Leading German producer-distributor Constantin Film has announced a package of measures “to guarantee a professional and respectful working environment for filmmakers” after the publication of an independent investigation into allegations of abuse and bullying by actor-director Til Schweiger during production of Manta Manta - Zwoter Teil (MM2).
Constantin commissioned the investigation from Munich law film SKW Schwarz after German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported that, among other things, Schweiger had been intoxicated on set on several occasions, had assaulted a staff member of Constantin Film, and forced a female extra to play a nude scene which had not been in the original screenplay.
Interviews by SKW with 50 people involved during the film shoot confirmed that there had been “misconduct and incidents on the set of MM2 that did not meet Constantin Film’s demands for a good working environment”. It also noted that the regulations for working times had not been adhered to on several occasions.
The majority of those interviewed nevertheless rated the atmosphere on the film set as positive, i.e. “very good”, “good” or “OK”, and almost all of them said that they would work for Constantin Film again.
In a statement, Constantin Film’s CEO Martin Moszkowicz said that the company had “listened and dealt intensively with the accusations and incidents, critically scrutinised all issues and processes. We want to do everything we can to guarantee a professional and respectful working environment for the filmmakers. To this end, we are setting new, binding standards in motion and introducing further measures.”
On set measures
Constantin Film revealed that some of the measures had already been initiated “before or immediately after the allegations about MM2 became known”. Others are based on suggestions made by the law firm SKW and by a newly created external committee whose members include actress Alexandra Maria Lara, president of the German Film Academy; Bettina Reitz, president of the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF); and Klaus Schaefer, former CEO of the Bavarian regional film fund FFF Bayern.
The new measures being introduced by Constantin include the recruiting of external independent confidential counsellors to handle complaints from cast and crew about possible violations of the Code of Conduct or other regulations during a shoot; Code of Conduct workshops for all Heads of Departments before the start of shooting; the recruiting of a “team captain” alongside the director, producers and production manager to improve the lines of communication on set; and zero tolerance policy of non-compliance in documenting working hours of all those employed on a production.
The steps taken by Constantin follow some of the demands made by Initiative Fair Film in an Open Letter to Germany’s State Minister for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth following Der Spiegel article about Til Schweiger.
This initiative, which has gathered 25 German film industry associations including for assistant directors, stunt men and women, set decorators, talent agencies as well Crew United, Queer Media Society and Filmmakers for Future, said that the allegations levelled at Schweiger were “from our own experience…not an isolated incident.”
“The structures in the film and TV industry promote systematic abuse of power, tight time schedules, excessively long working hours and a lack of financial resources often lead to a physical and psychological overload of filmmakers in many productions.”
The Open Letter to Roth called, among other things, for the adoption of a Code of Ethics, along the lines of the model already introduced by the Austrian Film Institute, as well as the obligation for every film and series production to employ a wellbeing facilitator for the whole production process; and film funding only being granted if a producer could furnish proof that they had attending a seminar or workshop on the prevention of such issues as discrimination, abuse of power, sexual violence, mobbing and gender bias.
Schweiger breaks silence
Meanwhile, this week has seen Til Schweiger breaking his silence by giving an exclusive interview to the German weekly magazine Stern about his problems with alcohol, which was then quoted by the tabloid newspaper Bild on its front page yesterday with the headline “Yes, I am in therapy” (Oct 26).
“I don’t want anyone to be afraid of me. I want to become a better person,” the 59-year-old told Stern, adding that he was now restricting himself to only two glasses of white wine.
“If I want a third glass of white wine after the second one, I reward myself with something else,” he explained. “Wth jelly babies or vanilla ice cream. I’m not missing anything. I manage very well without the intoxication.”
No comments yet