Monday Media acquires Bastard Film

The production company Monday Media acquires Bastard Film’s assets and creates a new, strong player on the Danish film and TV market.

Today, the assets and activities of Bastard Film have been acquired by the production company Monday Media who among other produces sports programmes for Canal9 and CANAL+ as well as provide TV programmes for a number of other Danish channels, including Kanal 5 and TV3 Viasat.

For some time, Bastard Film has struggled with poor finances, primarily due to a great loss on the production of the documentary film The Blekingegade Gang. At the same time, they have long been on the lookout for a strong partner. And now they have found one.

The CEO of Bastard Film and producer, Søren Steen Jespersen, says: – as producer of The Blekingegade Gang, I am responsible for a loss of more than 3M on this film. I am deeply sorry for this, the responsibility is mine and mine alone. Thus, in the manner in which the finances of the company have developed, we have not been able to justify continuing our operation of Bastard Film. We have been working on various solutions and we are very happy that the activities may continue at Monday.

Esben Trier, temporary general manager and management consultant, adds: – Bastard Film’s documentary films, TV, corporate communication, advertising and web unit were in themselves healthy businesses. Unfortunately, they have not been enough to cover the loos of The Blekingegade Gang film as well as years’ of accumulated deficits. With Monday Media as the new owners, a sustainable future for the assets of Bastard Film is ensured, and we have made sure that any and all of the 32 jobs as well as all of the productions can continue as before.

The CEO of Monday Media, Morten Bank:- We are very happy to be able to continue the legacy and activities of Bastard Film, and we will continue to do so under the brand and spirit of Bastard Film. Bastard Film’s activities fit very well into Monday Media’s current plans and future ambitions.

The director of programmes of Monday Media, Martin Daalgard, says:- Bastard Film has some of the country’s best programmers and a very professional standard when it comes to productions, and we are excited about gaining access to a group of uniquely talented employees with years of experience within TV documentary production.

Through the years, Bastard Film, which has existed since the summer of 2000, has created an image for itself in the Danish media picture as uncompromising producers of documentary programmes, films and in later year’s advertisements and web productions.

Bastard Film has been awarded countless awards for its films and has again and again set the agenda with sensational journalistic programmes on the Danish TV channels. Currently, Bastard Film is behind the production of Operation X for TV2.

Bastard film was established by the journalists Søren Steen Jespersen, Miki Mistrati and Thomas Stokholm in 2000. Later, Helle Faber joined as a co-owner and producer. Monday Media was established by Morten Bank, Martin Dalgaard and Anders Dalgaard in 2008 and employs 25 employees.

Copenhagen on 1 October, 2009.

For further information, please contact:

For Bastard Film:

CEO Søren Steen Jespersen: Tel. 20 92 23 14.

For Monday Media:

CEO Morten Bank: Tel. 51 205 551 or director of programmes Martin Dalgaard: Tel. 22 129 129