COPENHAGEN -- Dogma helmer Lars von Trier's Zentropa Entertainments is axing 15 of its 85 staff members because of its reduced slate.
"Last year we made three major productions almost simultaneously -- von Trier's 'Dogville,' Per Fly's 'Arven' and Lone Scherfig's 'Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself' -- so we took on extra production people. Now we're going back to normal," said Peter Aalbaek Jensen, who runs the company with von Trier. "Two cancelled TV productions emphasized the necessity to cut down."
Two series cancelled
DR-TV withdrew from "Stewardesses" a 26-episode series that was a Danish-Swedish-Norwegian co-production, and TV2/Danmark pulled the plug on the 10-episode skein "Look Ahead," which it commissioned.
"This looks like an average year," said Aalbaek Jensen, "with one big feature on the schedule -- Thomas Vinterberg's 'Dear Wendy' -- and four or five smaller Dogma projects. But should von Trier be ready with his 'Manderlay' in September, we will need to hire 25 more staff," he added.
Last year Zentropa closed its division for international co-productions, Zentropa Intl., and recently its high profile TV operation, Tvropa, filed for bankruptcy.
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