Guests at Meeting Point Television 2011
Steve Stark
Steve Stark launched Steve Stark Productions less than two years ago and has since produced four television pilots, three of which have gone to series. Steve currently serves as Executive Producer on USA Network’s new series, Fairly Legal, as well as NBC’s new fall drama series The Event. Prior to forming his own company, Stark developed CBS’ long running Medium while serving as President of Grammnet Productions. He also executive produced a number of other series including The CW’s comedy The Game and the U.S. version of The Sketch Show for FBC. Stark previously served as Executive Vice President of Development at Columbia Tri-Star Network Television and before that he held the position of Senior Vice President of Current Programming at Paramount Network Television where he shepherded over 1300 episodes of such series as Frasier, Cheers, Star Trek: Voyager, among many others. Stark was also heavily involved in the development of the original Star Search. Stark, a graduate from Northwestern University is the recipient of the Entertainment Industries Council Special Commendation, a Genesis Award, The Prism Award and The Golden Reel Award and is an Imagen Award nominee. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Stefano Semeria
In 1999, after studies in law, cultural studies and European ethnology, Stefano Semeria graduated in audio visual sciences. He then began work as a format scout at typhoon networks ag. Subsequently Semeria was active as a program planner at Das Erste, Germany's first publicly owned television channel, in Munich. From there, he transferred to ORB (the public broadcaster for the federal state of Brandenburg) in Potsdam-Babelsberg as head of programming. Starting in fall 2003, he worked on the creation of a new department for international market observation at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. He acted as Head of International Format Research there until March 2009. In April 2009, Semeria began work as a freelance consultant focusing on TV and online formats. In April 2010 Semeria founded allscreenz. From January 2011 he will take on a new challenge as Head of Program Planning of SFR, the newly labeled and reconstructed Swiss national television now focusing on convergence. He is a member of the multiplatform jury at the prestigious Rose d'Or Festival, key note speaker and regular lecturer at renowned universities and institutes.
Steven Bachelder
Professor in Artistic Expression in Convergent Media at the University of Gotland. In 2001 Steven Bachelder cofounded the game design education. He is also the appointed chair for the International Research School of Game Design (IRSGD) in collaboration with Uppsala University. Bachelder has been teaching in the interactive arts and convergent media since the origin of hypertext and the CD-rom. Bachelder’s focus in games research is the definition of the core essence of game design and its potential in creating new forms of culture and participatory art.
Hanne Palmquist
Hanne Palmqvist, Denmark, head of Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Hanne Palmquist has 17 years experience in the film industry and recently worked at TV2 Denmark as Head of International Sales. She has worked as a producer at Fine & Mellow, acquisition manager at Nordisk Film, head of PR and international sales at Zentropa and Trust Film Sales, and has also worked at the DFI and Filmkontakt Nord. Palmquist holds a masters degree in Culture and Esthetics and a bachelor in World Literature.
Kari Moen Kristiansen
Kari Moen Kristiansen is co-owner of and producer at Tordenfilm AS. The TV series Koselig Med Peis was her debut as producer, but she has extensive experience in film production as a freelance production manager. In the period 2003 - 2007 she worked as a project consultant for feature films and drama series at the Nordic Film and TV Fund. She graduated from Den Norske Filmskolen in 2002 with the creators of Koselig Med Peis, Thomas Seeberg Torjussen and Daniel Voldheim.
Martin Persson
Martin Persson is CEO, co-owner and producer of Anagram Production since 2005. His recent productions include feature films as Four More Years, Mr. Governor and Morgan Pålsson-World Reporter. For television, he has produced, among others The Strong Man, The Gynaecologist From Askim and Cleo. He has recently coproduced Lapland Odyssey and Forbidden Fruit by Dome Karukoski, Pop! by Simon Staho, Happy End by Björn Runge and The Investigator by Attila Gigor.
Lene Heiselberg
Lene Heiselberg, cand.mag. media science. Audience and media researcher at The Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR Medieforskning). Specializes in qualitative methods. She conducts audience research in collaboration with DR Fiction and has worked on Sommer, Isa´s Stepz, Borgen and Absalons hemmelighed.
Christian Wikander
Christian Wikander has 27 years experience in the TV industry as a drama originator, film director, assistant director and producer in several TV-series. Together with Peter Falck and SF he created TV Spartacus company. TV Spartacus has produced TV series Three Crowns for Swedish Channel 4 and Seven Sister’s for TV2 in Norway. Christian was Executive producer on the daily drama series Hotel Caesar (which he also co-created) for TV2 Norway. He was also the Executive Producer of The truth about Marika (I-Emmy award, Cannes 2008). Currently Christian is the Head of Drama on SVT (Swedish Television).
Johan Mardell
Johan Mardell, Rolf Sohlman and Lisa Dahlberg, three seasoned industry executives in the Scandinavian film & TV market, founded Pampas Produktion AB in 2008. For 15 years Johan worked at Sweden´s public broadcaster SVT, during the last 5 years as Head of Fiction. After that he served as Head of Production at AB Svensk Filmindustri, Sweden´s largest film production company. During that period he produced among others the two movies about Arn, Sweden´s highest budget features productions to date, with over 1,5 million attendants at the box office.
Tomas Eskilsson
After working as a teacher and researcher Tomas Eskilsson started Film i Väst 1992. He is the CEO of the company. Film i Väst is Scandinavia’s leading regional production centre (film fund). Film I Väst invests in more than 30 feature films every year, 4 TV-drama productions and 40 short films and documentaries. A majority of the feature films are non-Swedish. Recent co-produced films include Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, Florin Serbans If I Want To Whistle I Whistle, Susanne Bier’s Golden Globe winner In A Better World, Nils Arden Oplev’s The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo, Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me and David Mackenzie’s Perfect Sense. Film I Väst has co-produced all Lukas Moodysson films, and all Lars von Trier films since Dancer in The Dark. Film i Väst is a public company owned by Västra Götalandsregionen (Region Västra Götaland). Film i Väst is one of the biggest regional film funds in Europe. The yearly budget is approx 12 MEURO.
Hans Rossiné
Hans Rossiné has been Head of the Drama Department at NRK (Norway National Broadcaster) since April 2001. Under hans leadership, the TV drama unit has become the single most important and influential producer of television drama in Norway. NRK Drama produces series as well as single dramas, including numerous co-productions with Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Its notable popular, prize-winning and critical successes over the years include Black Money, White Lies, The School, Inspector Sejer, At the King’s Table (International Emmy nominee, 2005), Ibsen – A man Immortal, Hunter, The Berlin Poplars and the all time high long running series Blue Sky Blue.Hans also has an extensive background as chief theatre critic and television critic at the newspaper Dagbladet. He is Ambassador to Norway for the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, chairman of The Norvision Drama Group and former Vice-President of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) Fiction Group.
Tommy Jarnemark
Tommy Jarnemark is Head of TV4 Play and On demand TV4 Digital Media, part of the TV4 Group, the leading broadcasting company in the Nordic region. He holds P&L responsibility across the TV business on new platforms, including OTT, web, iphone, android etc. He is also responsible for key TV4 products including, TV4 Play and Premium and TV4.se
Pontus Bergdahl
Pontus Bergdahl has been chief executive of MMS since 2004. He began his career at McKinsey & Company in 1993, where he served primarily newspaper clients, and then joined Modern Times Group, the Scandinavian TV and media group, as corporate business development manager with responsibility for TV distribution agreements and the introduction of digital satellite distribution. In 1998 Pontus joined Informed Sources, the London based media strategy consultants, and served clients such as Canal+, United News and Media, BSkyB and Ericsson, on strategy and business development. In 2000 he founded Columbitech, a security software company in Stockholm, where he served as chief executive until he joined MMS in 2004.
Julia Skott – moderator
Journalist and film and TV critic who has worked in both TV, radio, print and web. She has a Master's degree in Film Studies that includes studies in cultural criticism, ethnology and moral philosophy. Skott writes about culture, media, politics and the Internet, in publications such as Weird Science, Same But Different, Nya Affärer and Aftonbladet.
