Bosses At ‘Clangold’ Producer Beetz Brothers Hail Skydance For Backing Casey Bloys: “A Strong Sign The HBO Line Will Continue”

Ever since Paramount and Warner Bros. merged, producers around the world have been wondering what it will mean for their prospects. For Germany‘s Beetz Brothers, which launches crime doc Clangold on HBO Max globally on November 13, the appointment of Casey Bloys as Skydance’s content chief is a “strong sign” those making high-end, mainstream productions will be well served. Georg Tschurtschenthaler, Chief Creative Officer at the Berlin-based Beetz, addressed the merger in an interview with Deadline, noting that “some information” about the new business was trickling down to international producers. “There was relief because Casey Bloys remains at the top of the structure, which is a strong sign that the HBO line will continue,” he said. “The launch of [HBO Max drama] Four Blocks Zero was a big thing in Germany. All the newspapers reported on it, and internationally it reached the HBO top 10. That was a very good push. The signs seem positive, although that is simply what we know at this stage.” Watch on Deadline Christian Beetz, co-CEO and co-founder at Beetz, added discussions for program orders remain separate with HBO Max and Paramount+, though Skydance co-CEO David Ellison has said they will eventually merge into one service. “They currently have very different programs,” he said. “I think there is still some time to go.” HBO Max’s upcoming four-part doc Clangold centers on one of the biggest criminal cases in Germany’s history, when a 100kg Canadian gold coin known as ‘Big Maple Leaf’ was stolen from Berlin’s Bode Museum in 2017. The story, directed by Jan Zabeil, follows the investigation into the audacious heist, the legal proceedings and prosecutor Katrin Faust’s cat-and-mouse struggle with perpetrators, but is considered humorous and light-hearted at times as the absurdity of the situation is revealed. Members of the Remmo family, an influential Mhallami-Arab group in Berlin whose image is fueled by rap and film, were ultimately convicted of the robbery and the doc looks closely at them. Beetz restructure For the Leonine Studios-owned Beetz, which is known for docs such as Sundance doc Eternal You, the launch of Clangold comes after it restructured this year under six genre labels. Christian Beetz and Georg Tschurtschenthaler Beetz Brothers Premium content arm Beetz Originals was responsible for Clangold. The others are Elon Musk Unveiled – The Tesla Experiment producer Beetz Investigate; Wacken – Hearts Full of Metal maker Beetz Music; Beetz Sports, which is making a film about World Cup winner turned extreme sports competitor André Schürrle; The First Lady maker Beetz Queer; and Beetz Factual, which made Trump’s America. Tschurtschenthaler and Beetz said this was partly in response to a belief the market is becoming increasingly commercial just as the film festivals that have traditionally underpinned their business model chase artistic movies. “We had an internal debate about how to position ourselves, and we arrived at the phrase, ‘We want to entertain — entertainment that resonates,'” said Beetz, who launched the company with his brother Reinhardt 26 years ago. “In contrast to some other projects, we add complexity and depth because we think there is a big audience that wants to be entertained but also wants to learn something,” added Tschurtschenthaler. “That was the core of Clangold. It is a heist story, so but have reinvented the crime genre a little – it is very funny and the first episode is really entertaining, but a second layer goes deeper into the controversial topics of organized crime, migration and integration.” He added the restructure was also based on expertize within the company. “In this more challenging market you need to be outstanding with every project,” he said, while Beetz added the global streamers’ focus on entertainment meant, “Every click counts and that is where the money is.” Beetz estimated his company has won in excess of 150 awards, but has shifted focus away from the likes of IDFA and Sundance to the International Emmys and other ceremonies that are “closer to the market” in 2026. “This is a substantial change,” added Tschurtschenthaler “In the old days – maybe three to five years ago – having a film in competition at Sundance would automatically trigger sales and bring in a large audience. That is not the case anymore. The digital world works differently, and that has led to a fairly drastic change in our strategy.” 2027 plans Upcoming projects include ZDF doc Countdown to the Midterms, which follows how the race for Congress is shaping up on both sides, with analysis from the likes of Tucker Carlson, Phil Murphy and Karen Attiah. German filmmaker Marcel Mettelsiefen is directing the Beetz Factual show. Vienna, meanwhile, is a Beetz Original that goes inside the story of Taylor Swift’s three canceled concerts in the Austrian capital in August 2024 after intelligence was received about a planned terror attack by a teenager who was radicalized through TikTok. “We have the USP of Taylor Swift and the breaking-news element, but we are telling the inside story and exploring the relevance of a new type of Islamic terrorist — digital terrorists who do not necessarily speak Arabic or appear particularly religious,” said Tschurtschenthaler. “The story ultimately connects to the manosphere. At the end of the day, these are lost kids. Some move toward the right and some move in other directions.” The company’s Elon Musk doc, which looks into the alleged failure of the billionaire’s Tesla company to address concerns over deadly faults with the autopilot function of its self-driving cars, sold widely earlier this year. Kaleidoscope has the rights in the U.S., UK and Ireland, with Mediawan Rights selling it elsewhere. Mediawan, the French group that bought Beetz parent Leonine in 2024, has been looking at how its production assets can work together to fund projects. The company made news last month when it teamed with Reese Witherspoon to buy her Hello Sunshine business from Candle Media, adding it to a lineup also including Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and Slow Horses producer See-Saw Films. Beetz chuckled at the idea of co-producing with Witherspoon, but said the bigger focus was identifying its own IP that could work internationally as scripted projects. “Then we can bring them together with the right people from the fiction side,” he added.