Jens Richter

Managing Director
SevenOne International

Since the beginning of television, people have longed to plop down in front of their sets and be entertained, and, more important, distracted from their daily routines and problems. Nowadays, this desire is stronger than ever.

"’Escapism’ is a big word these days," says Jens Richter, the managing director of SevenOne International, the Munich-based distribution company, which offers a wide variety of entertainment programming. "Lately, with all the bad economic news, you come home in the evening and watch the news and feel like committing suicide! The public channels in Germany realized that if they continue to broadcast only bad news, no one will watch anymore, so doom-and-gloom news now is cushioned a bit. When people come home, they want to escape. And if drama shows are too heavy, too complicated, too serious, people might not want to watch them. They work much better if they are more on the light side."

SevenOne has a wide range of programming—from entertainment formats to event TV movies and series—and has even diversified its offering to accommodate all budgets. "There are two main issues for broadcasters to solve in the entertainment genre," explains Richter. "The first is the need for big prime-time brands, like Uri Geller’s The Successor or Beat Your Host! These are expensive shows; you cannot do them cheaply. On the other hand, they want fresh entertainment ideas—shows that can be produced at reasonable cost levels. These are shows for prime time or access prime time which are somehow different, have great ratings potential, while at the same time might not be too expensive to produce." Two such shows are The Wedding I Did(n’t) Have and Clockwise.

Event TV movies have also been very successful for SevenOne. "We have new catastrophe [movies] in our lineup," says Richter. "Crash Point: Berlin and Cloud Chasers are in post-production. And we are in production on Factor 8, about passengers on a flight from Thailand to Munich who suddenly develop serious flu symptoms. It is produced by Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion, who also did Raging Inferno and the Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others. They are fantastic producers of high-profile catastrophe and event movies."

SevenOne is also offering the Dutch series The Medical Assistant and S1NGLE. "Both series come with multi-season commitments, so there are lots of episodes available, but what is fantastic is that they have a very light tone. They are dramas, not sitcoms, but they are fun, very entertaining and slightly sexy, with light storytelling and light dialogue. That is one of the reasons why they rate so well in their home country—people want to be entertained."

In this economic climate, broadcasters are risk averse. "A proven success is more important now than it was yesterday, because nobody can afford to make a mistake," says Richter. Because broadcasters are feeling the pinch, Richter believes SevenOne can act as a mediator. "It’s more difficult these days for broadcasters to do a catastrophe movie on their own. Connecting people is much more important now than in previous years. So one of our functions is to finance events, put some of our own money in and find co-production partners."

In the end, the broadcasters and distributors that will thrive in these tough times are those that will provide audiences with the best in "escapist" programming.