Karel Segers

Current

Founder / Owner at The Story Department
Owner at OZZYWOOD Films

Past

Co-Producer at OZZYWOOD Films Pty Ltd
Head of Movies at The Digital Broadcasting Company
Head of Acquisitions at Canal+ Benelux

Producer at Radio 2 Omroep Brabant
Film Programmer at Filmnet

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Education

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Recommended

13 people have recommended Karel

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Motion Pictures and Film

Karel Segers’s Summary

Film producer and story development professional with a background in media content production, movie rights acquisition and radio production. Strong skills in script development, teaching of writing for the screen and mentoring. Proven success in tutoring first-time screenwriters and projects from concept to financing. Sharp eyes and unforgiving ears for post-production issues including cross-platform delivery of high-quality image and sound.

Karel Segers’s Specialties:

Story analysis, screenplay development, film production, 3D CGI, film project development and consultancy, post-production supervision.

Karel Segers’s Experience

Founder / Owner

The Story Department

(Entertainment industry)

April 2006 — Present (3 years 9 months)

The Story Department is an online resources and services center for screenwriters and filmmakers. The main focus is on story structure for feature film.

We regularly organise workshops and seminars and offer a broad range of high-level professional consultancy to screenwriters all over the world.
Owner

OZZYWOOD Films

(Motion Pictures and Film industry)

October 2001 — Present (8 years 3 months)

OZZYWOOD Films is a boutique film production company, founded in 2001 by Karel Segers, a former TV exec with over twenty years experience in the entertainment industry.

OZZYWOOD Films offers film development and production services as well as mentorship to emerging writers, directors and producers. Its story structure consultancy service is a first for Australia: http://ozzywood.com/story. Since 2003, this approach has successfully assisted both experienced and first-time writers in accessing funding for their projects.

OZZYWOOD Films has produced or co-produced short films, a feature film and a documentary, and has contracted with state and federal governments for development as well as production funds.
Co-Producer

OZZYWOOD Films Pty Ltd

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)

November 2001 — November 2004 (3 years 1 month)

Karel Segers has acted as a co-producer and script editor on Kieran Galvin's debut feature film PUPPY (www.puppythemovie.com). He also composed the film's original score.

With filmmaker James Middleton he co-produced the documentary RETURN TO PORT DAVEY. Upon completion in January 2003 the film was acquired by ABC Television for broadcast as well as for international distribution.
Head of Movies

The Digital Broadcasting Company

(Broadcast Media industry)

September 1998 — August 2001 (3 years )

In this startup on Sky BSkyB, I sourced classic and indie movies for premiere on NVOD (Near Video on Demand). DBC was the first independent to broadcast this set of rights to the UK.

Despite a modest budget and competition from existing broadcasters, I forged relationships with many London-based independent distributors. I negotiated local deals and attended major international film markets to acquire product.

I managed the programming of 21 NVOD movie and sports channels, plus one 24/7 promo channel for which we produced content in close collaboration with our marketing department.

With my team of four channel schedulers, I was involved with aspects of the development of Sky's EPG (Electronic Programming Guide), including Conditional Access and the interface system between Sky HQ and our scheduling department.

My responsibility included project-managing the development of the programming and scheduling software used by our department and its interface with the Sky system.
Head of Acquisitions

Canal+ Benelux

(Broadcast Media industry)

April 1996 — June 1998 (2 years 3 months)

As the Head of Scheduling and Acquisitions, I managed a team of channel schedulers, responsible for three 24/7 pay TV channels providing movies and sports to the territories of Flanders and The Netherlands.

I worked together closely with the CEO, marketing and the core acquisitions team in Paris to select, negotiate and program across the channels.

My department negotiated and acquired documentaries, TV series, TV movies and feature films from both local and international, independent and major Hollywood studios.

My trade market attendance included MipTV and MipCOM (Cannes, France), NATPE (US), Berlinale (Berlin, Germany) Mifed (Italy) and the AFM (LA).

Over the two years in this position, we managed to increase our subscriber base, while significantly reducing the cost of programming acquisitions. This was achieved by bold programming as well as original marketing ideas, such as limited exclusive TV premieres of specialist movies prior to their theatrical release.
Producer

Radio 2 Omroep Brabant

(Motion Pictures and Film industry)

1992 — 1997 (5 years )
Film Programmer

Filmnet

(Motion Pictures and Film industry)

1995 — 1996 (1 year )

Karel Segers’s Education

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Licentiate (Masters) , Germanic Philology , 1983 — 1988

Graduated with Honours in Dutch and English Literature and Linguistics. Minored in General Linguistics.

Dissertation titled “Tekstkenmerken, equivalentietypes en vertaalstrategieen bij ondertiteling” (About subtitling for film), 1988..

Activities and Societies:

President of Germania, the department's student club