News

Signalling one of the biggest European packages to hit Monday’s Mipcom, “Mozart/Mozart,” the latest big series swing from Germany’s Story House Pictures, behind Beta Film/Rtl mega-hit “Sisi,” has been boarded by Germany’s Ard and its Austrian public broadcaster counterpart Orf.

In further news, Clara Zoë My-Linh von Arnim, co-director of “The Zweiflers,” this year’s Canneseries best series and German TV Awards winner, is set to helm the series.

Based on one of Europe’s largest IPs and now backed by Ard, the biggest of Europe’s public broadcasters, “Mozart/Mozart” is created by Andreas Gutzeit – co-founder of Story House Pictures, the international studio of the Bavaria Film Group, and producer and showrunner on “Sisi” – and Swantje Oppermann, a staff writer on “Dignity” and a Story House development executive.

Bavaria Media International will bring the six-part show to market at Mipcom.

“Mozart/Mozart” is part inspired by historical fact.

‘Peppa Pig’ Writer Part Of Kartoon’s ‘Winnie-The-Pooh’ Team

Just days after unveiling a $30M, multi-year Winnie-the-Pooh plan, Kartoon Studios has unveiled its writing, directing and commercial team. Sam Morrison, who was part of the writing team for Nickelodeon’s Peppa Pig, has been named Head Writer, with Emmy winnner Michale Maliani the director. Kids TV industry veteran Paul Robinson, who was former Managing Director of Disney Channel Worldwide and is the current President of Kartoon Channel! Worldwide & Head of International Sales, will handle international distribution and former Paramount Pictures, Electronic Arts and Dic Entertainment exec Ryan Gagerman has been appointed Head of Global Licensing. He’s known for rolling out Strawberry Shortcake, on which he previously worked with Kartoon Chairman and CEO Andy Heyward. As part of Kartoon’s plan to make several feature films and a series based on A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books, a retail deal was...

Berlin — In a bellwether deal on one of the cutting edges of European TV, Zdf Studios has taken distribution worldwide on drama series “The Zweiflers,” produced by Turbokultur for Ard Degeto Film and Hessischer Rundfunk (Hr).

Created and showrun by David Hadda, the six-part series will premiere in Germany on Ard’s Mediathek streaming service in the spring and also be shown on Das Erste, Ard’s main linear channel, in the near future.

In an age of spiraling costs and a large need to cut through a still immensely crowded market, Europe’s public broadcasters –Zdf Studios, not Zdf in this case – are looking to partner. The most obvious partners are other state TV networks, even in their own country if the co-operation works.

“We have already added Ard Degeto Film projects to our portfolio before. And there will be more in the future. There are no limits to our choice of partners,...

Political assassinations, war, espionage, royal scandals, teen angst and magic: new German series are setting the bar ever higher in terms of challenging and risky subject matter.

The Berlinale Series Market’s Up Next: Germany showcase on Monday presented four forthcoming series projects that look set to entice international buyers:

Sperl Film’s political drama “Herrhausen – Lord of the Money,” about Deutsche Bank Chairman Alfred Herrhausen, whose mysterious assassination remains one of Germany’s most infamous unsolved murders; Studio Zentral’s “Feelings,” a coming-of-age mystery tale that boasts an innovative multi-platform distribution strategy; Contrast Film and Letterbox Filmproduktion’s German-Swiss co-production “Davos,” a spy-thriller set in the Alpine resort town during the World War I; and Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion’s “Juan Carlos,” an investigative documentary about the disgraced former Spanish monarch.

Presenting “Herrhausen,” creator Christer von Lindequist and actor Oliver Masucci discussed the impact of the 1989 assassination, which continues to reverberate in Germany.