Michael Souvignier
Managing Director Zeitsprung Pictures
Excellent public support, a good infrastructure, big TV stations, lots of creative people, Europe’s biggest studio at MMC and experienced providers of services for cinema, films and television: for Zeitsprung NRW is the ideal production location and a major centre of the television medium.
Tom Buhrow
Director General WDR
NRW is a strong media region. And it will stay that way in the future. Therefore, it is important that we master the challenge of digitisation together with our partners. For WDR, this means that we will be strengthening our digital content and expanding our non-linear offerings. We need creative minds at our side to achieve this – so that we can still provide high-quality, independent and innovative programming for everyone in the future.
Michael Smeaton
CEO FFP New Media
With WDR and the RTL Media Group, NRW not only has two of the most important commissioners of programmes; the Film- und Medienstiftung is a strong and innovative partner for producers. We have outstanding film-makers in NRW and a very good infrastructure from studios through service-providers to postproduction possibilities.
Wolfgang Cimera
Managing Director Network Movie
NRW is an important region in Germany and at the heart of Europe, and this importance should be reflected in its media presence. The prerequisites are fulfilled in NRW in terms of logistics, financing and personnel to an outstanding extent. No-one who uses them will regret opting for this location.
Ute Biernat
CEO UFA Show & Factual
Cologne is the home of entertainment! Every third minute of TV programming is produced in and around Cologne, all the important players in the entertainment industry are based here and, thanks to the Cologne mentality, everyone is equal. The heart of entertainment beats in Cologne unlike in any other city!
Anke Engelke
Comedian and actress
Cologne is the perfect location for the things I do. There is a lot of overlap between friends and colleagues here, and I like to work with people who are also my friends. I do like to see how things are organized elsewhere. But I am always very happy to return to Cologne, where I see that things work as I like them.
Leopold Hoesch
CEO Broadview TV
NRW – it represents a luxury dilemma: everything is right on your doorstep, including an audience of 18 million that has no objection to seeing its own region on film. I ask myself why anyone would shoot anywhere else … ? We certainly like shooting here, and nothing is going to change that. Thanks to the Filmstiftung for its enduring support, which makes the location ultimately unique.
Regina Ziegler
CEO Zieglerfilm
Producing in NRW – often it used to be pure risk, but these days it is almost always sheer pleasure. The structures that have grown here in the last decades, most having been planted and tended by the Filmstiftung – that is what you could call a success story.
Henning Baum
Actor
For me, it's the people in NRW who constantly inspire and surprise me with their unagitated joie de vivre.
Annette Frier
Actress
It wasn't until during the shoot for Danni Lowinski that, as a native of Cologne, I got to know my city and large part of NRW again and in a completely new light: also nice to know that there really are still actors who can live here (from their work!!!) and we don't all have to move to Berlin...
Karin Kuhn
Head of Programme Division Entertainment, Family and Children WDR
The most important show producers are still based in Cologne and the surrounding area, the spectrum of excellent producers, authors, directors, commissioning editors and researchers is very good. And the best thing is: more and more companies are working both for private and public channels. A cross-fertilisation is good for everyone!
Oliver Schablitzki
Executive Vice President Multichannel RTL Germany, Managing Director SUPER RTL
As a television hub, NRW - and especially Cologne in this respect - is and remains top of the pile. A top-class and powerful TV industry has developed within the orbit of the RTL Deutschland Media Group and WDR, and this also offers an ideal environment for the growth of small channels like RTL NITRO.
René Jamm
CEO Warner Bros. International Television Production Germany
NRW is unique and versatile, and also great on a small scale. The federal state has everything one needs for life and making film and TV programmes except for a long coastline! For me personally, there isn‘t any better location apart from North Rhine-Westphalia.
Hermann Joha
Managing Director action concept Film- & Stuntproduktion
It's fun producing in NRW - that's not only because the locations are usually ideal and there is an existing infrastructure, but also as the support from the authorities and organisations is exemplary
Jörg Schönenborn
Director of Programmes Information, Fiction and Entertainment WDR
NRW is as diverse as WDR is varied - always with the aspiration of offering reliable information as well as quality fiction and entertainment in what are particularly difficult times. We are working together with the production community to concentrate on innovative linear as well as increasingly more digital projects.
Christoph Maria Herbst
Actor
NRW – it's all about mining resources. A region invents itself anew. The terms remain the same. Keep it up
Christiane Ruff
Managing Director ITV Studios
NRW is still ideal as a base for ITV Studios Germany. It was fantastic during this Coronavirus pandemic how quick studios like MMC or NOBEO were able to develop hygiene concepts and thus make productions possible so that the supply of programming for the TV channels was secured.
Sam Davis
CEO Rowboat
NRW is colourful, lively, bright and liberal. Those are characteristics which promote creativity, offer fertile soil for talents and make good work possible. We feel fine in NRW!
Martina Hill
Actress
NRW as a film region is a dream - so versatile, innovative, cooperative, creative, constructive and, above all, compact. For „Switch reloaded“, for example, we used Cologne for the harbour of Miami and then the LOST jungle on Hawaii, and both were just five minutes apart on the bicycle. Perfect.
Bettina Böttinger
Managing Director Encanto Film- und Fernsehproduktions GmbH
Nothing is far away in the media region of NRW and the communication is direct. And the success shows that NRW is on the right path – it's teeming here with innovative TV producers, film producers, YouTube stars and computer game developers. This diversity, in particular,has helped me feel so comfortable here as a TV producer and person.
Dieter Nuhr
Comedian
As a Düsseldorfer, I am not always pleased that something like Cologne exists, but you can't beat the settlement as a media hub. Without Cologne, you'd often only have the test card, That would be better than many other things, but no matter. Cologne is the tops as a centre for TV production.
Jan Böhmermann
Producer
Being creative and producing in NRW has many advantages. The infrastructure is outstanding, NRW is an unexhaustible source of humouristic inspiration, and the staff don't have arduous hairdos, meaningful tattoos or destructive attitudes like in Berlin.You'd be really stupid to produce anywhere else.
Stefan Oelze
Managing Director Rosebank
I am delighted that the special importance of the "entertainment" genre for NRW (accounts for two-thirds of the TV production) is being reflected by the ifs Master's programme "Entertainment Producing". It's the first ever in Germany.
Marcus Wolter
CEO Banijay Germany
NRW stands for vibrant, creative television production companies, a flourishing film industry and a growing digital economy. We are pleased to have found a real home for Banijay Germany in such a dynamic and innovative location as Cologne.
Lisa Ortgies
Presenter Frau TV
North Rhine-Westphalia is a federal state with many strong women and Frau TV is the only women's magazine programme on German television. That's only at WDR, that only exists in NRW, with such completely different people.
Sandra Maischberger
Journalist and CEO vincent tv
Whoever wants to produce successful television in Germany can't avoid NRW at all. This is where you will find the most attractive concentration of media houses, an incredible pool of creatives and an effective and dedicated funding system. You don't need any more.
Hana Geißendörfer
Managing Director Geißendörfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion
We think highly of NRW as a strong media and creative hub since this is where we benefit from a remarkably vibrant scene and, at the same time, a high concentration of qualified creative people as well as attractive shooting locations.
Philipp Käßbohrer
Managing Director bildundtonfabrik, Producer and Author
Highbrow culture and light enterainment exist side by side in NRW's production scene. Youtubers and quizmasters eat at the same kebab takeaway. Arthouse cinema, games and entertainment all enjoy good funding opportunities, and service providers have been very successful in adapting to the different requirements. An ideal breeding ground for complex productions on an international level.
Alessandro Nasini
Managing Director Bavaria Entertainment
Our federal state of NRW has a great tradition with its many media professionals. To ensure that it stays that way, it's also important for us at Bavaria to support young talent and keep the hub as attractive as possible.
Felix Wesseler
COO filmpool entertainment
filmpool has been producing from a base in NRW since 1974 , at times in Cologne, and then in Hürth. Then as now, the location, region and people are internationally unique and, in terms of density and diversity, ideal for the production of moving image content.
Gerda Müller
CEO Bantry Bay Productions
In addition to the outstanding infrastructure and excellent funding opportunities, great diversity and creative know-how have been concentrated in Cologne and the surrounding area for years. Above all, professionalism and passion come together here. A connection that is indispensable for all our Bantry Bay productions.
Sabine de Mardt
CEO Gaumont Deutschland
As a media hub, NRW provides a variety of broadcasters, creatives as well as European partners. More importantly: the most populous federal state is home to the majority of the people we want to entertain. And we also feel at home here.
Arnim Butzen
Senior Vice President TV & Entertainment Deutsche Telekom
NRW is the home of Deutsche Telekom and an important media hub. At Magenta TV, we benefit every day from the diverse creative landscape and fantastic media infrastructure.
Lutz Heineking Jr.
Managing Director, Creative Director eitelsonnenschein
The places and possibilities are as varied as North Rhine-Westphalia'sunwieldy description as a media region. A provincial backwater is different – alright, but so is a metropolis. For me, it's home and inspiration: I just happen to come from here.
Kai Sturm
Head of Creative Circle RTL
NRW is my home and BVB my club! I feel a special connection with the people who live here. For many of our formats, they are the best protagonists you could wish for!
Nina Klink
Managing Director Seapoint Productions
NRW with the TV capital of Cologne is a location that offers us great diversity: whether it be a glittering dance floor, a late-night stage or a summer house in Bocholt. What’s more, there are fantastic qualified personnel. A guarantee for good TV entertainment, even in challenging times. We’d probably produce all our formats here if we also had the sun, sea and sand.
Iris Baumüller
Casting Director DIE BESETZER CASTING
NRW is home for me - both privately and professionally. NRW has a vibrant and diverse film, theatre and acting scene. And AnnenMayKantereit! ("Zu Hause bist immer nur du")
Stephan Schmitter
CEO RTL Deutschland
NRW is full of creative minds and enthusiastic media professionals - the best conditions for producing good media content that finds its audience on all channels. With many projects that we produce locally for our linear channels and RTL+, we are happy to contribute to strengthening NRW's film and TV industry.