Freedom for Creatives – A portrait of producer duo Maren Schmitt and Lucas Schmidt
What do vampires and a chambermaid with superpowers have in common with the protagonists of Mascha Schilinski's "In die Sonne schauen" ("Sound of Falling")? They all originate from Studio Zentral, a production subsidiary of ZDF Studios, which has been enjoying success in the German-speaking market with a huge range of projects since 2020. They include the vampire series "Love Sucks," the mini-series "Angemessen Angry" about a superheroine hunting sex offenders, and quintessential arthouse cinema such as the film "In die Sonne schauen" which won the Prix du Jury (ex-aequo) in Cannes.
What is the common denominator in this line-up? "What all these projects have in common is that we are passionate about them," says producer Maren Schmitt, who oversaw production of "In die Sonne schauen" with Lucas Schmidt. "They are all different in terms of format and genre, but we can take responsibility for every single one and muster the passion to invest several years in making them."
In the case of "In die Sonne schauen," Maren Schmitt and her colleague Lucas Schmidt, co-founder of Studio Zentral, were completely convinced after reading the very first one-pager in 2020: "We saw very early on that this was something extraordinary with a very special vision that had never been seen before," Schmitt says.
This diversity is also reflected in Studio Zentral's particular structure with its 40 employees in Berlin being primarily involved in producing. Every creative can contribute their personal preferences and backgrounds. "That meant we were then much faster than expected in becoming an important player in the market," Schmidt explains.
These preferences were shaped by their experiences of following public television. While Schmitt enjoyed watching Edgar Wallace's German crime films with her father, Schmidt discovered American and French film classics which were still being shown on public television during prime time in his youth. However, neither of them originally had any concrete plans to pursue a career in production. Schmitt, who had been cast in a small film role at the age of nine, wanted to do something in the industry, but initially focused on a course in Cultural Studies, among other things. After completing her Master's degree, she visited her sister at the EICTV film school in Cuba. "That really ignited my passion for film, and I realised that I actually wanted to tell stories."
She then went to Argentina for five years to study film – in part because she was interested in co-productions with Latin America. It was there that she then produced her first short film, "Aurelia y un sueño" (dir: Kathrin Frank), in 2012. "Sometimes, you have to take a detour to get to where you really want to go." The experiences she gathered at that time were not only extremely important on a personal level: "By gaining a foothold in a new culture, I learned to assert myself in different professional contexts," she recalls. In 2019, she completed a Master's degree at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. At the same time, she founded the production company Sailor's Yarn with her sister and produced the long-term documentary "Adelheid, Kornelius und die Töde" (dir: Kirstin Schmitt) which she released through her own distribution outfit in the cinemas in 2019.
Lucas Schmidt also initially took a different path despite his passion for cinema and pursued TV journalism during his studies in England and the USA until he came to the realisation: "I can also turn my hobby into a career." Apart from the experience he gained as Director of International Originals at Netflix in Amsterdam, the most important part of his professional life before Studio Zentral was the 20 years he spent as a commissioning editor at ZDF's 'Das kleines Fernsehspiel' unit: "That's where I learned how valuable it is to have patience and trust when working with young talents, without having to focus on short-term success." Among the numerous films he was responsible for during this time were, for example, the novel adaptation "Feuchtgebiete" ("Wetlands") by David Wnendt (2013) and the international drama "The Tale" by Jennifer Fox (2018).
The mentality of the two is reflected in the company's general philosophy: "We try to give the creative team as much freedom as possible on every shoot – always in the interests of the project," Schmidt says. "I think that this is also something that’s recognised in the industry."
Author: Rüdiger Sturm