Germany’s ProSieben Unites Production in Germany, U.K., Denmark and Israel & Distribution Arm Under New Banner Seven.One Studios

Manori Ravindran
·5 min read
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German media powerhouse ProSiebenSat.1 is bundling its eight production companies in Germany, the U.K., Denmark and Israel, along with its global distribution arm Red Arrow Studios International, under a newly established banner called Seven.One Studios.

The new entity will produce across all key genres for its own platforms as well as external players. In the future, ProSieben says there will be a “clear focus” within the German-speaking territories on content with young talent for the youth-skewing demographic.

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The companies that will feed into Seven.One Studios include Cheerio Entertainment (Germany), Flat White Productions (Germany), Pyjama Productions (Germany), Redseven Entertainment (Germany), CPL Productions (U.K.), Endor Productions (U.K.), July August Productions (Israel), Snowman Productions (Denmark) and Germany and U.K.-based distribution arm Red Arrow Studios International.

The realignment of ProSieben’s production and international distribution arm follows the establishment of two new production companies in Germany over the past year and the sale of Red Arrow Studios’ U.S. production business over the summer.

Seven.One Studios will be managed by Henrik Pabst as CEO, Alexander Pesch as CFO and Martin Metzger as COO.

Pabst, who also serves as chief content officer of Seven.One Entertainment Group, said: “The demand for content is only increasing. This makes it all the more important for cross-platform providers like ProSiebenSat.1 to have access to the right content and its development, including in-house production capacities. By founding Seven.One Studios, we are making ourselves more independent from the competitive German production market. Our European production houses, alongside our well-established Israeli production company, remains a vital part of our business.”

Pabst also underlined that the company will “continue to spend a large part of our local budget” on third-party producer deals. “Likewise, our production companies will continue to operate freely on the market and work for external clients,” said Pabst.

The executive went on to note the production business’ track record in youth-oriented programming, citing Pyjama Pictures’ collaboration with Hamburg-based Kleine Brüder on the award-winning series “Die Discounter” and forthcoming comedy “Intimate” for streamer Joyn and ProSieben.

“We will continue to expand this successful collaboration and make Pyjama Pictures an incubator for young talents,” said Pabst. “Through our Group-wide connection to Studio71 and Buzzbird, we also have access to a large influencer network. We want to realize many new projects with these stars of the young target group.”

A full breakdown of the companies within Seven.One Studios is below:

Cheerio Entertainment, the 2022 established production company for show formats based in Cologne, is managed by Nadine Grünfeld and Frank Kott and has produced the TV show “Zurück in die Schule” with Jörg Pilawa for SAT.1 in August 2022. Cheerio Entertainment will also be producing “Der SAT.1 Jahresrückblick”, a review of the year, in December 2022.

CPL Productions in the U.K. is behind formats such as BAFTA winner “A League of their Own” for Sky Max and “Married at First Sight” for E4/Channel 4, as well as “90 Day Fiancé” (Discovery+). The managing directors are Danielle Lux and Murray Boland.

Endor Productions, headed by Carlo Dusi, produces award-winning film and TV drama, including the high-end period drama “Vienna Blood”, commissioned by ORF (Austria) and ZDF (Germany) and the fantasy TV drama “Anansi Boys” for Prime Video. The company is based in London.

Based in Cologne, Flat White Productions develops and produces programs in the areas of factual entertainment, documentaries and infotainment. For SAT.1, Flat White Productions will be producing the new SAT.1 afternoon show “Volles Haus! SAT.1 Live.” in early 2023. Cornelia Landgraf is the managing director.

July August Productions, based in Tel Aviv, is an Israeli production company with a cross-genre portfolio. Headed by Yochanan Kredo and Amit Stretiner, the company produces the sitcom “Checkout!” and the reality cooking show “My kitchen rules”. July August is also behind drama series “The A Word”, which was sold to BBC One in the U.K.

Berlin-based Pyjama Pictures is headed by Carsten Kelber and Christian Ulmen. Founded in 2020, the company produces fiction formats, including award- winning series such as “jerks.” (Joyn/ProSieben) and “Die Discounter” (Amazon Prime). The company just finished shooting its first production for ARD/Degeto, “Ein Bett für Papa”. Pyjama Pictures is also expanding its partnership with Kleine Brüder.

Red Arrow Studios International is the international program sales company with a broad fiction, factual and format portfolio sourced from the Seven.One Studios network of production companies and third party producers. The company, based in Unterföhring and London and led by Tim Gerhartz, is also active as a co-producer and co-financier of global entertainment content, selling TV formats to over 200 countries worldwide.

Redseven Entertainment is managed by Jobst Benthues, Christiane Heinemann and Julia Knetsch and has been producing TV formats with a focus on entertainment, comedy and docutainment at its locations in Munich, Cologne and Berlin since 2008. The portfolio includes TV highlights such as “Germany’s Next Topmodel – by Heidi Klum” (ProSieben), “The Taste” (SAT.1), the new comedy series “HILLarious” (available on Prime Video Deutschland as of spring 2023), or TV award winners 2022, “Don’t stop the Music” (ZDF) and “Don’t stop the Music – Kids” (Kika).

Copenhagen-based Snowman Productions are the creators of the hit reality format “Married at First Sight,” which has been adapted in over 30 countries. Other TV credits from the Danish production company include “Buying Blind”, “How to Become Superhuman” and “Meat the Family”. The managing director is Michael von Würden.

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