In addition to the numerous selection announcements that took place in the last few weeks, we are now finally ready to reveal all about the 9 teams (and projects) that will be protagonists of SeriesLab, the TFL annual programme that aims at developing innovative and high-profile international TV series projects.
This edition features 23 participants (16 European scriptwriters, directors and 7 producers) and more in detail 11 females and 12 male professionals from Belgium, Germany, Romania, Serbia and United Kingdom. They will be led once again by Nicola Lusuardi (Italy) and by the tutors Francesca De Lisi (Italy), Anne Feinsilber (France) and Simon Judd (United Kingdom).
And as stated by Nicola Lusuardi: “The selection process of the 9 participants of SeriesLab 2022 has been completed, confirming that the awareness of the value of programmes aimed at transmitting technical and cultural skills on development in a context of international comparison is growing year by year in Europe".
Before digging deeper into the selection, here’s an update on SeriesLab - Talents: after the preparatory workshop that took place in Erfurt, we are happy to communicate the names of the 5 SeriesLab - Talents participants that will join the intensive 5-month career development training guided by the Head of Studies Tony Grisoni that will work together with the Story Editor Rory Gleeson.
The names: Alice Von Gwinner (Germany), Carla Grauls (Belgian, based in the UK), Fabrizio Muscia (Italy), Nach Solis (Spain) and Svitlana Topor (Poland).
Back to SeriesLab; here’s the list, keep in mind that more information can be found also in the exclusive Screen International article.
AND THEN WE TOOK BERLIN (Romania)
Genre: Period Comedy-Drama
?tefan Peca - Creator
Diana Paroiu - Producer - Visual Walkabout, Romania
Fun fact: Diana participated last year in TFL Next – TV Series!
Logline: In order to renew their East Berlin contract, a group of Romanian musicians must find the snitch selling them out to the Secret Police only to discover that the rat is one of them.
DIRTY (Romania)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Paul Cioran - Writer and Director
Horia Calugareanu - Junior producer - Visual Walkabout, Romania
Fun fact: Paul participated last year in TFL Next – TV Series!
Logline: When high life meets low morals in a luxury hotel, it’s up to four cleaning ladies to clear up the mess left by rich guests, hotel managers or themselves.
EAT ME (Serbia/Germany)
Genre: ongoing horror-crime-thriller
Milica Zivanovic - Writer / Creator
Matthias Nerlich - Writer / Co-Creator
Laura Schlesinger - Producer - Goldkind Filmproduktion, Germany
Logline: Trying to find her missing without a trace friend - Anka is struggling to break through the hyper-competitive window as an aspiring star in female road cycling of her prestigious athletic boarding school. Neither Anka, nor the academy and the small-town authorities are aware that a nutritionist hunting top-athlete's meat for an untraceable new formula of doping marked Anka's meat the ideal specimen - coming from Anka's inner circle.
FURIOUS (United Kingdom / Germany)
Genre: coming of age / sports drama
Karissa Hamilton-Bannis - Screenwriter
Philipp Zakrzewski - Screenwriter
Jelena Goldbach - Producer - ZAK Film Productions UG, Germany
Logline: In trying to find each other’s weakness, two exceptional female boxers become unlikely friends and unwilling enemies in the upcoming championships.
FURIOUS is an 8 x 45 sports drama exploring the complicated friendship between two natural opponents, against the intriguing backdrop of female boxing.
KEEP THE CHANGE (Belgium)
Genre: not overly dramatic drama
Tom Baetens - Creator / Writer
Elke Neuville - Creator / Writer
Production company: Panenka, Belgium
Logline: When her mother suddenly passes away, Polly is unintentionally forced to face her own finality and the choices she’s made along the way. When she finds a coin during the scattering of her mother's ashes, she decides to alter her life radically.
LADY DRIVER (Serbia)
Genre: dark comedy crime drama
Bojana Babic - Creator/Writer
Andjela Dubljevic - Creator/writer
Logline: A small-town housewife with great driving skills is forced to start working for a group of loan sharks to pay off her husband’s debt. As she gets entangled into their web of criminal activity, she discovers a passion for danger she did not know she had.
NEST (Belgium)
Genre: crime comedy
Koen Van Sande - Co-writer and Co-director
Sven Hyubrechts - Co-writer and Co-director
David Vermander - Producer - Cartouche, Belgium
Logline: When a charming charlatan and her mentally challenged brother inherit an extremely expensive racing pigeon, they become entangled in the violent web of the Chinese gambling mafia.
OOMPAH MUSIC OF DEATH (Germany)
Genre: Mystery-Horror
Olivia Vieweg - Creator, Screenwriter
Matthias Frahm - Script Consultant, Co-Writer
Logline: Goth-Kids form a brass band, in order to free their favorite schoolteacher from hell. In doing so, they unwillingly upset the balance between good and evil.
THE DEAD MAN’S WIFE (Belgium)
Genre: historical crime drama
Deben Van Dam - Writer and Director
Bert Van Dael - Co-writer and Producer
Gitte Nuyens - Co-producer - Wilder Content BV, Belgium
Fun fact: Deben Van Dam is a TFL alumna, having joined ScriptLab in 2021.
Logline: A deep dive into the life and into the heart of the most prolific female serial killer in Belgian history.
SeriesLab 2022 is realised thanks to the support of Creative Europe - MEDIA Sub-programme of theEuropean Union; in partnership with VAF - Flanders Audiovisual Fund and with MDM - Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, hosting the June module in Halle.
The final presentation of SeriesLab 2022 projects will be hosted by MIA, in Rome in October.