Red Arrow International takes off

German distributor SevenOne International intends to push its stable of sister prodcos further into the global market, after rebranding itself in line with parent company Red Arrow Entertainment Group.

From today, SevenOne will be known as Red Arrow International (RAI) as part of plans to help expand the worldwide reach of the group’s 17 production companies in nine countries.

The Munich-based distributor launched in 2004 and has built a portfolio that includes hidden-camera format Benidorm Bastards, gameshow Family Showdown and reality series Culture Shock.

It is also building a slate of English-language drama series, such as Lilyhammer, Jean Reno cop series Le Grand as well as TV movies from US producer Larry Levinson and, more recently, Canadian company Chesler Perlmutter.

More than 50% of RAI’s slate comes from third-party producers but MD Jens Richter told C21 the company will now work more closely alongside its sister production companies.

In particular, it will seek to secure cofinancing and coproduction partners for upcoming projects. Last month, Sundance Channel in the US struck a deal with Red Arrow’s UK-based prodco Endor Productions to become a coproduction partner on the latter’s drama Restless.

“In the last seven years, we’ve had a terrific run at SevenOne,” said Richter. “We launched out of nothing and within that time we’ve brought it to a pretty good stage in the international market, particularly in the last 12 months.

“Now it’s time to launch the next stage. It’s a pretty logical step. We’re pretty good at connecting people in terms of producers and broadcasters. Now, more and more, we want to connect our Red Arrow companies to the international market.

“We picked this moment because we have some terrific projects with third-party producers. As Red Arrow International, we want to keep our relationships with those third-party producers. More than 50% of SevenOne comes from third-party producers but we now want to do more productions with Red Arrow companies too.”

Red Arrow Entertainment is part of German broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Other prodcos within Red Arrow include CPL Productions, Mob Film Company, Nerd, Kinetic Entertainment, July August Productions, RedSeven Entertainment and Snowman Productions.

Earlier this month, RAI partnered with another Red Arrow stablemate, Fuse Entertainment, to develop a crime drama based on Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch crime novels. RAI is also in the process of establishing a new sales office in Hong Kong, which is due to open next month.