Just four weeks after the surprise departure of Juergen Fabritius from Senator Entertainment, another executive: COO Friedrich-Carl Wachs has quit the company.

Wachs (pictured) had been appointed in April 2002 as deputy to chairman Hanno Huth and Senator's fourth board member with responsibilities for corporate development, corporate communication, investor relations and personnel.

At the time, Huth said that "a personality like Wachs can provide me with the necessary freedom to dedicate myself again intensively to German and international production".

According to German press reports, Wachs has already left the company although his term of employment had been officially terminated as of January 31.

While many in the industry had been doubtful of how long Wachs would last at Senator, his departure now adds fuel to the fire of those asking questions about the Berlin distributor-producer's future.

For example, the distribution arm's market share more than halved last year from 5.5% in 2001 to 2% and just Euros 18.9m in box-office takings.

Now chairman Hanno Huth is hoping to see a revival of the Senator of old with the autumn release of Soenke Wortmann's much anticipated Das Wunder Von Bern.