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Serial Formates 2020

• 2,7 Mio. Euro Antragsumme
• 1,7 Mio. Euro Förderung
• 5,5 Mio. Euro Regionaleffekt

Berlin / Potsdam – In addition to big high-end series, a multitude of bold, innovative and forward-looking serial formats are created in the capital region. Young, diverse teams, exceptional storytelling and cross-platform formats are the hallmarks of the productions. With its funding program for serial formats, Medienboard also explicitly supports up-and-coming series and, in 2020, funded 24 fiction, factual and entertainment formats with 1.7 million euros for development and production. The funding resulted in 5.5 million euros spent in the region. In the area of production, there was a regional effect of 383%, i.e. every funding euro flowed back into the region almost 4-fold.

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Stated Helge Jürgens, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg managing director for new media funding: “The increased demand for programming by stations, triggered by the trend of major production studios to exploit their content themselves, is opening up the market for station-owned and local productions, and therefore for more young talent. MBB supports this development not only through content promotion, but also through matchmaking events for producers and broadcasters.”

“Berlin Producers to Meet” – New broadcasting partners and event formats
In addition to funding series projects, MBB supports aspiring series creators with concrete professionalisation and networking initiatives. The MBB-initiated matchmaking event “Berlin Producers to Meet” for Berlin-Brandenburg producers and national broadcasters has been particularly successful.

On 28 and 29 April, the event was again held as a digital edition in cooperation with Mediengruppe RTL. In one-on-one meetings over two days, 22 small and medium-sized companies met with station representatives to pitch their series formats from the areas of reportage, factual and documentary series. The best ideas have the chance to receive development funding and to further develop the project idea together with Mediengruppe and MBB.

Alongside broadcasting partners RTLZWEI, Mediengruppe RTL and Seven.One Entertainment Group, MBB is committed to promoting young talent and new series ideas from the capital region. All stations now contribute to the new media series fund. In the current April funding round, 5 projects for the Seven.One Entertainment Group received development funding. In addition, MBB is a partner of “Doku Labs” initiated by RTLZWEI, which promotes documentary film ideas and innovative documentary narratives on socially relevant topics for a young audience.

“The support from Medienboard has unleashed our creativity. We were able to really take the time to explore how our series can reach its full potential.”
Aviv Kosloff, director of “Symphony of Now” (Pappel Studios)

The success of funding for serial formats is also reflected in the awards received by projects supported by MBB: currently, the sadcom “MaPa” (readymade films for Joyn/rbb) and the docu-series “Colonia Dignidad – Aus dem Innern einer deutschen Sekte” (LOOKSfilm for WDR/SWR/ARTE) are nominated for the Grimme Award. The winners will be announced on 11 May. In 2020, “MaPa” was already nominated for Best Drama Series at the German Television Awards. Another award in 2020 went to the young fiction series “Wir sind jetzt” (“We Are Now”, Producers at Work for RTLZWEI): the Bavarian Television Award in the category “Best Youth Series”.

Fresh series material from young teams – these productions are currently being created in the capital region
The serial formats of young Berlin companies supported by MBB have become increasingly visible in recent years; they have been able to attract major partners and find successful ways of utilisation. Some convinced viewers with new narrative forms on social platforms like Instagram or Snapchat.

“To young producers who are just starting out on their journey, we will say the following: Look for partners in the industry and legal backing with expertise about contracts and – most important – your rights. And don’t stop believing in your projects, even when things don’t go your way. Dare to do things differently from others.”
Carolina Thiele, producer at Lozen Films (“Kaputt”)

Successful partnerships with streaming services were achieved by the following series: “Für Umme” (“For Free”), the comedy series from Katerfilm (directed by Vlady Valentin Oszkiel), was added to the Amazon Prime Video portfolio. “MaPa” (readymade films, directed by Jano Ben Chaabane) was produced for rbb and Joyn as a “Joyn Original”. The creator of the mystery series “WE/R” (Jette Volland, production, Junique Productions) broke new ground in storytelling, skilfully addressing the viewing habits of the young target group: she staged the series interactively, in a non-linear way, socially, live and as an event. The series reached 30,000 followers and 1.5 million views on its channels on Instagram and TikTok and was sold to Snapchat, where it launched globally on 17 April.

“It gives you an incredible push when a big player like Medienboard believes in you and your innovative idea. That’s super important for your mindset, especially as a young producer.”
Jette Volland, Executive Producer & Writer, Junique Productions (“WE/R”)