ITVS, Polter to set up premium scripted label
UK-based ITV Studios has poached Moritz Polter from Bavaria Fiction to launch a premium, international scripted label in Germany.
Moritz Polter
Polter is the exec producer behind Sky Deutschland original Das Boot as well as Freud for Netflix and Austrian pubcaster ORF, and Arctic Circle for ZDF, Elisa Viihde and YLE.
He will join ITV Studios and launch the as-yet unnamed scripted company later this year.
Based in Germany with an international scope, Polter will bring his expertise in the creation, financing and delivery of high-profile international productions to the new venture.
In his most recent position as exec producer of international television series at Bavaria Fiction, he built a specialist division in the German market that created several successful multi-territory coproductions for linear broadcasters and international streamers.
He will report to Lisa Perrin, MD of international production at London-based ITV Studios. The name of the new label, whose series will be distributed internationally by ITV Studios, has yet to be revealed.
Perrin said: “We have long been aware of the scope for high-quality European drama to find international success, but currently the opportunity is at a record high. Increasingly, well-produced German drama series are proving themselves to have global resonance and several of the most successful have been brought to screen by Moritz Polter.”
Polter added: “ITV Studios is a great partner which is looking for the same thing I am looking for: bringing together exceptional talent behind and in front of the camera to create exciting, thought-provoking and entertaining programmes that reach local and global audiences alike.”
Prior to his role at Bavaria Fiction, Polter spent nine years with Tandem Productions (fka Tandem Communications), ultimately as VP of production. In this capacity he supervised numerous outstanding productions, including the internationally successful TV series Crossing Lines, starring Donald Sutherland and William Fichtner, and Spotless, a Canal+ Création Originale series.
As part of ITV Studios’ expansion drive in the global drama market, the production and distribution group now includes the global scripted producers Cattleya in Italy (Gomorrah, Suburra, ZeroZeroZero), Apple Tree Productions in Denmark (Equinox, Blackwater), Tetra Media Studios France (Balthazar, Paris Police 1900), World Productions (Bodyguard, Line of Duty, The Pembrokeshire Murders) and Mammoth Screen in the UK (The Serpent, Poldark).