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Night Train picks up long-term backing

Herbert L Kloiber’s Night Train Media (NTM) has received “significant, long-term” investment and hired a former StudioCanal and Tandem Productions exec to head development and coproductions.

Herbert Kloiber Jr

Kloiber, former MD of Germany’s Tele München Group, launched NTM as a developer, coproducer, financing partner and distribution specialist for in-house and third-party projects in February.

The Munich-based firm has now received an undisclosed amount of investment from Serafin Group co-founder Philipp Haindl, which will cover complete funding of its current and future projects, as well as future company growth, the firm said.

Serafin is a diversified industrial investment group also based in Munich with an annual turnover of US$1bn in 2019. As Serafin typically focuses on industrial sector investments, NTM will remain independent from its other activities and will not be integrated into the group.

Meanwhile, Olivia Pahl has been named as head of development and coproduction, having previously held similar roles at StudioCanal and Tandem Productions, which she joined from Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 Media in 2015.

Pahl served as co-executive producer of Shadowplay, the eight-part thriller produced by Tandem Productions and Bron Studios, and co-financed by ZDF, NENT, Canal+, NC+ and NPO, and as a development executive on Moscow Noir, Sanctuary and The Lawyer.

Olivia Pahl

Pahl will oversee the firm’s expanding slate of film, network television and streaming projects, while Haindl and Kloiber are eying future strategic growth opportunities.

The media company has already partnered with NENT Group in the Nordics, Starlings Television and Canada’s Mediabiz International to develop the futuristic, female-driven augmented reality drama Veil.

It has also joined with UK producer Blackbox Multimedia on a series based on the novel The Ex-Wife by Jess Ryder, scripted by Catherine Steadman, who starred as Mabel in Downton Abbey.

Also on the slate is Doppelgänger (8×45′), an English-language crime drama with Argentina’s Avi Films. The German-language adaptation of the series stars August von Wittgenstein (Das Boot, The Crown).

“Being nimble, having a short decision-making process and significant liquidity are major advantages for us now in securing great projects when other major players are sitting on the sidelines,” Haindl said.

“This flexibility provides NTM with the chance to adjust our strategy quickly, depending on fall-out from Covid-19, and take advantage down the road of strategic media growth opportunities in Europe and throughout the world.”

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