Craft is non-negotiable.
A frame is either right or it is wrong. We will redo it. We will not ask you to compromise on something that will be on a screen with your name on it for years.
Studio, est. 2011
A small studio with a long memory.
Gegenschuss is a Cologne-based media production studio. Still three people. Still in a backyard. Still standing.
While others scaled up, burned bright and quietly disappeared, we just kept doing what we do — and got better at it. No empire building. No overhead that eats your budget before the camera rolls.
Think of us less as a tanker and more as a very fast, very maneuverable boat with a fleet on standby. We get close to the shore. We get close to you. And when things need to move fast, we move fast.
We have been told we are too picky. We agree.
The studio, briefly
Founded in 2011 by two people obsessed with the cut.
Lena Brandt and Tomas Reuter met on a corporate film in 2009. Lena was producing, Tomas was on the cut. They disagreed about everything except how the film should end. Two years later they opened the studio.
Actually, that's what AI suggested this text should look like. Nice story. Total crap.
Here's what actually happened:
Patrick and Philipp made their graduation film together at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. It did well. Really well. Then they called Moritz — also KHM — and the three of them started Gegenschuss in 2011. The reason was simple: they'd rather make films their way than have someone else decide what that way should be. These days, that way is your way.
Still the same three. Still the same reason.
15Years in businessFounded 2011 in Köln-Ehrenfeld.
17People on the teamDirectors, producers, animators, sound.
900+Productions deliveredAcross six verticals and four continents.
92%Repeat-client rateMost of our work comes from people we already know.
Plans are nice. The unplanned take is nicer.Founder · Director
Patrick Doberenz
Patrick directs — live action, mostly. He started in documentary, which is where he learned that the best take is usually the one nobody planned for. He has been on set for the last 600+ Gegenschuss productions and knows where every cable in the studio lives.
If you’ve had a kickoff with us, you’ve had it with Patrick.
Impossible is just an unsolved scheduling problem.Founder · Producer
Philipp Enders
Philipp produces. Which around here means: he is the reason the budget makes sense, the calendar holds, the location is locked, and the client knows what is happening on Tuesday. He has produced over 700 of our productions including the ones that should have been impossible.
When clients say “we like working with you, you’re organised” — that’s Philipp.
Half rendering, half waiting for rendering.Founder · Animation lead
Moritz Grund
Moritz leads animation and AI visuals. He came up through 3D motion and now spends most of his week somewhere between After Effects, Houdini, and whatever AI pipeline we’re testing for the next quarter.
If your project has anything that needs to move that wasn’t filmed — Moritz.
No one watches for the brief.
Every film has to earn the next 30 seconds of attention, and the 30 after that. Briefs describe what the client needs. Films have to deliver what the audience wants.
The room is the work.
We pick clients we want to spend a quarter with. We pick crew we’d hire again. The work that comes out of those rooms is better. That is not sentiment, it is method.
We are not for everyone.
We turn down ~40% of inbound. Usually because the timeline is wrong, sometimes because the brief is wrong. The work we say yes to is work we can ship proud of.
What we share
Three people. One standard.
In the room.
Same three of us on every kickoff, every review, every grade. There is no junior team to hand you off to. There is also no junior team to hide behind.
~40 / year.
That’s our ceiling. We turn down ~40% of inbound to protect it. Smaller volume, more time per film.
Cologne, in person.
We work remote when we have to. We prefer the room. The room is where the work gets pickier.