K5 International

K5 International is an international sales company.

History

Bill Stephens, Daniel Baur and Oliver Simon established a new international sales company, K5 International, in January 2007. The three are partners in the new entity and have offices in Germany and the UK.

Bill Stephens handles sales and marketing from London, Oliver Simon in Munich over sees development and production, with Daniel Baur based in Cologne for finance and business affairs. K5 is also represented in Los Angeles by Kerry Rock.

Strategy

The new company combines international sales expertise and an in-depth knowledge of film production, finance and business affairs. Through its extensive relationships, K5 International has access to some of the most dynamic distributors worldwide, making it a knowledgeable partner and an ideal home for producers and their projects at all stages of production – from development through to distribution.

With a determined strategy on quality over quantity, K5 International seeks to represent 4 to 6 feature films per year with budgets up to $15 million. Priority will be given to commercial English language productions with unique qualities – be it story, cast, director or producer. K5 International works closely with its producers in all aspects of the production and sales cycle – financing, production, sales & marketing, distribution and collection.

K5 International is uniquely positioned in being able to offer co-production partnerships with Germany through its sister company, K5 Film, which has broad experience accessing film production subsidies in the German speaking market. Combining their offices and access to funding in Germany and UK, and with the strengths of the partners’ solid background K5 is able to offer producers a wide range of financing, production and international sales opportunities.

Staff

Bill Stephens

Bill Stephens (Sales and Marketing-Partner) has worked in film sales for over 25 years, including 14 years as Director of Sales & Marketing at Film Four where he worked with many award-winning directors such as Mike Leigh and Ken Loach as well as Danny Boyle on hisground-breaking and international hits Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. For 2 years he was Director of Sales for Renaissance Films and then in 2001 set up his own independent consultancy company, Nexus, where he advised clients on various aspects of sales, marketing, and festival-market launch strategies.

Daniel Baur

Daniel Baur (Business Affairs-Partner) is an entertainment lawyer with extensive experience in finance and production. He is a graduate from the Media Business School in Ronda and worked at Deutsche Bank in the media division and the European Commission. Since 2002 he advised national and international film production companies. In 2005 he joined Oliver Simon in K5 Film where he handles all business and legal affairs. Daniel is a founding partner of K5 International.

Oliver Simon

Oliver Simon (Production-Partner) established his production company K5 Film in 2001 where he has produced five feature films. In 2006 his ilm Happy As One was in Official Selection of the Berlinale and was also nominated for Best Film in the German Film Academy Awards. Prior to K5 Film, Simon co-founded FreeX the first German script development agency in Munich in 1994. He is a graduate of New York University’s Dramatic Writing programme and has been involved in over 20 productions as a co-writer, or script editor. He is also a member of Ateliers du Cinema Europeen (ACE).

Karin Binnberg

Karin Binnberg (Assistant Sales & Marketing) is in charge of project submissions and project evaluations at K5 International, having joined K5 Film in May 2006. She has 12 years experience in the area of film development, including areas such as project development, licensing and film financing subsidies.

Filmography

The Visitor (2007)--Distribution
A college professor (Richard Jenkins from Six Feet Under) travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds out that his apartment is occupied by a young immigrant couple. The Visitor was written and directed by Tom McCarthy (The Great New Wonderful, Flags of Our Fathers) .

The film was presented on Toronto International Film Festival but has not yet been theatrically released. Production and distribution companies apart from K5 International include include Groundswell Productions, Participant Productions, Next Wednesday Productions and Overture Films.

Notes and References

1. Homepage of K5 International 1
2. Homepage of K5 Film 2
3. K5 International/Film at the Internet Movie Database 3
4. K5, Stephens launch sales company, Adam Dawtrey, Variety, January 16, 2007 4
5. K5 takes in 'Visitor', Adam Dawtrey, Variety, October 31, 2007 5