Backed by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Plot Next is a new conference format taking place at Cologne’s Seriencamp Conference featuring speakers from across the research, production, VFX, virtual production, media strategy, and marketing spheres on June 11 and 12.
The new interdisciplinary conference has unveiled its speaker lineup and announced an alliance with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which will host the first international expansion of Plot Next in July as part of its Industry Days.
The event is rooted in exploring how AI and tech innovation are reshaping processes across production, development, distribution, marketing, and creative collaboration with representatives from across Europe. Participating companies and institutions include btf (bildundtonfabrik), BBC R&D, FFA, UFA Fiction, Ukbar Filmes, Serienwerft, BetaSeries, TEKTITE, BDA Creative, Doclights, and Hyperbowl. The event will be opened by Walid Nakschbandi, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.
“The industry is currently searching less for visions than for orientation and concrete solutions,” said Gerhard Maier, head of Plot Next. “That is exactly where we come in: we want to demonstrate how technological developments can be applied in practice—and which strategic decisions need to be made today in order to remain relevant tomorrow.”
The speaker lineup includes the German Federal Film Board FFA’s Norina Lin-Hi, BBC R&D’s Graeme Philipson, btf’s Julian Schleef and Matthias Murmann, Hyperbowl’s Philipp Kreuzer, UFA Fiction’s Guido Reinhardt, and the Creative Industry Council of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy’s Stephanie Meisl. Delegates will also hear from Italian VFX specialist and AI workflow strategist Davide Tromba, 255pix’s Max Barkman, producer and showrunner Pandora da Cunha Telles, Felix von Rautenberg of Doclights, and Rémi Tereszkiewicz of BetaSeries, among others.
