to produce in a smart way – we don't have a lot of money, as we are a small broadcaster,' she said. 'Luckily, we have a funding system in Belgium that really helps with funds the tax shelter. With the investment obligations for telcos and streamers, it's really important to get the ball rolling.' Netflix made a legal challenge against the levy in August and was joined by Disney, which declared itself an interested party. Given Donald Trump's tallying cries against international streaming levies and his well-publicized spats with the European Union over trade, the case is being categorized by some commentators as the test case for similar cases elsewhere. For now, however, it remains in place, sitting alongside Belgium's favorable funding systems. Similarly in Switzerland, the implementation of the streaming tax, dubbed locally as the 'Lex Netflix' is being keenly felt. With local streaming services become increasingly popular with audiences and searching for ambitious projects, the idea of collaboration between them and the likes of Netflix is being studied as a business model. Bettina Albert from SFR said: 'The difference to Belgium is we don't have a funding system and it is a problem. Now we have the 'Lex Netflix,' and we can see the number of projects that are coming to us as interesting co-productions are increasing.' However, after the session we spoke with a well-connected source in the Swiss scripted market, who told us that while there had been in boom in development following the levy's introduction, primarily for Netflix, this had not yet resulted in a significant number of commissions. 'We all want them to get started,' they added. Elsewhere in the Seriencamp kickoff session, Mourad Koufane from France Télévisions' international co-production team summed up what international co-productions needed to achieve for the French pubcaster. At present, France Télévisions only makes three international co-productions a year, through European commissioning club The Alliance. 'When we choose these three projects, it is important they are super-impactful and organically internationally,' he said. 'Even though we are doing very few, we hope they will be the talk of the town in France.' Seriencamp, which brings together German's local scripted community with international players, began today at the Cinenova in Cologne. It runs until Thursday (June 6). Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More Everything We Know About 'Happy Gilmore 2' So Far
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Germany's Seriencamp Sets 2025 Plans With ‘Ghosts', Games, Co-Production & Focus On Innovation Amid Industry Disruption
EXCLUSIVE: Seriencamp will zero in on international co-production and innovation this year amid ongoing industry disruption, the German confab's organizers told Deadline. There will also be a session given over to the international success of the ever-popular comedy series Ghosts. The drama get-together is held in Cologne in early June and new additions for this year's eleventh edition also include a focus on games More from Deadline CBS Claims Victory With 17th Consecutive Season As Most-Watched Broadcaster; 'Tracker' Leads The Way Again In Season 2, 'Matlock' In Second Place French Giant Banijay Enters Race To Buy ITV 'Starstruck' Tunes Up In Italy; Road Trip Movie Readies L.A. Shoot; Griersons Trustees Named - Global Briefs Under the co-production banner, there are strands including 'Next From' and 'Work in Progress' with sneak peeks and first looks at shows including: Mozart Mozart, for German pubcaster ARD and its Austrian counterpart ORF, We Come in Peace, for Sweden's TV4 and Germany's ZDF, the much-anticipated Ku'damm 77, and Netflix's Alphamännchen. Seriencamp has become a major drama event for European players. Commissioners including Alexander Bickel from Germany's WDR, Morad Koufane from France Télévisions, and Pernille Bech Christensen from TV2 Denmark will be among those in town to break down their programming plans. Within the co-pro sessions there will be a 'European Co-Production: Meet the Commissioners' strand and a case study on upcoming series Weiss & Morales, which counts RTVE, Portocabo, Nadcon, ZDF, and ZDF Studios as co-pro partners. Other programming highlights include a session on the international success of BBC comedy Ghosts, which has been remade in Australia, France, Germany, the U.S. and elsewhere, and a sit-down with Johannes Jensen, the newly appointed Head of Scripted at Banijay. There will be a full day focusing on the intersection of games and drama series, with sessions covering topics including world-building and what games and series can learn from one another. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW support the event and ZDF Studios is the main partner. Seriencamp runs June 3 through 5. Best of Deadline 'Ginny & Georgia' Season 3: Everything We Know So Far Everything We Know About The 'Reminders of Him' Movie So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
