Jorg Roth

World Screen Weekly, April 3, 2008

Managing Director

Zodiak International

Following its acquisition of Bullseye Television in the U.K. last August, the leading Scandinavian production-and-distribution outfit Zodiak Television announced that its commercial arm, Zodiak Television World, would relocate from Copenhagen to London. The new headquarters, which officially opened for business in January, merges the distribution activities of both Zodiak Television World and Bullseye Television under a new name, Zodiak International. Bullseye Television’s founder, Jorg Roth, was tapped to take the helm of the integrated unit as managing director.

While Zodiak’s library is comprised mostly of formats, Bullseye’s catalogue is mainly finished tape. Roth says that the “new Zodiak International entity really offers the best of both worlds—great experience in formats, and great experience in finished tape and clips.”

Roth comes to his new role with more than 15 years of experience as a producer, including several years in Germany producing for RTL and Sat.1. In 1999, he decided to strike out on his own, launching Bullseye Television, which today operates as an independent production unit within the Zodiak Television group.

Roth notes that Zodiak International is fortunate to be able to tap into its parent company’s widespread network of in-house production outfits, ranging from the recently launched Red House in the U.K. to Sol in India. “The Zodiak group itself produces an amazing amount of shows now every quarter—we have 20 companies in 12 countries,” says Roth. “We’re almost the world’s local distributor. We’re international, but we have a lot of local experience we can tap into.”

On the acquisitions front, Roth has set “ambitious targets for this year,” with an eye on acquiring “prime-time Saturday night formats” and building up Zodiak International’s reality and factual entertainment genres. “We’re acquiring really good third-party shows, so the catalogue will grow, but not for the sake of growing—it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.”

Zodiak International will be highlighting two prime-time entertainment formats at MIPTV, the Finnish show Born To Be Wild, which Roth describes as a “a heartwarming reality-show format” that “crosses all age groups,” and the “big celebrity nostalgia” program Bring Back….

Produced by Zodiak-owned Broadcasters Oy in Finland, Born to Be Wild is a series that challenges celebrity musicians to create a rock-and-roll choir of senior citizens. The series debuted in Finland on MTV3 and options have already been inked for the format in the U.S., Belgium, Netherlands and Sweden. Meanwhile, the British show Bring Back�, from Chatterbox Partnership,takes up the task of reuniting a cast of characters of a famous TV show, film or a music group, and brings them back for one last performance or gathering. Beyond formats, Zodiak International will offer MIPTV buyers a host of new dramas that include the 3×90-minute Kurt Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh for the BBC, as well as more than 30 TV movies.

—By Irene Lew