May 3, 2021

HOW GERMANY’S FILM AND TV INDUSTRY GOT BACK TO WORK

Restart Berlin: How Germany’s Film and TV Industry Got Back to Work

(hollywoodreporter.com)

It was almost exactly a year ago, in March 2020, at Studio Babelsberg Germany’s largest film studio, located just outside Berlin. The studio was prepped and ready to go on two major blockbusters: Warner Bros.’ Matrix 4, Lana Wachowski’s eagerly-awaited sequel to the sci-fi franchise, featuring several cast members from the original Matrix trilogy, including Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith alongside newcomers Priyanka Chopra, Neil Patrick Harris, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; and Uncharted from Sony Pictures, a video-game adaptation starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, and Antonio Banderas. On the TV side, the fourth season of Babylon Berlin —a big-budget period drama set in the 1930s —was also in the starting blocks.

Then, overnight, Germany shut down. The rate of infection of what was then still being called the “novel” coronavirus began to spike. Film and television production in Berlin, went from 100 to zero.

“Everything stopped. We were stunned. Every production was put on hold, the international filmmakers who were here fled the country,” recalls Studio Babelsberg deputy chairman Christoph Fisser. “We were full, literally every square centimeter of the studio was filed and suddenly there was nobody there. And of course, no one knew how things could continue.”

A year on, Germany is still struggling with the pandemic. After initial success, the country was hit hard by a second wave of COVID-19 infections. The national lockdown, which had been loosened last summer, tightened again in November with new restrictions put in place.

Germany’s vaccine rollout has also lagged behind that of the U.S. and the U.K. As of April 29, according to official government figures, only 7.7 percent of the German population was fully vaccinated. That compares to 22 percent in the U.K. and 31 percent in the U.S., though is on par with vaccination levels in most western European countries.

But while the Berlin government has fallen behind, the city’s film and television producers have surged ahead. A year after Babelsberg shut up shop, things on the backlot are back to normal. In fact, they’re better than ever. Both Uncharted and Matrix 4 restarted and wrapped last year, with no interruptions and no additional shooting days. Babylon Berlin series four is currently shooting. Fisser is forecasting a full orders book this year, with “at least three big features and two big series for streaming services.” Although the studio never names, the news has leaked that Keanu is coming back to Berlin this summer to shoot the fourth film in the John Wick action franchise. On May 3, Netflix confirmed that 1899, the new mystery series from Dark creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, has begun shooting on the Babelsberg lot, at the studio’s new cutting edge virtual production studio.

By: Scott Roxborough

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PAUL SPARKES JOINS MOGUL PRODUCTIONS AS STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Entrepreneur Paul Sparkes Joins Mogul Productions as a Strategic Advisor

(finance.yahoo.com)

TORONTO, May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Paul Sparkes, an entrepreneur and dealmaker, joins Mogul Productions as a strategic advisor supporting the platform’s next phase of growth.

Paul said, “I joined Mogul because I see the potential for decentralized film financing and movie-based NFTs in the entertainment industry. I look forward to building on the momentum of Mogul’s NFT Marketplace launch and film investments and to bring even a greater awareness of this transformative platform to filmmakers, fans, and the creative community.”

Lisa Sun, Founder and President of Mogul Productions, shared, “We’re incredibly pleased to welcome Paul Sparkes to the Mogul team as a strategic advisor. His knowledge of business and experience helping companies achieve extraordinary growth will be invaluable to us as we progress through this current expansion phase of adding more movie fans, financiers, and creatives to the platform.”

Paul has a diverse background in media, business, politics, and is known for his ability to foster company growth and create value. Paul co-founded a publicly traded specialty finance company that he helped build to a market cap of $200M. Paul spent a decade as a leader in the broadcast and digital media industry as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs at CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media), Canada’s largest privately owned media company.

Continue Reading at finance.yahoo.com

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VERIZON SELLING YAHOO, AOL AND MEDIA ASSETS FOR $5B TO APOLLO

Verizon Selling Yahoo, AOL and Media Assets for $5B to Private Equity Firm Apollo

(hollywoodreporter.com)

Verizon is exiting the media business.

The telecom giant is selling Yahoo, AOL and the remainder of its Verizon Media brands to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management in a $5 billion deal announced Monday.

The new company will be called Yahoo and will continue to be run by CEO Guru Gowrappan. Verizon will retain a 10 percent stake in the new company, and LionTree, which served as the lead financial advisor on the transaction, will also be an investor alongside Apollo. Under the terms of the deal, Apollo will pay Verizon $4.25 billion in cash and preferred interests of $750 million.

Verizon had purchased both Yahoo and AOL for nearly $9 billion just a few years ago. More recently, the telecom company sold HuffPost (which it acquired in the AOL deal) to BuzzFeed in an all-stock deal. Verizon also retained a small ownership stake in HuffPost.

Verizon Media includes Yahoo, which still has significant scale through its Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance portals, as well as Yahoo’s popular email service. It also owns AOL.com, which remains a popular homepage for many web users, as well as some niche news sites like Engadget and TechCrunch. Verizon Media also includes an advanced advertising business, which was created by merging the adtech teams of Yahoo and AOL.

By: Alex Weprin

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FILM TAX CREDIT PAYS FOR ITSELF IN THE LONG RUN

Film tax credit pays for itself in the long run

(bostonherald.com)

The Massachusetts House voted unanimously to make permanent the state’s controversial film tax credit, all but ensuring a showdown with the Senate, which doesn’t share the representatives’ sanguine view of the program.

The 160-0 vote came during the opening day of House deliberations on its $47.7 billion state budget proposal.

Previously extended for a few years at a time, this week’s amendment by state Rep. Tackey Chan, a Quincy Democrat, would extend it indefinitely. The long-running program has managed to survive despite several attempts to end it, including two by Gov. Charlie Baker.

Without Senate support, it would cease at the end of 2022. Chan said it was important to guarantee its funding well ahead of that deadline so film executives can plan future projects in the state.

The Massachusetts House voted unanimously to make permanent the state’s controversial film tax credit, all but ensuring a showdown with the Senate, which doesn’t share the representatives’ sanguine view of the program.

The 160-0 vote came during the opening day of House deliberations on its $47.7 billion state budget proposal.

Previously extended for a few years at a time, this week’s amendment by state Rep. Tackey Chan, a Quincy Democrat, would extend it indefinitely. The long-running program has managed to survive despite several attempts to end it, including two by Gov. Charlie Baker.

Without Senate support, it would cease at the end of 2022. Chan said it was important to guarantee its funding well ahead of that deadline so film executives can plan future projects in the state.

By: Boston Herald Editorial Stall

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BONDIT MEDIA CAPITAL INCREASES CREDIT FACILITY UP TO $70 MILLION

BondIt Media Capital Increases Credit Facility Up to $70 Million (EXCLUSIVE)

(variety.com)

BondIt Media Capital has increased its credit facility with Revere Capital by up to $70 million.

Founded in 2013, BondIt has posited over $150 million of capital into over 325 film, TV and other media projects. These include “Honest Thief” (starring Liam Neeson), “Midway” (a Roland Emmerich-directed WW2 film), “Loving Vincent” (the 2018 Oscar-nominated animated film) and “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” (an upcoming documentary on HBO Max).

“Over the past three years we’ve formed a deep partnership with the team at Revere, leading to a meaningful expansion of BondIt’s financing capacity and executive production pipeline,” BondIt CEO and co-founder Matthew Helderman said in a statement.

BondIt works closely with sister companies Buffalo 8, which handles production, post-production and distribution, and ABS Payroll, which offers accounting and other financial services in the entertainment industry.

Unlike other media industry financiers, BondIt offers in-house production and post-production infrastructure, designed to serve the unique needs of producers and their various projects, regardless of budget or profile.

“BondIt has nearly doubled in size since June 2020 when film and TV production activities began to ramp up following a pandemic-related slowdown,” Helderman said. “We’re excited to extend our partnership with Revere to build off of that momentum together.”

By: Ethan Shanfeld

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