From studying to the crisis?

In mid-January, the 42nd Max Ophüls Preis film festival, one of the most important German festivals for up-and-coming filmmakers, took place in an online edition. Stella Flicker from Hamburg was also represented in the festival's short film competition with her film "I AM". The 26-year-old accompanied the project as Creative Segment Producer. "I AM is my graduation film at the Hamburg Media School. And of course it's great when you end up directly in the Max Ophüls competition," says the graduate happily. A ray of hope in times of corona. Filming has been allowed to take place again under strict conditions for some time now, but the first lockdown in 2020 has hit many freelance filmmakers, production companies and service providers particularly hard. The number of cinema films shot in the north more than halved from 22 to 9 in 2020. And graduates are also noticing this decline. "My original plan was to start working for one of my lecturers in a production company after graduating. Unfortunately, the offer was put on hold for the time being due to the current situation. I also sent unsolicited applications to a few companies, but very little came back. And there wasn't much advertised on the relevant portals such as dwdl.de, Crew United or Blickpunkt Film," says Flicker. She now has a job lined up with a major Hamburg production company for March. But it has been a long road to get here.

Her fellow student Benedikt Maurer was luckier. After completing his graduation film, the Hamburg native joined the film project "Am Ende der Worte" as Production Manager: "It was a really lucky coincidence, as the Unit Production Manager of my HMS graduation film ended up at Klinkerfilm and introduced me to CEO Linus Günther," says Maurer. After the HMS graduation films had already been shot under Corona conditions, Maurer was able to deepen his knowledge while shooting "Am Ende der Worte". Since filming finished shortly before Christmas, he has been looking for a job. "There aren't many jobs on offer in Hamburg at the moment if you want to work for a production company," says the 32-year-old. Nevertheless, he is not thinking about moving at the moment. The "Nordlichter" programme for young talent and the various committees of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein offer support. Working as an independent Executive Producer is too risky for him as a young professional from a financial point of view. The search for a production company therefore continues.

For many graduates, the advertising industry is a lucrative place to work if they can't make it in the fiction sector. HMS graduate and Director of Photography Felix Tonnat has been working as a freelancer in the advertising sector for some time: "Fortunately, I don't have the financial pressure that you usually have after graduating. The commercials give me a bit more freedom and in return I can better support artistic projects that are close to my heart," says the 31-year-old. Parallel to his commercial shoots, he works on the development of various film and series formats. "I like to enter into a dramaturgical dialogue with the Directors as early as possible," says Tonnat.

Camera colleague and HMS graduate Akim Trueller is currently also working in advertising and is also a colourist. In January, he rented an office in Hamburg for this purpose and converted it into a grading suite. "The lockdown has slowed things down a lot. But it was good for me personally. Sorting things out for myself, thinking about which direction I want to go in and which steps are necessary to reach my goal," says Trueller.

HMS graduate Steffen Gerdes is also active in the advertising sector and has worked mainly as a Creative Producer and Post Producer since graduating. However, when his contracts come to an end in mid-February, he would prefer to take up a permanent position with a Hamburg production company and currently sees his chances of doing so as very good.

During the lockdown, one professional group was booming: Script Writers. Because concentrated work on material is usually perfect from home. What's it like as a young professional? "Immediately after graduating, I was able to work on a film project as a Segment Producer Assistant, which I got through the HMS mailing list. However, real "writing jobs" were not long in coming. At the moment, my prospects are relatively good. I'm working as a dramaturgical consultant and as a co-writer on a feature film. In winter, I wrote short formats for TikTok as a comedy writer, which was also a lot of fun," reveals Miriam Suad Bühler, who studied script at HMS. What the 23-year-old is currently missing is the opportunity to connect further with the industry, as festivals as a meeting place only take place online.

Caren Wuhrer, who completed her degree in Directors, feels similarly: "There are currently no festivals or general events where you can talk to people. That's why it would be great if there was an internal industry platform or online events for us graduates and the industry to exchange ideas and present our films and ourselves. I think starting a career is always difficult for Directors, but during Corona it's even more of a challenge," says Wuhrer. That's why she is currently using the time to work on various screenplay ideas for feature-length films and series. In December, the 31-year-old also shot a music video for the Hamburg band Junokill.

Executive Producer Giacomo Vernetti, with whom Wuhrer made her graduation film "Funkschatten", was immediately drawn to another country. In June 2020, Vernetti applied for the "Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris" postgraduate programme - and shortly after graduating, he moved to Paris at the beginning of 2021 after a stopover in Ludwigsburg. "It was a seamless transition. I hope that the situation will have improved somewhat by the time I'm through with the Atelier," says Vernetti.

And how does Hamburg Media School view the coronavirus situation for its students? "2020 was also a pretty crazy year for us. All of the scripts for our graduation films had to be rewritten or, in most cases, written from scratch in order to be able to shoot in a coronavirus-compliant way," says Richard Reitinger, Artistic Director of the film programme at HMS. A huge amount of extra work, which often meant that students were busy completing their film until December 2020 - even though the course officially ended in October. The current situation does not seem to be a deterrent: according to programme coordinator Patricia Steber, the number of applicants has not changed compared to the previous year and the students have adapted well to the new form of teaching. Networking with the industry is also still taking place thanks to the changing lecturers.