Exclusive: Netflix has renewed German spy thriller Kleo for a second season.
The show is set in 1987 and follows East German spy Kleo Straub, played by Jella Haase, who kills a businessman in West Berlin while on a mission with a secret Stasi commando. Not long after, she’s arrested by the Stasi on spurious claims and denounced by everyone she knows. After two years in jail, the Berlin Wall falls, and Kleo is suddenly free, but she soon finds out that the conspiracy against her is much bigger than she could have imagined, and an ominous red suitcase appears to be the missing puzzle piece.
Kleo season one was unveiled on a mega Netflix Europe slate that included almost 20 projects in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, at which point the streamer committed to doubling its investment in the region to 500M Euros (482M) between 2021 and 2023. Other shows on the slate included historical thriller The Empress.
The show is set in 1987 and follows East German spy Kleo Straub, played by Jella Haase, who kills a businessman in West Berlin while on a mission with a secret Stasi commando. Not long after, she’s arrested by the Stasi on spurious claims and denounced by everyone she knows. After two years in jail, the Berlin Wall falls, and Kleo is suddenly free, but she soon finds out that the conspiracy against her is much bigger than she could have imagined, and an ominous red suitcase appears to be the missing puzzle piece.
Kleo season one was unveiled on a mega Netflix Europe slate that included almost 20 projects in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, at which point the streamer committed to doubling its investment in the region to 500M Euros (482M) between 2021 and 2023. Other shows on the slate included historical thriller The Empress.
- 9/29/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Accredited on-site attendance for forum gains 22% on 2019.
Le Monde De Demain and Chair Tendre were among the winners at Series Mania 2022 as the event in Lille came to a close with accredited on-site attendance for the forum up 22% over 2019 and 57% over 2021.
Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg (pictured) said the 2022 edition brought together more than 70,000 participants for the festival and 3,300 accredited persons on-site from 64 countries for the Forum compared to 2,100 in 2021 and 2,700 in 2019. The visits to the Series Mania website and Series Mania digital platform produced 260,000 views.
French show Le Monde De Demain created by Katell Quillévéré, Hélier Cisterne,...
Le Monde De Demain and Chair Tendre were among the winners at Series Mania 2022 as the event in Lille came to a close with accredited on-site attendance for the forum up 22% over 2019 and 57% over 2021.
Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg (pictured) said the 2022 edition brought together more than 70,000 participants for the festival and 3,300 accredited persons on-site from 64 countries for the Forum compared to 2,100 in 2021 and 2,700 in 2019. The visits to the Series Mania website and Series Mania digital platform produced 260,000 views.
French show Le Monde De Demain created by Katell Quillévéré, Hélier Cisterne,...
- 3/25/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Monday’s Up Next: Germany session at this year’s European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin put the spotlight on a slew of upcoming series, spanning Hamburg’s Red Light district, Germany’s first female undercover cop and the Munich Olympic massacre.
Invited to the Berlinale studio, with some participants taking part online, several of Germany’s top creatives made the play date to talk with Julia Fidel, head of the Berlinale Series. Hanno Hackfort (“4 Blocks”), Jella Haase (“Lollipop Minster”), Lisa Kreimeyer (Netflix), Viviane Andereggen (“Tatort”), Christian Beetz (“Make Love”), Georg Tschurtschenthaler (“Viral Dreams”), and actor Detlev Buck were amongst those that took part.
The idea of the panel was to present new material straight from the editing room with many of the series still six months away from being seen. The session provided a first look at a number of projects nearing completion, including the comedy “Greenlight – German Genius,...
Invited to the Berlinale studio, with some participants taking part online, several of Germany’s top creatives made the play date to talk with Julia Fidel, head of the Berlinale Series. Hanno Hackfort (“4 Blocks”), Jella Haase (“Lollipop Minster”), Lisa Kreimeyer (Netflix), Viviane Andereggen (“Tatort”), Christian Beetz (“Make Love”), Georg Tschurtschenthaler (“Viral Dreams”), and actor Detlev Buck were amongst those that took part.
The idea of the panel was to present new material straight from the editing room with many of the series still six months away from being seen. The session provided a first look at a number of projects nearing completion, including the comedy “Greenlight – German Genius,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has doubled its budget to €500 million ($571 million) for German-language productions between 2021 and 2023 and has revealed a raft of new projects.
On Tuesday, the Netflix German-language team presented a selection of 19 productions, including previously announced projects, at the Content Remote Show. The shows are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
New series include eight-parter “Achtsam Morden” (working title), based on the book of the same name by Karsten Dusse, which topped the Spiegel bestseller list for over nine months and is now being filmed for Netflix by Constantin Film, Jan Ehlert and Nina Viktoria Philipp. Writers Miriam Rechel and Chris Geletneky tell the story of top lawyer Björn Diemel, who to save his marriage, finds a new work-life balance with the help of a mindfulness seminar and accidentally becomes a murderer in the process.
Another book adaptation, also produced by Constantin Television, is thriller series “Liebes Kind” (working title). Based on the novel by Romy Hausmann,...
On Tuesday, the Netflix German-language team presented a selection of 19 productions, including previously announced projects, at the Content Remote Show. The shows are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
New series include eight-parter “Achtsam Morden” (working title), based on the book of the same name by Karsten Dusse, which topped the Spiegel bestseller list for over nine months and is now being filmed for Netflix by Constantin Film, Jan Ehlert and Nina Viktoria Philipp. Writers Miriam Rechel and Chris Geletneky tell the story of top lawyer Björn Diemel, who to save his marriage, finds a new work-life balance with the help of a mindfulness seminar and accidentally becomes a murderer in the process.
Another book adaptation, also produced by Constantin Television, is thriller series “Liebes Kind” (working title). Based on the novel by Romy Hausmann,...
- 2/8/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Icelandic film production company Sagafilm and Sweden’s LittleBig Productions are developing a historical series about 17th-century Icelanders abducted by Barbary corsairs and sold into slavery in North Africa.
Tentatively titled “Salé” — a city on the North African coast that was also a haven for pirates — the series is inspired by true events. It begins in the summer of 1627, when several hundred people in settlements along Iceland’s coast are captured by Barbary privateers under the command of the Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon, more commonly known as Admiral Murat Reis. Among his prisoners are Gunnur, the wife of a young fisherman, and her 12-year-old daughter Gríma. When they are brought to the North African slave markets, mother and daughter are separated, sold to different masters and forced to develop different strategies in order to survive.
Described as a thrilling tale of love, survival, revenge, and the power of hope, “Salé...
Tentatively titled “Salé” — a city on the North African coast that was also a haven for pirates — the series is inspired by true events. It begins in the summer of 1627, when several hundred people in settlements along Iceland’s coast are captured by Barbary privateers under the command of the Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon, more commonly known as Admiral Murat Reis. Among his prisoners are Gunnur, the wife of a young fisherman, and her 12-year-old daughter Gríma. When they are brought to the North African slave markets, mother and daughter are separated, sold to different masters and forced to develop different strategies in order to survive.
Described as a thrilling tale of love, survival, revenge, and the power of hope, “Salé...
- 9/17/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
European arms industry corruption, forbidden love in 1920s Berlin and the impact of public outrage on the justice system are some of the themes explored by upcoming Germans TV productions showcased on Aug. 30 on the opening day of the Series Mania Forum in Lille, France.
In collaboration with German Films, the presentation offered a sneak peek at five new high-end shows that look to continue the country’s impressive rollout of recent hit series like “Dark,” “Deutschland 83,” “Babylon Berlin,” “Bad Banks” and “Barbarians.”
The new titles included Zdf and Arte’s ambitious French-German thriller “Algiers Confidential”; Ard’s period drama “Eldorado KaDeWe”; the globetrotting melodrama “Paradiso” and dark comedy “The Wasp,” both from Sky Deutschland; and TVNow (soon to be Rtl Plus) and Vox’s legal drama “The Allegation.”
“Algiers Confidential,” based on Oliver Bottini’s novel, is a political thriller set in present-day Algiers and focuses on the...
In collaboration with German Films, the presentation offered a sneak peek at five new high-end shows that look to continue the country’s impressive rollout of recent hit series like “Dark,” “Deutschland 83,” “Babylon Berlin,” “Bad Banks” and “Barbarians.”
The new titles included Zdf and Arte’s ambitious French-German thriller “Algiers Confidential”; Ard’s period drama “Eldorado KaDeWe”; the globetrotting melodrama “Paradiso” and dark comedy “The Wasp,” both from Sky Deutschland; and TVNow (soon to be Rtl Plus) and Vox’s legal drama “The Allegation.”
“Algiers Confidential,” based on Oliver Bottini’s novel, is a political thriller set in present-day Algiers and focuses on the...
- 9/1/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Alexis von Wittgenstein’s Munich-based production shingle Violet Pictures is expanding its TV series pipeline with a slew of new projects, among them a historical drama about the role of women in the creation of modern Europe, the story of a mother of three who became one of the Soviet Union’s most successful spies, and a 1970s-set anti-nuclear activist romance.
The company, whose credits include “Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood,” which premiered last year on Ard and currently streams on Netflix, is also partnering with “Unorthodox” producer Real Film Berlin on a four-project slate that includes the tentatively titled “Sayn & Schein,” a dark comedy about a royal title dealer set in the present-day world of German and British aristocracy.
“It’s a booming market,” says von Wittgenstein, noting that there are people who pay intermediaries hundreds of thousands of euros to obtain princely titles. The series is also produced by Michael Lehmann,...
The company, whose credits include “Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood,” which premiered last year on Ard and currently streams on Netflix, is also partnering with “Unorthodox” producer Real Film Berlin on a four-project slate that includes the tentatively titled “Sayn & Schein,” a dark comedy about a royal title dealer set in the present-day world of German and British aristocracy.
“It’s a booming market,” says von Wittgenstein, noting that there are people who pay intermediaries hundreds of thousands of euros to obtain princely titles. The series is also produced by Michael Lehmann,...
- 5/21/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin-based Flare Film is ramping up series production with two new high-concept projects in development while currently producing the eight-part “Paradiso” for Sky Deutschland, the first project from the company’s recently launched Flare Entertainment division.
Flare Entertainment is partnering with Beta Film and Deutsche Telekom streaming platform MagentaTV on “The Daughter,” created by Pola Beck and the writing trio known locally as the HaRiBos, Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf and Bob Konrad, with Beck and Kropf serving as showrunners.
The series tells the fact-based story of Tinka, a directionless teenager forced to grow up overnight when her wealthy parents are arrested for running the biggest cocaine ring in Berlin. As she works to free them from jail, she uncovers their secret lives and delves ever deeper into the family business.
Described as “Breaking Bad” meets French cinema, the eight-part family drama examines the shifting power dynamics between a daughter and...
Flare Entertainment is partnering with Beta Film and Deutsche Telekom streaming platform MagentaTV on “The Daughter,” created by Pola Beck and the writing trio known locally as the HaRiBos, Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf and Bob Konrad, with Beck and Kropf serving as showrunners.
The series tells the fact-based story of Tinka, a directionless teenager forced to grow up overnight when her wealthy parents are arrested for running the biggest cocaine ring in Berlin. As she works to free them from jail, she uncovers their secret lives and delves ever deeper into the family business.
Described as “Breaking Bad” meets French cinema, the eight-part family drama examines the shifting power dynamics between a daughter and...
- 4/14/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Creators and screenwriters from Europe discussed the importance of collaboration in filmmaking during a panel in the Variety Streaming Room.
Hosted by international features editor Leo Barraclough, the conversation, titled “Lost in Translation? Visual Story Development from Script to Screen,” included creators from the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s Black Room and writers from the Face to Face program. Prop maker and modeler Simon Weisse, production designer Jacqueline Abrahams, and writers Jana Burbach and Hanno Hackfort took part in the panel.
Collaborative endeavors have seen an increase in European filmmaking, said Hackfort, since teams have begun to see that different departments — writers, designers, directors — often have ideas that aren’t limited to just the part of the film or television project they’re working on.
“This concept of showrunner becomes more and more important in Germany,” he said. “Then you’re not just a writer, but you can also work together with the others.
Hosted by international features editor Leo Barraclough, the conversation, titled “Lost in Translation? Visual Story Development from Script to Screen,” included creators from the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s Black Room and writers from the Face to Face program. Prop maker and modeler Simon Weisse, production designer Jacqueline Abrahams, and writers Jana Burbach and Hanno Hackfort took part in the panel.
Collaborative endeavors have seen an increase in European filmmaking, said Hackfort, since teams have begun to see that different departments — writers, designers, directors — often have ideas that aren’t limited to just the part of the film or television project they’re working on.
“This concept of showrunner becomes more and more important in Germany,” he said. “Then you’re not just a writer, but you can also work together with the others.
- 11/23/2020
- by Eli Countryman
- Variety Film + TV
German Films, the agency that promotes German cinema around the world, has unveiled the participants of the fifth edition of its Face to Face With German Films campaign, which this year is dedicated to screenwriters.
The writers chosen for Face to Face, which “turns the spotlight on the most influential names in the German audiovisual and film industry and represents some of its most dynamic figures,” are Jana Burbach (“Bad Banks”), Katharina Essyen (“Holiday Secrets”), Hanno Hackfort, Bernd Lange, Rafael Parente (“8 Days”) and Laila Stieler.
The campaign will kick off on March 26 with a panel discussion at Séries Mania in Lille, France, about modern storytelling, in partnership with Variety and Séries Mania. Entitled “Serious About Series: Elements of Innovation in Modern Storytelling,” the panel will be led by John Hopewell of Variety, in conversation with the six screenwriters.
Simone Baumann, managing director of German Films, said: “Now in its fifth year,...
The writers chosen for Face to Face, which “turns the spotlight on the most influential names in the German audiovisual and film industry and represents some of its most dynamic figures,” are Jana Burbach (“Bad Banks”), Katharina Essyen (“Holiday Secrets”), Hanno Hackfort, Bernd Lange, Rafael Parente (“8 Days”) and Laila Stieler.
The campaign will kick off on March 26 with a panel discussion at Séries Mania in Lille, France, about modern storytelling, in partnership with Variety and Séries Mania. Entitled “Serious About Series: Elements of Innovation in Modern Storytelling,” the panel will be led by John Hopewell of Variety, in conversation with the six screenwriters.
Simone Baumann, managing director of German Films, said: “Now in its fifth year,...
- 3/9/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Turner International has ordered the third and final season of the hit German gangster series “4 Blocks,” which world-premiered at the Berlin Film Festival last year and went on to win multiple awards.
The third season will comprise six episodes and will be directed by Özgür Yıldırım, who had co-helmed Season 2 with Oliver Hirschbiegel. It will start shooting in the spring and is scheduled to premiere next winter.
Amazon Prime Video will stream the series’ second season across more than 150 countries, including the U.S and the U.K., starting Saturday, followed by another 50 countries, including Germany and France, in late 2019. The series will be available on Amazon Prime in German and dubbed into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, with subtitles in many more languages, including English, Chinese and Japanese. An English-language dubbed version of both seasons will be delivered in January.
“The second season reached over 60% more viewers than Season...
The third season will comprise six episodes and will be directed by Özgür Yıldırım, who had co-helmed Season 2 with Oliver Hirschbiegel. It will start shooting in the spring and is scheduled to premiere next winter.
Amazon Prime Video will stream the series’ second season across more than 150 countries, including the U.S and the U.K., starting Saturday, followed by another 50 countries, including Germany and France, in late 2019. The series will be available on Amazon Prime in German and dubbed into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, with subtitles in many more languages, including English, Chinese and Japanese. An English-language dubbed version of both seasons will be delivered in January.
“The second season reached over 60% more viewers than Season...
- 12/14/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Turner’s hit German gangster saga 4 Blocks has been recommissioned for a third and final season.
The show, which airs internationally on Amazon Prime Video, has been reordered for a third season for six episodes by TNT Serie, Turner Germany’s series channel. The show is produced by Wiedemann & Berg Television, producers of Netflix’s Dark. Shooting starts in spring 2019 and it will air in winter 2019.
The drama stars Kida Khodr Ramadan as the leader of a crime family and drug cartel in Berlin, who is forced to live an ordinary life after his brother is arrested.
4 Blocks was developed by screenwriting trio Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad, and Richard Kropf, as well as by Marvin Kren, who also directed season one. The second season was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Der Untergang) and Özgür Yıldırım. Marvin Kren acted as executive producer alongside Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann,...
The show, which airs internationally on Amazon Prime Video, has been reordered for a third season for six episodes by TNT Serie, Turner Germany’s series channel. The show is produced by Wiedemann & Berg Television, producers of Netflix’s Dark. Shooting starts in spring 2019 and it will air in winter 2019.
The drama stars Kida Khodr Ramadan as the leader of a crime family and drug cartel in Berlin, who is forced to live an ordinary life after his brother is arrested.
4 Blocks was developed by screenwriting trio Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad, and Richard Kropf, as well as by Marvin Kren, who also directed season one. The second season was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Der Untergang) and Özgür Yıldırım. Marvin Kren acted as executive producer alongside Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann,...
- 12/14/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
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