Ten years ago, says an experienced ARD editor, a “Tatort” cost 1.5 million euros, but now it’s approaching the two million mark. Inflation, wage increases, “green producing”: all of this is driving up costs. And quality has its price: “You can’t get an excellent cameraman for the standard wage.”
Another challenge is the digital transformation process, i.e. the shift from linear television to the media library: “Individual pieces trigger less impulses than series and series, so more series are produced. But series are more expensive than TV films. This money has to be saved somehow. If there is no increase in contributions, we will be in even more trouble.”
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Björn Böhning, Managing Director of the Production Alliance, sums up the general mood in the market: “The market is dominated by great uncertainty and caution. Many productions are being put on hold. In addition, there are annual cost increases of at least six percent, which can hardly be refinanced.”
Financially strong and broadly positioned production companies can deal with this challenge better than small companies. For them, the current development represents an existential threat, says Uli Aselmann, Managing Director of film GmbH: “The large companies can shift their sales to other activities, but we specialize in cinema and television films, we cannot suddenly start developing and producing entertainment formats.”
When Sky announced in the summer of 2023 that it would no longer commission German films and series, it was a shock for the entire industry. Paramount+ followed in early 2024. Some productions had already been commissioned and were canceled at short notice. In unofficial discussions, the broadcasters promptly passed the buck to the streaming services.
However, a Netflix spokeswoman assures: “We have been investing heavily in German-language films, series and non-fiction programs for many years and will continue to do so in the future.” Amazon says it has continuously increased the volume of orders for German Prime Video productions over the past few years.
Compared to the enormous number of public broadcasting orders, however, the number of streaming productions seems manageable. Private broadcasters also play a major role as clients. A representative of ProSiebenSat.1 announced that the group is producing “more fictional programs for the coming TV season than in the past five years combined.”
RTL, says a spokesman, has not reduced the number of orders either: “We have been able to increase and sustain our large investments in program content in recent years despite considerable economic challenges.” ZDF also says that there is currently no decline in orders. In fact, the volume of commissioned productions, co-productions and co-financing has increased in recent years. Thomas Schreiber, managing director of the ARD subsidiary Degeto, admits that the number of Thursday and Friday films had to be reduced in view of massive cost increases.
No one can predict what will happen next. The development depends on two questions: Will the states agree to an increase in the budget contribution? And what effect will the reform of film funding have? Böhning stresses that Germany as a film location needs the reform “as an overall strategy with a tax incentive model and investment obligation, otherwise it will be permanently left behind by international competition.” So far, Netflix & Co. have no obligation to commission German production companies; “that’s not fair.”
The production alliance receives support from Helge Lindh, SPD chairman of the Committee for Culture and Media in the Bundestag: “International streaming services generate billions in revenue from subscriptions in Germany, but do not have to pay taxes on or reinvest most of it here. That has to change.” France has shown what effects an investment obligation can have: the production volume of Netflix & Co. subsequently grew rapidly from 21 million euros to 345 million euros.
However, the public service fee issue is more crucial. Aselmann has serious doubts as to whether the recommended fee increase of 58 cents per month will be passed with the necessary unanimity. Small companies, provided they produce mostly for ARD and ZDF, are therefore “significantly in limbo,” adds his colleague Benedik Böllhoff (Viafilm). Even a fee increase will come too late for some: “There will be no public outcry, at most a note in the trade press. Small companies tend to disappear quietly.”
