German Exec Dirk Schweitzer Exits Splendid to Run Cologne Studio MMC Group
Veteran German film and TV executive Dirk Schweitzer has left his position as CEO of producer/distributor Splendid Medien and has taken over as CEO of MMC Group, the parent company of Cologne’s MMC Studios.
Björn Siecken, former CFO at Splendid, will join Schweitzer as CFO of MMC. Nico Roden will stay on as managing director of MMC Studios, who run the Cologne backlot, and Bastie Griese will remain managing director of production division MMC Movies, working together with Schweitzer to expand the company’s film and TV operations nationally and internationally.
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Former Splendid boss Andreas Klein, son of company founder Albert E. Klein, has returned to run the company as CEO. Schweitzer took over operations at Splendid from Klein in 2020, with Klein continuing as an advisor to the company. Schweizer joined Splendid in 2013 from producer/distributor Tele-München Group, where he was managing director. Before that, he spent 10 years in program acquisitions and sales at German commercial broadcaster RTL Group.
Beatrice Dreyfus of Novum Capital, owner of MMC Group, called Schweitzer and Siecken “two proven experts,” who together with “proven managers Nico Roden and Bastie Griese” will not only “further expand MMC’s film activities and promote them internationally but also to continue the growth path of the entire group in the TV and event sector.”
MMC boasts more than 290,000 square feet of studio space and a 40-acre backlot. The studio has recently played host to The End, the scripted debut of Oscar-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing) starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, and George MacKay; Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi and I with Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Fall actress Sandra Hüller; and Joe Penna’s sci-fi drama Stowaway featuring Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim and Toni Collette.
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