EXCLUSIVE: Seriesly Berlin has unveiled its full two-day line-up.
Alongside the overhauled pitching sessions announced last week is an intriguing session titled ‘Too Many Cooks? Turns Out, That’s the Recipe!’, which will reverse the usual notion of too many partners ruining a production by suggesting that no single broadcaster can foot the bill for a high-end series in today’s market.
It will use the Sky-ZDF co-production Under Salt Marsh and ZDF-SVT series Summer of 1985 as case studies, with Tobi De Graaff from Sky Studios, Jennifer Ebell from Fifth Season, Britta Meyermann from Odeon Fiction and Frank Seyberth from ZDF talking about the trust and trade-offs required.
Another notable talk is from Samuel Jefferson, the head writer and co-creator of ZDF and Apple TV medical drama Krank Berlin. ‘Entschuldigung, mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut’ (‘Excuse Me, My German Is Not So Good’) will look at developing German series in the English-language and using the friction between languages as a creative tool.
There are also sessions on co-production in Europe and in Germany, featuring the likes of Alina Kemper from SPIO, Alessia Sonaglioni from the Council of Europe, Johannes Kagerer from Produktionsallianz and international specialist Irina Ignatiew-Lemke.
Two keynote interviews, both hosted by Deadline, will see creator and producer Fleur Winters and Media International COO Matthieu Tholin in conversation.
Winters (Big Blue) will grant delegates an exclusive first look at big-ticket Dutch period drama Grand Hotel By the Sea, which was in development for seven years before building a budget commensurate to the ambition.
‘Beyond the East-West Co-Production Myth,’ a session held in partnership with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, will explore what is creatively possible when Central and Eastern Europe is read not as a collection of small markets but as a network of interconnected production ecosystems. It features exec producer and international scripted consultant Kateryna Vyshnevska, Jevgeni Supin from Zolba Productions, Tereza Polachová from Czech Television, Anna Rohde-Seyfried from Beta Film and Kjartan Thor Thordarson from Sagafilm, who will bring exclusive clips of Icelandic-Polish thriller Signals.
Elsewhere are talks on storytelling under threat, cultural diversity and democracy, queer representation, true-crime docu-series and creators.
Seriesly Berlin will be held on September 15-16 at the Fotografiska in Germany’s capital city. It is funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
