Alexander Coridass

As the commercial arm of ZDF, the German public broadcaster, ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) does much more than sell a broad range of programs from the world’s largest German-language library. Besides distributing homegrown series, miniseries, TV movies, documentaries and children’s shows, ZDFE is charged with setting up international co-productions, representing third-party product, selling rights to digital platforms and managing a merchandising business. ZDFE was founded in 1993, and Alexander Coridass has held the position of president and CEO since 1998. ZDFE quickly established a reputation in the market as a reliable supplier of high-end programming, in particular series, documentaries and children’s fare. Coridass credits the willingness to take calculated risks, an eye for spotting quality programming and an experienced staff as key reasons for ZDFE’s success.

WS: ZDFE has a long tradition of quality drama. There is a lot of drama in the market now. What type of drama is selling?
CORIDASS: There certainly is a golden age of drama right now. We have always been strong in crime and cop shows. Event programs, mainly about historical events and personalities, have also proven to be popular. Overall, we believe that regardless of the genre, the core points to successful drama are high quality, exceptional scripts and good production values. Content that is made with heart and soul and brains is the great television of the 21st century. We are also excited by the new opportunities offered by the digital and VOD segments of the market.

And we are taking additional risks. We have always been quite courageous. I remember when we made our first investment in Scandinavian product, a lot of people, both in Germany and outside of Germany, were astonished—to say the least—that we were investing in Danish drama, but we succeeded. We will go on with our strong Scandinavian offering but we are far beyond that level. We invest a lot in our own projects. We have British, American, German and Scandinavian companies with whom we have development agreements. We are very proud to see shows like The Bridge, Clan and others on Hulu, CANAL+ or Netflix. The series The Team (working title), which was produced with international partners under our aegis, will soon be released. Our drama output has become, as our customers tell us, a very important and significant part of their services.

WS: I also hear that there is demand for formats of scripted drama. What advantages do they offer?
CORIDASS: From a distribution and development standpoint, formats give you a twofold opportunity: you can sell the original content, as we have with some of these programs, and at the same time, if you own them, you can sell the format rights. The good thing is that you can find licensees who are interested in producing a local version that makes a property even more valuable—and sometimes you can sell this remake as well. Again, global interest in European drama continues to grow and we register, especially in the format sector, a strong demand also, for example, for Belgian or German formats, programs and projects. The international and especially the American VOD markets—and we still have to consider it a niche market—are really interested in acquiring European programs and they are having commercial success with them. But we are also developing and co-developing programs that also have the potential of being smash hits for international free-TV broadcasters. So, on the one hand, very early, we focused on the digital world and luckily have been quite successful in it. But on the other hand, I strongly believe that free TV will continue for at least two or three decades. So, we have to be at the forefront of new developments in the digital market, but we still want to sell solid, long-running series to free-TV broadcasters. We will do our utmost to enrich our catalogue with product that can serve all these clients.

WS: Are you also finding good demand for entertainment shows, whether finished or formats?
CORIDASS: Definitely. Since the early days of television, variety shows, quiz shows and entertainment in general have played an important role in the schedules of all broadcasters. For ZDF Enterprises, this genre is not something new. We have sold the format of Wetten, dass..? (Wanna Bet?) in so many countries, especially in Continental Europe. But we don’t have a huge catalogue of brand-new formats; we simply have to expand that. One year ago, when we restructured ZDF Enterprises, we decided to establish a department called ZDFE.entertainment, and we mainly offer formats of game shows and variety shows. And we have a brand-new music show for kids, Your Song. We have some entertainment scripted programs, some retro classics that have seen a revival in Germany—Dalli Dalli, for instance, which was heavily sought after during MIPTV! So entertainment programming is a business, but it’s still a bit of a start-up for us. That was exactly the reason why we decided to establish this department, because we are convinced that there is potential in this segment.

WS: ZDFE has recently sold a number of factual titles to English-language territories. Tell us about these deals and why they were important.
CORIDASS: We closed several deals in the past months with important partners such as BSkyB and UKTV in the U.K. as well as with Seven Network in Australia. In those territories, the demand is steady for educational and entertaining factual programs, and those deals prove that even though those programs are foreign—produced in North America or Germany—they nevertheless appeal to audiences worldwide. Those deals make clear that there is a demand for emotionally engaging, character-driven and informative factual series like Rocket City Rednecks and Alaska State Troopers in both the U.K. and Australia, as well as for traditional, high-budget documentaries focusing on very relevant and universal topics, like natural disasters, for instance, such as Countdown to a Catastrophe, and programs filmed with high-speed cameras, thus unveiling natural wonders and paving the way for scientific insights, such as Invisible Universe. Being able to cater to the varied needs of our partners in different English-speaking territories is important for us. While the deals with BSkyB and Seven Network marked our first ones with those partners, we are looking forward to expanding the cooperation with both of them as well as with UKTV.

Needless to say, over the years we have always been quite active in all English-speaking territories and have had long-standing relationships with partners such as A+E Networks and National Geographic. We are working on the special Apocalypse Neanderthal, which is a major co-production with A+E Networks. Furthermore, in the past National Geographic Channel acquired both seasons of Last Secrets of the Third Reich from ZDF Enterprises. And, of course, there are more collaborations like this one in the pipeline, as we produce and distribute the kind of strong history and wildlife programs that audiences crave.

The notion of factual entertainment these days is extremely broad. In general, we can say that digital platforms are offering an extremely interesting market for us in the factual genre.

WS: What have been the strategies that have helped ZDFE succeed in children’s programming?
CORIDASS: We have had the right instinct for the right trends at the right time. We were the first ones who took huge, huge risks in co-producing teenage live action ten years ago. And since then, we have established very reliable partnerships, especially with Australian partners like Jonathan Shiff, Joanna Werner and others. This is something that is really sustainable; they trust us, we trust them and we continue to develop and produce really outstanding teenage live action, focusing on top scripts, top actors and top production values. And very often we have top TV networks on our side, be it [Australia’s] Network Ten, a French network or ZDF. And, of course, my team has built enormous experience. We are well connected and we have unique production and TV distribution know-how.