EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning My Octopus Trainer maker Off the Fence (OTF) has discovered a purchaser.
Dutch channel group Perception TV has acquired the 31-year-old manufacturing outfit, however OTF’s in-house manufacturing arm shall be closing, with layoffs seemingly incoming. Perception declined to touch upon the variety of roles affected.
Amsterdam-headquartered OTF entered chapter proceedings a number of weeks again and was on the lookout for a brand new residence away from earlier proprietor ZDF Studios. That course of to seek out one has taken round a month and has now drawn to an in depth. No monetary particulars had been forthcoming this morning.
Perception boss Viktoriia Tkachenko mentioned as we speak OTF will “proceed to function as a definite model inside the similar group, serving as a springboard for additional progress, collaboration and innovation.” The pair have beforehand labored collectively on the InWild and InTravel channels.
On account of Perception’s “evolving third-party and co-production mannequin,” Perception is closing OTF’s in-house manufacturing arm. The pair mentioned that quite a few roles have been impacted and each firms are working intently with these affected, with a concentrate on “long-term alternative, not discount.”
Key employees at OTF have been retained with choose roles built-in into Perception TV’s business, authorized, and acquisitions groups. OTF boss Bo Stehmeier is staying on.
“The transfer brings collectively clear complementary facets of each companies which are essential in an adapting media atmosphere,” mentioned Stehmeier. “Within the very close to future, we can provide an entire set of companies and partnerships for the factual storytelling neighborhood, its audiences and types. Like OTF, Perception TV is keen about connecting world audiences by inspiring narratives and genuine real-life content material.”
Based mostly within the Netherlands, Perception runs quite a few networks and FAST channels together with InUltra and InPlus together with working with manufacturers like Pink Bull and the BBC.
OTF has made greater than 700 hours of exhibits over the previous three a long time, the bulk within the pure historical past area. It has been a stalwart of the worldwide factual area, which meant many had been shocked by the chapter proceedings, which started after the corporate bumped into monetary difficulties amid the powerful world market.
The corporate additionally constructed a big catalog all through its lengthy historical past, however really made worldwide headlines in 2020 when it produced Netflix doc My Octopus Trainer with filmmaker Craig Foster and subsequently received the Oscar for Finest Documentary Characteristic.
Ellen Windemuth launched OTF again in 1994 and initially led the enterprise as CEO, earlier than former Pink Arrow Studios Worldwide chief Stehmeier returned to the enterprise in 2021 and shortly turned co-CEO. Windemuth then stepped again to steer WaterBear Community, a streaming service devoted to the way forward for the planet. Earlier house owners of the enterprise embrace Germany’s RTV Household Leisure, which held the corporate between 2000 and 2002.
Tkachenko mentioned: “Each Perception TV and Off the Fence had been based on a shared perception within the transformative energy of storytelling and are aligned of their mission to ship visually beautiful, emotionally resonant content material to world audiences. Having labored intently collectively since 2020, significantly throughout our InWild and InTravel channels, this transfer deepens our shared dedication to delivering premium factual content material on a world scale.”