“We all have to become a bit more Scandinavian,” Beta Film MD Moritz von Kruedener told a Series Mania audience this morning.
Opening the Lille Dialogues section on the final day of the France confab, von Kruedener raised the requirement to be flexible and seek financing from more than one local network for projects, given that budgets have increased so steeply.
He explained that Scandinavian and Eastern European territories have been doing this for decades.
“Even if you’re only producing locally, national funding is not enough,” he added. “In Germany and other nations you now have to combine two local partners. In a way we all have to become a bit more Scandinavian.”
Beta is distributing event series Estonia from several Nordic networks, which recently sold to Germany’s Seven.One Entertainment Group.
The outfit has nurtured a reputation over the decades for acting as broker on pan-European projects – von Kruedener stressed its position as “partner” several times – and recent shows include The Swarm and Babylon Berlin.
Von Kruedener declared the end of the era of the ‘Euro pudding’ due to the improved quality of European shows and praised the streamers for initiating this development.
“The streamers were responsible for making content that travels around the world so much easier,” he added. “We all benefited from that.”
He sounded a note of caution, however, as he criticized the U.S. giants’ motivation for ordering European content.
“Maximizing European subscribers shouldn’t be their sole motivation or reason for ‘European-ness’,” he added.
Von Kruedener was speaking a few weeks after Netflix boss Reed Hastings said his streamer is the “biggest builder of cross-European culture” in the continent.
Beta’s motivation, according to von Kruedener, is to “take local producers, maximize funding and provide creative resources.”
He was speaking as Deadline revealed non-English language drama streamer Walter Presents had acquired a package of five drama titles from Beta for release on its services in Australia and New Zealand.