Video Interview: Tandem Productions’ Rola Bauer

NEW YORK: Rola Bauer, the CEO and partner of Tandem Productions, discusses the company's new arrangement with STUDIOCANAL, which she says gives Tandem the ability to develop and produce much faster than it could before.

Established in 1999, Munich-based Tandem Communications (as it was then named) built its reputation by producing high-end, critically acclaimed television dramas, offering the international market TV events such as The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End and Impact. In January 2012, STUDIOCANAL acquired a majority stake in Tandem. This infusion of resources allowed Tandem to expand its production capabilities into one-hour TV series, such as Crossing Lines, now in its third season, and Spotless.

Recently, STUDIOCANAL restructured its distribution and marketing businesses. It will be handling international sales for its three in-house production units: Tandem, whose name has become Tandem Productions; Red Production Company from the U.K.; and SAM from Denmark.

“Since we acquired a majority share in Tandem, the company has raised its profile so much with Crossing Lines and Spotless, which is why we wanted to make sure that Rola and the producing team could properly focus on all these shows, given the ambition we have,” says Romain Bessi, the COO of STUDIOCANAL. “We also thought it was the right moment to capitalize on everything we’ve done on the movie side and to brand the sales part of STUDIOCANAL.” Bessi explains there were a number of reasons for the new structure. “One is to make sure that we are properly using the synergies between series and film sales in our territories, France, the U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand. We thought that would be a great way to maximize sales. We were also able to do that because the volume and the ambition of the production has been increasing thanks to Tandem. In addition, we had acquired a company in the U.K. called Red Production and we created a company in Denmark with two writers, called SAM, so we thought it was the right moment to have all sales under the STUDIOCANAL banner.”

The team will be headed by the newly appointed executive VP of sales and marketing for TV series, Katrina Neylon, who will be joining STUDIOCANAL on May 18.

Bauer says, “Not only do we have our original productions, but it has also allowed us to do co-productions, like the one we have with Lionsgate for Sex, Lies and Handwriting, or the deal we have with Frank Spotnitz's Big Light Productions, or the co-production we are looking to do with Sony on Pompeii. It has allowed us to invest on many different levels.”

At MIPTV, Tandem Productions and STUDIOCANAL will be together in one stand.

But for Bauer, it’s business as usual, looking for quality projects that can satisfy networks and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. She talks about the new distribution arrangement with STUDIOCANAL and about upcoming projects in 2015.