Submarine

After ten years at the Dutch public broadcaster, Bruno Felix and Femke Wolting felt they had more in them. Together they started Submarine, a cross-media production company making series, feature films, documentaries and animation.

Founder Bruno Felix tells the story.

“Submarine has been going for 23 years now. While we were working in Hilversum, Femke and I felt that we wanted more, that we were entrepreneurial enough to build something of our own. We wanted to tell stories our way. We both have endless curiosity and a passion for gripping an audience with a good story. Our curiosity takes in the whole world, and that is the audience we try to reach with our productions.”

Submarine produces media for every kind of audience, from toddlers to pensioners and everything in between, Bruno says. “We look for stories that speak to the moment. In our documentaries we often explore a possible future. For every project we can explain why it was worth making just then, for us and for the audience.”

Producing a film or series takes at least seven years, Bruno explains. “Developing a script takes two years, financing a film or series about four, and then you still have to produce and release it. An idea for a production usually starts with something that inspires us, or with the wish to make something wonderful for a particular audience. Sometimes we come up with it ourselves, sometimes we take an option on a book to turn it into a film or series. And occasionally a film-maker comes to us with an idea for a script.”

Every film producer needs a lawyer

Every production company has a legal partner, Bruno says. “Our entire trade rests on law. Without it the business would simply not exist, and there would be no money in it either. Copyright law is what guarantees that we can earn from our productions. It runs through every contract we enter into with writers, illustrators, actors and musicians. And the finished production has to be protected by copyright as a work in its own right. That is why you need good lawyers behind you.”

The idea is that the acquisition gives Submarine more clout, Bruno explains. “It strengthens our position in negotiations and in financing, and it gives Submarine continuity. I am ancient, of course, and the people who work here probably want to carry on for longer than I plan to. Nothing will change in the way we work and make creative choices, but the context we work in will. Creatively we stay small, commercially we can be big. We want to reach an international audience with our stories and keep people on the edge of their seats. Our ambition is to play in the Champions League, not to stay stuck in the second division. And of course we secretly dream of an Oscar. From now on we can lean on our big brother.”

Future projects

Before he retires, Bruno would still like to make a series for boys of around ten. “It is a dream of mine to make a series they still talk about years later, as grown men in the pub. It has to tell a real story, with soul in it. Something made not for commercial reasons but with a higher purpose. What the story will be is still open, but one of the ideas is an apocalyptic series for a young audience. As things stand, I still have about ten years for that.”

Submarine is also preparing an animated film about the early years of Vincent van Gogh. “The project sat on the shelf for a while, but the script is finished now and I am working on the financing. The film will probably be released in 2026. We are also making a series for toddlers, ‘Een jong katje Max’, and a feature-length animated film about Anton de Kom’s return to Suriname. We always have about ten films and series on the go at once, so we are never idle.”