In a major German film and TV industry shakeup, Vuelta Germany CEO Al Munteanu – who recently completed the merger of the pan-European studio’s German units – is stepping down to focus on production. Munteanu will hand the reins to Dirk Schweitzer, who is stepping down as head of German studio MMC.
Schweitzer, who prior to joining MMC held senior positions at several German media groups — including being CEO of German producer/distributor Splendid Media and managing director of Tele-München Group — will lead Velta Germany in an interim role, according to a statement.
Munteanu has been instrumental to the integration process of Vuelta’s SquareOne Entertainment, Telepool and EuroVideo units. As part of this merger, Telepoo’s international sales arm, Global Screen, has now been folded into Vuelta’s French division Playtime. The Vuelta Germany team also closed a new booking and billing deal with Constantin Film for its extensive slate of theatrical films. The merged Telepool-SquareOne unit now has a library of more than 1,000 titles for German-speaking Europe, including standouts such as “The Imitation Game,” “Olympus Has Fallen” and French hit “Intouchables.”
At Vuelta Germany, Muntenau oversaw the production of a vast number of film and television titles, including “Ironclad,” Netflix’s “Totenfrau” and “Oxen,” which is based on the Danish thriller book trilogy.
Munteanu will now transition to owning and running SquareOne Productions, which is being rebranded as BriskPace Studios and will collaborate with Vuelta. He will remain a Vuelta shareholder and senior advisor.
BriskPace Studios, which is based in Munich and London, has a lineup of film and TV productions in the pipeline that is being kept under wraps.
“From the outset, Al was a leading architect of our strategy in Germany,” said Vuelta Media Chairman Jerome Levy in a statement. “While we will miss his leadership, we embrace his passion for production and wish him all the best for his future journey,” he added, further noting that “given our combined synergies across Europe, we look forward to collaborating with him and his team in the future.”
Outside Germany, Vuelta, which is backed by private equity, owns France’s Pan and Playtime, Italy’s Indiana Production, WW Entertainment in Benelux and Scanbox Entertainment in Scandinavia, among other outfits.
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