Film industry “There’s never been more shooting going on”

Status: 06/18/2021 10:22 a.m.

The film industry is recovering from the forced Corona break. Due to the great pent-up demand, production is currently running at full speed. But the pandemic has consequences that will change the industry.

From Tina von Löhneysen, RBB

Backdrops on trolleys, trucks being unloaded, locked gates behind which secret stage sets are set up – in the Babelsberg studio there is a buzz. Christoph Fisser is a member of the board here and is in a good mood. In a polo shirt, he walks across the extensive grounds. “We are starting three major international productions these weeks, all of which are star-studded,” he says. You can hear the pride in his voice. “Not only here, it is shot everywhere like never before, because all films are being made up that were not made last year. They were all already financed.”

Make-up artists are hard to come by

The industry is booming. So much so that it is difficult to put crews together. Make-up artists and sound engineers are hard to come by because they are all already engaged in productions. Studio Babelsberg is a heavyweight in the industry. Founded more than a hundred years ago, films such as “The Blue Angel” or later “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Grand Budapest Hotel” were shot here. It is considered the oldest film studio of its kind in the world. During Corona you only had to close for 16 weeks, two large-scale productions then continued filming in Potsdam. Although this was associated with a large logistical and financial effort – 60,000 tests were carried out for it, and now more meticulous testing is being carried out – but it has just continued.

The industry stood still

The industry as a whole was different. There was a standstill. It was hardly shot. The uncertainty was too great, the conditions too strict. Now there is far-reaching relaxation, the general sigh of relief and a lot of catching up to do, says Sebastian Lambeck from the producer alliance for film and television. But in perspective one will be able to observe a shift in production activity.

“Financing movies has become even more difficult due to the pandemic,” says Lambeck. Whether you get a film in the cinemas when it is finished, how well it is going: All this has become even more unpredictable due to the pandemic. And, quite clearly: The trend that was already emerging has accelerated enormously as a result of Corona: “The streaming providers are the winners of this crisis.” Babelsberg board member Fisser also notices this. The demand has more than tripled, which is due to the great hunger of streaming services for content. For Fisser’s company, that doesn’t really matter. When he shoots, it always makes money. But it hurts him a little. “We love cinema, you really have to say that. Personally, I much prefer to produce cinema films than serial, but the market has changed dramatically.”

“Films galore”

Despite all the changes: the good old cinema still exists. In these weeks, the movie theaters in Germany will open again, regionally staggered. “There are plenty of good films,” says Christian Bräuer, chairman of the AG Kino – Gilde eV

“In the next four months, about as many films will be shown in theaters as would normally be spread over an entire year,” he reports. Constantin Film AG, which is both a film distributor and a production company, confirms this. Like all distributors, they have an unusually large number of films on stockpile. That means for the cinema-goers: There is a huge selection of films. This is one of the reasons why the cinema operators are looking at the openings with great confidence. The hope: After the crisis there will be a boom – not only in film production, but also in watching films.