Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion Sets ‘The Netanyahu Paradox’, Alex Parkinson Sea Rescue Doc As Indie’s Founders Talk Up Opportunities After Selling To Leonine Studios
13.10.2022 - 12:43
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: German doc maker Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion is lining up feature-length projects on former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and another from the UK’s Lucy, the Human Chimp director Alex Parkinson.
Deadline can reveale the Reeperbahn Special Unit 65 producer, which we last week reported had sold to Leonine Studios, is working on The Netanyahu Paradox and Lost at Sea – The Longest Night (working title).
The company has also confirmed a second season of Reeperbahn – Special Unit 65. It is already part-funded, with the award-winning doc series about German cops fighting organized crime in the 1980s moving into the 1990s for a new run.
The news came in a wide-ranging interview with Gebrueder Beetz co-founders Christian and Reinhardt Beetz, in which they discussed how being part of a consolidated group would impact their independent approach and revealed the existence of a deep development fund that will allow them to make up to 15 premium doc series and/or one-offs per year. You can read the full interview below.
“It’s a huge step, going from a family business to a consolidated business,” Christian Beetz told Deadline. “After 20 years in the market, we know the challenges and the changes in the space, and Leonine will help us to grow and to make what we love: crime docs, series and premium factual.”
The Netanyahu Paradox, currently in pre-production, is a feature-length doc from Inside the Mossad’s Duki Dror. It’s based on the best-selling biographies of Netanyahu chronicler Ben Caspit, who has unrivalled access to the politicians’ inner circle.
The doc will look at how Netanyahu’s personal demons and abusive relationships within his family affected how he led Israel and the Middle Eastern region to