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, the six-part series is about about the power of obsession that explores human abysses in their darkest depths. The producers are Tom Spieß and Friederich Oetker with Isabel Kleefeld and Julian Pörksen handling script and direction.
Following the worldwide success of “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast),” Netflix continues its successful collaboration with Cologne-based production studio btf (bildundtonfabrik) with six-parter “King of Stonks.” The series, inspired by real events in the financial world, centers on narcissism, megalomania and double standards and was created by producers and showrunners Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. It is directed by Jan Bonny, Facundo Scalerandi and Isabell Šuba and the cast includes Matthias Brandt and Thomas Schubert.
Action-thriller series “Kleo”, created and written by HaRiBos, Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf and Bob Konrad (“4 Blocks”), with Elena Senft as additional writer, tells the story of a Stasi killer in Berlin during the German reunification, played by Jella Haase. It is directed by Viviane Andereggen and Jano Ben Chaabane and produced by Zeitsprung Pictures, Michael Souvignier and Till Derenbach.
At the event Netflix historical series “The Empress” (working title), the shooting for which is complete as is the filming for mystery series “1899.” Also in the works is revenge thriller “Totenfrau” and the streamer has also licensed award-winning farm-based Swiss series “Neumatt” from Zodiac Pictures.
Upcoming films include spaghetti western “Blood and Gold” (working title) from director Peter Thorwarth and producer Christian Becker of Rat Pack Filmproduktion; “Buba” (working title), another production by Cologne-based btf, sees Bjarne Mädel will return as the quirky petty criminal from the first season of “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast),” directed by Arne Feldhusen; director Edward Berger’s production of Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” produced by Malte Grunert and Daniel Dreifuß, Amusement Park Film; “Faraway” (working title) by director Vanessa Jopp from a script by Jane Ainscough, produced by Viola Jäger of Olga Film; and action thriller “Paradise” (working title), produced by NEUESUPER, where Simon Amberger, Korbinian Dufter and Rafael Parente are teaming up with writers Peter Kocyla, Simon Amberger and Boris Kunz, who is also directing.
Factual and reality shows include “Queer Eye Germany,” the first international spin-off of the U.S. reality format; true-crime series “Soering” (working title) and “Gladbeck” (working title); documentary thriller “Wirecard”; and Alpine climbing competition feature documentary “Facing North.”