Video Age International April 2016

22 April 2016 V I D E O A G E telephone booth waiting for a call to go through to Stockholm. I had been given a scrap of paperwith a four-line synopsis for Ingmar Bergman’s new film, The Silence . As was typical for the director nobody knew much about the plot and it was thanks to somebody on his staff that I knew anything at all. When the call finally came through I bought the trilogy Through A Glass Darkly , Winter Light and The Silence for a million Swedish crowns [about U.S.$1.5 million in today’s money] only to get into a heated argument with my boss, Leo Kirch, who thought I had bought All These Women (in color and a flop) while I had three movies in black and white. Eventually, The Silence passed censorship and Germany was one of the few countries where the movie was shown uncut, as it was a work of art. It became one of the highest grossing titles at the time.” Moritz firstmetMIP-TV founder BernardChevry in 1962, when Chevry was trying to market a documentary that he produced, and asked Moritz to sell it. Chevry quickly realized that facilitating the buying and selling of programs could be more profitable than producing them, which Moritz encouraged. At that time the only markets were MIFED in Milan and Prix Italia, which, Moritz said, was the best way to meet broadcasters even though, he recalled, “we were only allowed to talk to the acquisition executives, and we didn’t even know the names of people in charge of programming.” About Cannes, Moritz recalled: “When the old Palais was still standing and the [adjacent] Blue Bar was an important meeting place during the Cannes Film Festival, I negotiated with [Mexican producer] Gustavo Alatriste for German-speaking rights for his latest film Viridiana by [director] Luis Buñel. Being careful, I asked for and obtained a signed five-point deal on the back of the [Blue Bar’s] menu. The next day, the filmwon the Palme d´Or. Alatriste first tried to wriggle out of the deal but then stood by his signature. This was in May 1961.” At times, selling arts TV programs was difficult even in Scandinavia, the biggest consumer of the genre: “Trying to sell a series of Karajan concerts to Finland’s Mainos TV, I failed miserably,” said Moritz. Later, talking to Mainos’ founding president Pentti Hanski, he promised to help. I was invited to their brand new offices in Helsinki where a buffet lunchhadbeen laidout for the office staff. I had been charged to bring the most popular of the series, which was Alexis Weissenberg playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number 1. We had drinks and a screening after which Pentti asked everybody present whether they would like to see this on their channel. The answer was an overwhelming ‘yes’. I got my series placed, which garnered very good ratings between Christmas and New Year against an popular YLE comedy show, which nobody could have beaten anyway.” He recalled another funny story. “It must have been 1967 when I was desperate to get some deals with Sweden’s SVT, who were upset because Beta Film had bought up European rights in all important Japanese art-house movies and had them restored. Public service broadcasters at that time preferred to deal at source and didn’t like distributors a bit. I eventually cornered the program director Nils-Erik Baehrendtz with his deputy Lars-Erik Kjellgren in the old Palais during MIP-TV and asked for a meeting. After having vented their frustration about the impossibility to acquire the Japanese titles from the Tokyo producers they suggested they would do business if I supported their Pippi Longstocking project to the tune of 900,000 Swedish crowns [US$1.3 million in today’s money]. I agreed and various deals were done. Back home I got into trouble because it turned out that SVT had seen every possible ARD station with the project and everybody had turned it down. But when the series and feature films finally were finished they become successes everywhere.” ( By Dom Serafini ) Int’ l TV Distribut ion Hal l of Fame (Continued from Page 20) International TV Distribution Hall of Fame Ronald Reagan - The Custom Made President Distributed by Poorhouse International Ltd. Wichita Films Salute Reiner Moritz With your integrity, professionalism, drive and passion You are indeed a pioneer in shaping the TV distribution industry Congratulations And warmest wishes to our distribution partner Poorhouse Clara and Julia Kuperberg wichita films 80 rue des Saints Pères 75007 Paris France www.wichitafilms.com Poorhouse - Witchita films ad.indd 1 14/03/2016 09:55