From ‘Redakteursfernsehen’ to ‘showrunners’: Commissioning editors and changing project networks in TV fiction from Germany

The Redakteur, the commissioning editor in TV fiction, has frequently been criticized in current public and industry-internal discourse on ‘quality’ series and the supposed lack of them in Germany. This article takes a closer look at this hardly examined but very important actor in German television. Based on expert interviews, it discusses how this profession is negotiated within the industry and how its role is changing in light of the broader transformation and transnationalization of the TV industry in Germany. Shifts in fictional content and its distribution have led to fundamental changes in the work of editors and their involvement in collaborative project networks. For example, the demand for ‘quality’ serials, ideally distributed in different countries, is accompanied by the adoption of writers’ room and showrunner models. Hence, the relationship between editor and screenwriter is transforming, too. The previous cooperation between editor and producer is also ripe for discussion, as signs point to a move away from 100 per cent financing by broadcasters, which was the rule in German television fiction for a long time. New financing models are negotiated in conjunction with online distribution, which fundamentally restructures the editor’s role. However, so far, linear broadcasting slots still form a central basis of editors’ work.