Banijay Group’s Brainpool TV GmbH raised €1M crowd-sourced funding to produce Stromberg – The Film

Cologne, Germany, 10-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — Cologne-based Brainpool TV GmbH, a Banijay Group company, will bring its cult comedy TV series Stromberg to the big screen thanks to 1 million Euros in fan funding raised in a 7 day period toward the financing of the film. After five successful and multi-award winning seasons on ProSieben, Bernd Stromberg, Head of Claims Settlement at Capitol Insurance, will hit cinemas in Stromberg – The Film on February 20, 2014.

Brainpool placed the call for crowd funding via its online channel www.MySpass.de, a German internet comedy content hub. Alongside the crowd-sourced funding, Stromberg – The Film is sponsored by the NRW Film and Media Foundation, the German Film Sponsorship Funds (DFFF), and the German Film Board (FFA). ProSieben is on board as TV partner.

Andreas Scheuermann, Brainpool CEO, said, “We are absolutely thrilled at the level of fan support that we have seen for Stromberg – The Film. Above all the creative team is grateful to the many Stromberg fans in Germany. They really got behind our plans and have enabled the production to go ahead by raising an extraordinary amount of money in a such short amount of time to see their hero on the big screen.”

Stromberg – The Film has been scripted by Stromberg “Mastermind” and producer Ralf Husmann and directed by Arne Feldhusen. Christoph Maria Herbst features as Bernd Stromberg, Bjarne I. Mädel as Berthold “Ernie” Heisterkamp, Oliver K. Wnuk as Ulf Steinke, Diana Staehly as Tanja Steinke (nee Seifert), Milena Dreißig as Jennifer Schirrmann and many other familiar CAPITOL colleagues.

Out of the office and into the bus! In Stromberg – The Film, the entire staff of Capitol embark on a very special kind of company trip. Outside the normal crazy office environment, Stromberg yet again proves himself the kind of boss you wouldn’t wish upon your worst colleague, the master of pointed worldly wisdom and trouble-shooter. Sarcastic, cutting and egocentric as ever, he always manages to go too far – and sometimes even a little bit further.

Further information about the film can be found at www.stromberg-der-film.de.

All episodes from the TV series can be found at www.MySpass.de, the central platform for the Stromberg community and all fans who supported the film via crowd funding.

Brainpool TV GmbH was founded by Jörg Grabosch, Martin Keß and Ralf Günther in 1994 and is today one of Germany’s most successful independent TV producers for comedy and light entertainment. Every year, Brainpool produces almost 320 hours of television programming, broadcast by Germany’s leading broadcasting stations including ProSieben, Sat.1, RTL and Das Erste.

Between November 2001 and July 2002, Brainpool TV GmbH was a subsidiary of VIVA Media AG. In 2004, Brainpool and music channel VIVA were sold to the MTV parent company, Viacom. As a result of a management buy-out in December 2006, Brainpool is once again independent. The international media group Banijay Group and Brainpool have been participating in a joint venture since July 2009.

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