Prime Video is new industry partner

With a new concept and industry partner, the "Masterclass Entertainment" of the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln will enter its second round in March 2023.
The compact further education programme with a focus on non-fictional entertainment is aimed at young creative professionals in the entertainment industry – such as editors, (junior) producers and writers – who want to expand their practical and theoretical knowledge and further qualify themselves for creative leadership tasks in non-fictional entertainment.

The ifs was able to win Prime Video Germany as a new cooperation partner for the Masterclass. Prime Video will support the programme both financially and in terms of content with experts such as Volker Neuenhoff, head of unscripted entertainment at Amazon Studios, the film and TV production and development department of Prime Video. In addition, the support of Prime Video makes it possible to award scholarships.
The programme is also supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, which was instrumental in initiating the implementation of non-fictional entertainment in education and training at the ifs.

Philip Pratt, head of German Originals, Amazon Studios: "Prime Video, Amazon Studios and the ifs share the goal of strengthening the training of young creatives to create amazing shows that excite millions of viewers. The Masterclass Entertainment is a great initiative to support up-and-coming creatives with the theoretical grounding and practical application examples that will enable them to pursue a successful career in non-fictional entertainment. We are extremely excited to contribute to the training of the next generation of innovative entertainment formats in the style of LOL: Last One Laughing and Apache bleibt gleich."

Petra Müller, Managing Director of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and Chairwoman of the ifs Shareholders' Meeting: "The partnership with Prime Video is a further boost for the ifs and the production location North Rhine-Westphalia. It confirms to us that we are on the right track with our industry-oriented training programme!"

Nadja Radojevic, Managing Director of ifs: "With the Masterclass Entertainment, we are once again sharpening the profile of our entertainment qualification – for the needs of a rapidly changing market and its young talent. I am very pleased that we can further strengthen our anchoring in the industry with our new cooperation partner Prime Video. My thanks also go to the sustained support of our shareholder."

Jennifer Mival, ifs Professor for Entertainment Producing: "With our content-related focal points of the "Masterclass Entertainment" such as storytelling or format development, we are responding to the current need to understand our creative craft in the context of new distribution possibilities and to whet the appetite for the associated opportunities of creative innovation. I'm all the more pleased to have an industry partner at our side in Prime Video Germany, which focuses on creative innovation and shows what innovative entertainment can do with award-winning formats like LOL - regardless of the platform."

Over a period of six months (March - September 2023), the "Masterclass Entertainment" offers a compact, in-service intensive training for creative leadership tasks in non-fictional entertainment. The focus of this further training is on the topics of storytelling, format development and creative leadership – as essential aspects of creative leadership and innovation in a changing market. In addition, the Masterclass promotes networking of the participants with each other and with the industry. The three three-day attendance modules at ifs are complemented by online sessions on specialist topics and genre trends, exclusive industry insights and case studies as well as networking events. The application period runs until 30 January 2023.

In addition to ifs professor Jennifer Mival, other distinguished players from the entertainment industry as well as experts from the fields of leadership and innovation management will be teaching in the Masterclass.

With the further education Entertainment, the ifs is responding to the high demand for skilled workers and the great economic and cultural importance of entertainment production, not least in NRW. The aim is to ensure the sustainable and innovative development of the industry in North Rhine-Westphalia as the leading entertainment location in Germany.
Since 2019, the ifs International Film School Cologne has been offering further education in various formats in the field of non-fictional entertainment. In 2021, the first Master's programme in Entertainment Producing in the German-speaking world was launched at the ifs under the direction of Professor Jennifer Mival.
Initiated and supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the state government of NRW, the Entertainment Qualification at the ifs was developed from the very beginning in close cooperation with the NRW producers, the Entertainment Master Class, the Film- und Medienverband NRW and the Allianz Deutscher Produzenten Film und Fernsehen e.V..

Founded in 2000, the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln is today one of the leading training institutions for audiovisual media in Germany. It sees itself as a central, internationally oriented training and further education institution for the audiovisual media industry. Its aim is to offer film and media professionals high-quality, future-oriented training in a close interweaving of theory and practice. The fact that it is located in the film and media centre of Cologne is particularly characteristic of its claim to be close to the industry. The shareholder of the ifs is the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

More info at www.filmschule.de/de/weiterbildung/masterclass-entertainment

Created on 07.12.2022