Germany's VIP prisoner
Schmid back in business despite doing time
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Schmid, producer of such films as the Oscar-winning “Monster,” is now running Berlin-based Senator Entertainment’s international sales unit.
The one-time film financier landed the position earlier this year after he was allowed to serve his time in an open-custody facility where he’s free to work during the day but must remain incarcerated at night.
While he won’t be attending AFM or Cannes any time soon, Schmid is keeping busy working the phones, selling titles from Senator’s vast library, among them the World War II thriller “Enigma,” starring Kate Winslet; lesbian war drama “Aimee & Jaguar”; Marlene Dietrich biopic “Marlene”; and the Peter Jackson-penned “Jack Brown Genius.”
Under Schmid, VIP raised nearly $1 billion from German investors to bankroll more than 50 films for the likes of Warner, Sony, the Weinstein Co. and countless indies, including “Alpha Dog,” “Lord of War,” “Stormbreaker” and Bruce Beresford’s “The Contract,” starring Morgan Freeman and John Cusack.
Schmid’s meteoric career came to a seeming end when he was arrested in 2005 on suspicion of fraud and tax evasion during the German government’s crusade against private tax-shelter investment funds.
The court found that VIP had used only 20% of investment funds for production, banking the rest to collect interest and secure bank guaranties -- a fraudulent practice that excluded investors from fully writing off their investment.
Thanks to Germany’s trusting work rehab programs, Schmid is now getting a second chance.
