Warner Bros. International Television Production Acquires Majority Stake in BlazHoffski Holding B.V.

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:05:23 +0200

Amsterdam, London, Burbank 28 September 2011: Warner Bros. International Television Production today announced that it has acquired a majority stake in BlazHoffski Holding B.V., a leading independent television producer in The Netherlands and Belgium, in a deal which will also see the studio distribute BlazHoffski’s formats and finished product internationally. The announcement was made today by Ronald Goes, Executive Vice President and Head of Warner Bros. International Television Production and Taco Ketelaar, CEO BlazHoffski Holding.

Founded in 1996 by Dan Blazer and Erik van der Hoff, BlazHoffski specialises in the creation of high quality, non-scripted entertainment and reality programming for the major television channels in The Netherlands and Belgium, and is responsible for productions including internationally-acclaimed reality show “Hello Goodbye”, “Figure it out”, "Intensive Caring" award-winning comedy “Tower C” and “ CIA” – created by Dahl TV, a company acquired by BlazHoffski Holding B.V. last year.
Warner Bros. aims to establish operating production companies in major territories around the world and to become a leading local producer of scripted and non-scripted programming. Following Shed Media in the UK, the acquisition of a majority stake in BlazHoffski marks the next step in this strategic growth initiative.

Ronald Goes, Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. International Television Production said: “Our objective is to partner with the best possible talent in each key market. BlazHoffski has a strong creative and commercial track record, an excellent management team and outstanding broadcaster relationships. I am certain that, as part of Warner Bros., BlazHoffski will continue do more of what they do best – create and produce high quality content that can become franchises and be exported to create local versions in other markets around the world.”

Taco Ketelaar, CEO, BlazHoffski, said: "The international appetite for our formats and talent pool has been growing rapidly and the strategic fit with Warner Bros. could not be better in helping us to broaden the roll-out and enhance the international footprint of our properties and to further our growth."

Erik van der Hoff, Co-Founder, BlazHoffski: "It’s fantastic that our ideas and creativity have been noticed by one of the greatest brands in the entertainment industry. The partnership works inspiring and stimulating. I’m sure it will lead to beautiful television and other suprising material.”

Dan Blazer, Creative Director and Co-Founder, BlazHoffski; "This is a dream come true to be a part of the Warner Bros. family. We are very excited about this deal which we believe will open up new opportunities for our business, both creatively and by providing access to Warner Bros. worldwide distribution and creative network. Together, we will create a powerful partnership, benefiting both from our own business here in the Netherlands and Belgium and also helping us to offer our programming to other international broadcasters.”

Lockerbie Revisited wins again Gold at NYF International Television & Film Awards

Tue, 17 May 2011 14:32:10 +0200

The documentary Lockerbie Revisited of Gideon Levy, in co-production with VPRO and ARTE, won a Gold Medal for best TV documentary at the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards in Las Vegas last April.

The movie also won the Prix Europa and in 2010 the documentary was nominated for a Banff World TV Award.

The award show was held for the 54th time. It is the second biggest film- and television festival in the world. From more than 35 countries producers sign up with their movie or documentary. About 90.000 people came over to Las Vegas to see the show, the exhibition or to watch all the entries of the producers.

Click here for a trailer and more information about Lockerbie Revisited.

Figure it Out - New season in production

Tue, 17 May 2011 12:42:05 +0200

After a very successful first season, ‘Figure it Out’ is recommissioned for a second series. In September 2011 the new season will be on air.

‘Figure it Out’ was one of the highest rated programs on public channel 3. The show had more than 500.000 viewers every episode, which is far above channel average.

Host Stefan Stasse gathers all the information which he gets from his colleagues: Sofie van den Enk, Ajouad El Miloudi and Sander de Kramer. They are constantly traveling and searching for information about the true costs and economical motives of people and companies.

‘Figure it Out’ leads the viewer through the jungle of numbers in order to get the answer to the question: what does it cost? And what do(n’t) I get? Nobody knows anymore what something really costs. Ever since we first introduced the accounting system the world changed into a big mess of numbers. And the worst is: we don’t even have to count anymore. Everything is already calculated. The only thing we have to do is: pay the bill.

Every episode of ‘Figure it Out’ starts with a question from a viewer like: I don’t understand anything about my energy bill. I would like to get a cat, but what does that cost me? And What is the price of dying? The information collected by Sofie, Ajouad and Sander will be processed in a file. Stefan will do the math.

Presentation: Sofie van den Enk, Ajouad El Miljoudi, Sander Kramer and Stefan Stasse.