Seriesly Served Up An Existential Take On TV Drama From The Hipster Heart Of Berlin; Sci-Fi Mystery ‘Existence’ Lands Newbie Event’s Pitch Prize

Jesse Whittock and Stewart Clarke
·6-min read

The first Seriesly Berlin wrapped last night, and the general feeling from those in attendance is it could be a worthwhile addition to a television conference space in Germany that already houses the likes of Berlinale Series Market and the well-regarded Seriencamp in Cologne.

Ahead of time, Seriesly’s organizers posed the question: “Who the f*** needs another TV event?” The answer, it transpires, could well be the Berlin TV set and deep-thinking drama aficionados from all corners of the globe.

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Situated in Mitte, in the heart of the German capital, a young crowd turned out for a gathering that set out to do conferencing differently. All newbie events need a moment to find their feet, and Seriesly’s first effort, emceed by industry-savvy comedians, was creative-friendly and a place for thought-provoking questions about the world of drama. An alternative logline for the event could have read: ‘An existential take on TV.’

Indeed, lead programmer Matija Dragojevic, known for his work at the Berlinale Series Market, focused on panel sessions that took a sideways glance at the usual industry topics. Case in point: Panels titled ‘Genre as a Trojan horse: Balancing art and mainstream’ and ‘Person as property: What happens when IP is a human being?’

Then there was Tatjana Samopjan’s opening talk, which took the audience on a journey they won’t forget in a hurry. It took in deep personal experiences and reflections that spanned traditional folk dances and funeral customs to Taylor Swift through to the power of meditation. It was one of the deepest dives into what it means to be creative ever seen at a TV event. ‘Art equals fire plus algebra’ was one part of Samopjan’s thesis, and while we simply do not have the column inches to do justice to her whole address, the takeaways included imploring scribes to see the world anew and embark upon a process of creative refreshment and to wipe away a jaded worldview.

The Seriesly opener ran way over, but landed superbly with the audience and set the tone for what followed – notably Jenji Kohan’s call for TV writers to ditch the dystopia and offer a view of the world that also contains hope. Kohan’s fireside chat had the assembled looking up the word ‘protopia’ – which is the watchword for the Orange is the New Black creator as she asks the industry to inject some joy into TV drama.

Kohan, who we hear is on an extended stay in Berlin, was on fine form, telling a packed room that broken-future TV needs to be kicked into touch. “It’s sh*tty, it’s lazy, and I’m on a huge kick to say: ‘Stop with the f*cking dystopia.'” Her sentiment felt in tune with the local creatives in attendance, who are currently looking for the light while traversing an uncertain market.

We hear that around 300 executives and creatives in total descended on the storied Fotografiska cultural and arts center. They heard from a big content player in Prime Video Germany and Austria Country Director Christoph Schneider, whose streamer has the nation’s biggest current global hit in Maxton Hall — The World Between Us. During an interview with Deadline onstage, he talked through the streamer’s first decade in Germany, how it has evolved in the local TV market and the future of young adult mega-hit Maxton — at one point, appearing to confirm a third season before reps clarified no greenlight has been given quite yet (though it would be a much bigger news story if it didn’t get a third outing).

In a meta moment, festival directors from across Europe took to the Seriesly stage to discuss how to break the cycle and deliver genuinely innovative industry events. What might have been a sedate end-of-day session came to life as the audience weighed in and a lively discussion about how festival’s should — or shouldn’t — break new ground ensued.

A session about the battle for attention caught light with a conversation about drama series that can be either “bonfires” or “fireworks”. In either case, assembled drama bigwigs agreed that in an age of platforms with worldwide reach, you simply cannot catch lightning in a bottle and engineer “a global hit.”

Pitch Comp: A story of Existence

Given the philosophical vibe, it felt fitting that a show called Existence scooped the prize in the pitch competition.

Michael Griessler used his allotted three minutes to tell the audience about his eight-part sci-fi mystery. It centers on events that follow a global computer glitch that has people questioning their own existence, with some foreseeing the end of days. One woman has to understand more so she can find a cure for her daughter’s ensuing health problems. Another man is drawn into a serial killer investigation after his wife goes missing.

“Do any of you already know what you’re going to do on November the 23rd,” Griessler asked the crowd during his pitch. “Let me tell you this, whatever you’re going to do that day, you’re going to remember it forever, because that day is when it finally happens. The computer simulation that we live in: It finally glitches.”

The ambitious scope of the series won over the jury. “The winner is a project that dreams big, with a powerful scope in imagination,” they said. “We hope by rewarding this project, we will encourage the writer to dare to feed their imaginative world directly with their very own pains and joys and hopes.”

The jury also gave a special shout out to another show that was pitched, Medium. “We would like to give a special mention to a project that aims to talk about community, and deep complicated fears we all have in today’s world,” the jurors said.

The series is set within an agency that specializes in mediation. Understaffed and overwhelmed, it is transformed when an elite hostage negotiator joins its ranks. He is at rock bottom after his last mission failed and cost innocent lives, and now he his paired with a crystal-loving free spirit setting up an odd couple story against a background of conflict resolution.

Presenting their show, the team behind it told the Berlin audience: “Welcome to Medium, a TV series about conflict and mediation, and the people caught within the chaos.”

It was a fine example of the existentialist thread that ran though a promising first edition of Seriesly Berlin.

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