Existing content.
New format.
New revenue.
Your catalogue was finished for a screen people have stopped holding. Black Forest Studios recuts it for Snäxx — story architecture, edit, sound, grade, localisation, out of one house in Germany.
One title becomes many episodes — frames from your catalogue once we get started
The title is finished. The audience moved.
Everything expensive about a film has already happened: the cast, the shoot, the rights, the risk. What is missing is a version that fits the screen most people now watch on. That version does not need a production. It needs an edit.
Paid for, and standing still
Titles that finished their broadcast and licence windows keep costing storage and earning nothing. They are complete, cleared productions with no shelf on vertical platforms.
A second master, not a second shoot
The same footage, restructured into short vertical episodes with their own hooks and cliffhangers. One conversion produces a vertical Snäxx release and a horizontal one alongside it.
What actually happens to the frame.
Vertical is not a crop. Every shot gets a decision: what the frame follows, where the eye goes, what leaves the picture — and where the story cuts.
Subject tracking, shot by shot. The vertical frame follows the performance — it is keyframed per shot, not locked to centre. Two-shots that cannot hold both faces get split or re-timed.
Titles, signage and inserts rebuilt. Anything that only reads in the wide frame is repositioned or replaced, so nothing important sits outside the delivered picture.
Sound and grade carried over. The recut inherits the original mix and look. We conform, we do not re-invent.
A feature becomes a season.
The edit is the smaller half. The real work is structure: finding the episode breaks a vertical audience will follow, and giving every episode a reason to keep watching.
Example: a 90-minute feature becomes approx. 40 vertical episodes.
Episodes run 45 to 95 seconds. A hook lands roughly every 15 seconds, and every episode ends on a question the next one answers — that rhythm is what a vertical audience is trained on.
One conversion. Two masters.
Every episode is mastered vertical and horizontal from the same cut. The vertical set goes straight into Snäxx distribution; the horizontal set runs on YouTube, FAST channels and anywhere your existing pipeline already delivers. You pay for one conversion and get both release paths.
Not every title gives the same season.
How much usable vertical material a title yields depends on how it was shot and how it was written. We measure it per title before anything is quoted — which is why every engagement starts with an EVALUATE.
Share of source runtime that survives into finished vertical episodes.
Three steps, in this order.
EVALUATE – we read the title first
Rights check and yield forecast per title: what your music and cast agreements actually cover for vertical exploitation, and how many finished episodes the material realistically gives. €500 per title, credited against the conversion.
TITLE – we convert it
Story architecture, edit, reframe, sound, grade and QC. Every episode delivered in both formats, to your specs, from our post floor. Quoted per title, batch pricing on request.
GLOBAL – we take it to your markets
Subtitles and AI dubbing in the languages you need — timed, mixed and checked by our team, not dropped out of a tool. Priced per language, quoted with the title.
We price per title and discount title batches. Send us one title and we will come back with the numbers.
Delivered ready to publish.
Every episode in 9:16 and 16:9, your codec and container, QC'd against your delivery spec.
Per language, timed to the recut, as sidecar files and burned-in versions on request.
Vertical thumbnails and title cards pulled from the recut, ready for platform ingest.
A document showing which source timecode became which episode — so your rights team can follow it.
Clear boundaries, no fine print.
- ✓Your IP stays your IP. We are your post house. No rights, no shares, no participation.
- ✓Non-exclusive throughout. No territory locked, no window blocked, no first look attached.
- ✓Masters delivered to you. Full episode masters, both formats, your specs, your storage.
- ✓One partner, one invoice. Edit, sound, grade, localisation and QC under one roof in Germany.
The short answers.
What is RE:FORMAT?
RE:FORMAT is the recut service from Black Forest Studios for Snäxx: finished films and series are recut into vertical episodes, each mastered in 9:16 and 16:9. The vertical version can go into Snäxx distribution; rights, masters and exploitation stay with you.
How much does a recut cost?
It starts with an EVALUATE for €500 net per title: a rights check and a yield forecast, credited against the recut. TITLE (the recut) and GLOBAL (subtitles and AI dubbing) are quoted per title and per language. We offer discounts on title batches.
How many episodes does a feature film give?
A 90-minute film gives around 40 vertical episodes. The share of the source running time that arrives as finished episodes is 60 to 70 percent for dialogue-driven drama, 50 to 60 percent for series and daily, and 35 to 45 percent for wide-angle action and ensemble.
How long does a recut take?
Roughly five weeks for a full season, depending on the title and its length. We confirm the schedule in the quote, after the EVALUATE.
Who keeps the rights?
You do. Black Forest Studios is your post-production house: no rights, no shares, no stake, and no exclusivity. Complete episode masters in both formats go to you.
What is Snäxx?
Snäxx is the European microdrama platform: short vertical series with hard cliffhangers, every episode in 9:16 for the phone and 16:9 for the big screen.
How do we start?
Send us one title. We start with an EVALUATE, so you know the rights position and the likely yield before you commit to a recut.
Updated October 2026
Send us your title.
Start with one title and an EVALUATE. You will know the yield and the rights position before you commit to a conversion.
Book an EVALUATE — €500
Sebastian Weiland
Chief Executive Officer, Black Forest Studios
sw@blackforest-studios.com · +49 172 7324931
Have an already-vertical series instead, or want to co-produce with us?
Go to Creator & Partner