This September, the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB – German Film and Television Academy), in collaboration with the London Film School, is launching SERIAL EYES – Experiencing the Writers‘ Room, the first postgraduate course in the development and production of series formats.
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THE SOPRANOS revolutionized storytelling for television series. New formats like HOMELAND, DOWNTON ABBEY, BREAKING BAD have established using continuing narratives throughout - season after season - to create a modern form of TV narrative.
One of the keys in developing new TV formats is a great challenge for the writers: working as part of a team. For producers, what is absolutely essential is a much closer collaboration with the writers.
A brief description of DFFB’s new training programme:
SERIAL EYES was developed in collaboration with experts in the television industry around the world. 12 young, European writers and producers from Great Britain, Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany with initial experience in television have qualified for the course. They will be trained by a first-rate staff including established American showrunners Frank Spotnitz (The X Files , Hunted) who will oversee the writers' room workshop and Jeffrey Bell (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Alias) as well as Denise Mann, Head of UCLA Producer’s Programme, and Denmark’s most important showrunner, Sven Clausen (The Killing, Borgen, The Eagle). Other members of the teaching staff include top European TV producers and commissioners from television broadcasting companies such as RTL, SKY, CANAL+, among others.
The participants will develop projects for their respective countries individually as well as engage in group projects that they will learn how to present and pitch.
The idea is foster the further development of series formats throughout Europe by means of fresh ideas and approaches as well as cultivating a network for future international co-productions. A new generation of young, well-trained writers and producers is essential to breaking out of established patterns and initiating new formats.
The course consists of nine months of full-time instruction at the DFFB in Berlin including two weeks of classes at LFS in London as well as a workshop during the MIP TV in Cannes.