From ‘Redakteursfernsehen’ to ‘showrunners’: Commissioning editors and changing project networks in TV fiction from Germany

Abstract

The Redakteur, the commissioning editor in TV fiction, has frequently been criticized in current public and industry-internal discourse on ‘quality’ series and the supposed lack of them in Germany. This article takes a closer look at this hardly examined but very important actor in German television. Based on expert interviews, it discusses how this profession is negotiated within the industry and how its role is changing in light of the broader transformation and transnationalization of the TV industry in Germany. Shifts in fictional content and its distribution have led to fundamental changes in the work of editors and their involvement in collaborative project networks. For example, the demand for ‘quality’ serials, ideally distributed in different countries, is accompanied by the adoption of writers’ room and showrunner models. Hence, the relationship between editor and screenwriter is transforming, too. The previous cooperation between editor and producer is also ripe for discussion, as signs point to a move away from 100 per cent financing by broadcasters, which was the rule in German television fiction for a long time. New financing models are negotiated in conjunction with online distribution, which fundamentally restructures the editor’s role. However, so far, linear broadcasting slots still form a central basis of editors’ work.

Youthification of television through online media: Production strategies and narrative choices in DRUCK/SKAM Germany

“…Varinka Link from the ZDF was primarily responsible for accepting the episodes, and Max Fraenkel from funk was in charge of accepting the additional online media content (Bouatra, 2020). The online supervision demonstrates a certain expansion of the commissioning editors’ usual tasks and a further step away from their alignment with linear schedules (Krauß, 2020b: 187). A prioritisation of online media more generally characterises funk, with its digital and social media-driven approach (Stollfuß, 2019/2021).…”