A Journey of an Eastern European IP to the German Market

The Websters Case Study with Sales Agent OneGate Media

What made a German distributor pick an Easter Europe IP? What does it take to successfully pitch a project to German decision markers and to what extent it can serve as an entry point to other Western Europe territories? Director Katarina Kerekesova will introduce the Websters IP in making: its past present and future. Producer Anna Vasova will describe its way onto the international market, the pitches, discussions and challenges. Susanne Freese from OneGate Media will offer insight from the other side: why did she pick the IP and how she sold it to Amazon, what are her further steps? And what we could learn from that about the German market.

Speakers: Susanne Freese (OneGate Media, Germany), Anna Vasova (13ka, Czech Republic), Katarina Kerekesova (Fool Moon, Slovakia)

Susanne Freese has been working at OneGate Media (formerly Studio Hamburg Enterprises GmbH) in the programme acquisition department since 1998, with a focus on children’s and youth films for about 10 years. As Senior Manager Kids & Family, she oversees the licensing/co-financing of feature films, cinema films, series and animation programmes and works closely with NDR, but also with the other ARD stations and Kika. In addition, she is responsible for programme acquisition for OneGate Media’s national and international (TV/VOD/DVD) distribution departments. She attends many international film festivals, industry shows and film markets – always on the lookout for exciting stories with special characters and a good dash of humour.

Anna Vasova is a manager, producer and scriptwriter. After commissioning Czech and international films and series at Czech Television in the early 1990s, she became CEO of Barrandov Biografia, the production and distribution company of the Barrandov holding. Then over 15 years she lead European and global coproductions of various genres at the European Broadcasting Union / Eurovision in Geneva. Between 2013 and 2018 Anna was a member of Czech TV’s General Director advisory board and part of FAMU artistic board. In 2018 she co-founded 13ka production company together with producer Karolína Davidová. Their focus is mainly on animation. Besides producing, Anna now works as a scriptwriter, tutor, and an expert for Creative Europe MEDIA.

Katarina Kerekesova is Slovak, director, animator, illustrator and producer. In the course of her work Katarina has used numerous animation techniques, ranging from drawing and cut-out to puppet animation. Her award-winning student film Lovers Without Dresses combines 16mm camera footage with spare, playful drawing. Her graduate film Origin of the World is pixilation combined with big puppets in landscape, and the musical melodrama Stones is done in stop-motion. In 2009 Katarina founded her own production company Fool Moon. Her recent projects, children series Mimi and Lisa and The Websters, are animated digitally and feature a brightly colored, lyrical aesthetic, both IPs are international coproductions and can be seen in various European territories. As a chairwoman Katarina represents the Slovak Association of Animated Film Producers and she teaches at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.

Partners:

OneGate Media is a top German distribution and licensing company for film and television. Founded over 60 years ago as a subsidiary of NDR, it belongs to the Studio Hamburg Group, one of the leading production houses in Germany. OneGate stands for its roots in Hamburg – Germany’s ‘Gate to the world’ – the affiliation to the public broadcaster ARD, and their mission: engaging in outstanding film and TV production for all of their clients and partners.

Fool Moon production company was founded by Katarina Kerekesová in 2009 and produces primarily children’s animated films and series bringing quality content for children not only in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. Besides The Websters the company produced Mimi and Lisa (TV series – 2015, TV specials – 2018 and 2021), or short animation Yellow by Ivana Šebestová.

Currently Fool Moon is developing an educational TV series Forest Five for 5 to 8 year-old children.

13ka is a Prague-based company established in 2018. It specializes in animation and focuses on development and production of both large audiences series and feature films and auteur short films. 13ka is a producer of hybrid shorts Love, Dad by Diana Cam Van Nguyen and Hun Tun by Magdalena Hejzlarova. It coproduces Slovak animated features and the series The Websters by Katarina Kerekesova. Also, 13ka partners with other producers on script editing and creative development of several feature films.