Germany’s Construction Films hires Marcus Ammon as part of leadership rejig

Construction Films’ co-MDs (L-R) Marcus Ammon, Veronica Ferres and Ralf Berchtold

PR/Construction Filmproduktion

Germany’s Construction Films is strengthening its top team by increasing its managing directors from one to three, having hired Bavaria Fiction’s Marcus Ammon and promoted chief financial officer Ralf Berchtold.

Founder Veronica Ferres was previously solo MD but she will now share the job with Ammon and Berchtold. In addition to his role as a producer, Berchtold will also be responsible for finance and legal.

Ammon was most recently MD of content at rival German scripted firm Bavaria Fiction for four and a half years, during which time he held overall responsibility for the content of all the company’s productions and projects. His primary tasks included the development, acquisition and exploitation of TV and streaming productions and casting, as well as PR and marketing.

Before joining Bavaria Fiction, Ammon worked at Sky Deutschland, where he was most recently senior VP of original production, responsible for establishing and expanding in-house production. In this role, he represented Sky Studios in the development and production of Sky Originals such as Babylon Berlin, Das Boot and Pagan Peak.

From 2003 to 2009, Ammon was MD of MGM Networks (Germany). Between 1999 and 2002, he was head of programming at Universal Studios Networks Germany, where he was responsible for programme acquisitions and planning for the channels 13th Street and Studio Universal.

Berchtold has supported the company since its founding phase and became commercial director before being upped to CFO. Since 2022, he has also been working as producer and was responsible for projects including The Weight starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, and Ghost Elephants from Werner Herzog.

Ferres said: “Ralf has been with me since the company was founded and impresses me every day with his expertise and wonderful team spirit. I have valued Marcus for a long time and greatly admire his career path. With him, we now have a very experienced sparring partner on board who will enrich Construction Films with his extensive knowledge and high standing in the industry,” said Veronica Ferres.

Construction Films, with offices in Munich and Los Angeles, was founded in 2013 by Veronica Ferres and is known for coproducing feature films Hector & the Search for Happiness starring Simon Pegg, Stellan Skarsgård and Rosamund Pike, The Devil’s Violonist starring David Garrett, Herzog’s Salt & Fire and ZDF drama Tod auf Raten.

In TV and streaming, The Unforgivable, directed by Nora Fingscheidt and starring Sandra Bullock and Viola Davis, marked its first collaboration with Netflix. Further productions include Entführt – 14 Tage Überleben from Marc Rothemund for RTL+.