Faculty
The DFFB’s rich network of industry contacts has enabled SERIAL EYES to secure highly respected scriptwriters, producers, directors and commissioning editors as instructors and guest lecturers. Top US and European showrunners are invited to lead workshops drawing on their particular expertise, while master classes and hands-on modules concentrate on the scriptwriting process and other vital aspects of serial production – always with a practical focus.
Core Tutors
Luke Franklin
Development Producer (UK)
Luke has over a decade’s experience as a script editor and development executive, having worked on dramas for ITV, Mammoth Screen, Sky, and the BBC before joining Big Light in 2015 on The Man in the High Castle. Since March 2016, he has worked on script development and in the writers’ room of Ransom, a …
Ben Harris
Writer and Producer (UK)
Ben Harris is a writer and producer with over ten years’ experience in the industry. His writing jobs include BBC One dramas The Musketeers, Hunted and The Paradise, alongside his numerous original projects in development with UK production companies. Ben began his career on Sky One’s award-winning cult drama Dream Team where, after three seasons …
Nicola Lusuardi
Writer (Italy)
Since 1990, Nicola Lusuardi has been working as a playwright for several production companies and as a screenwriter, story editor and supervisor for television networks RAI, MEDIASET, SKY (In treatment Italian version, Barabba, Il segreto di Thomas, La Monaca di Monza). He also works as a script consultant and tutor at the TorinoFilmLab-Interchange and Biennale …
Lucy Rawlinson
Script Editor, UK
Lucy is a freelance production and development Script Editor. She began her career nearly a decade ago working for Shine TV on the hit family fantasy show MERLIN for BBC1. After a brief stint in comedy, she then spent many years at Big Light Productions as a Script Editor on three seasons of the MEDICI …
Frank Spotnitz
Showrunner (USA)
Award-winning writer-producer Frank Spotnitz began his 20+ year career with The X-Files, serving as executive producer and writing or co-writing more than 40 episodes of the seminal science-fiction series. Spotnitz has been no less prolific in recent years, creating and executive producing Amazon’s award-winning The Man in the High Castle, now in its fourth season. …
Cyril Tysz
Writer, Story editor, Producer (France/USA)
Born in Paris, Cyril first studied filmmaking at the Sorbonne, then at UCLA. He then learnt hands-on production on the sets of Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands and Laurence Kazdan’s produced film Dizziness. His career in screenwriting and development began at companies like Pandora, Arte, Canal Plus, Equinoxe and Tele Images. After a few years as …
Instructors
Roberto Amoroso
Creative Director (Italy)
Under his creative supervision, Sky has produced several tv-movies and tv-series, including “Romanzo Criminale”, a 22-part series that has been sold in over 60 countries. He was at Sky since its launch in 2003, and has defined the identity and the brand of the Cinema Channels. Before that he has worked for Sundance Channel in …
Jeffrey Bell
Showrunner (USA)
Jeffrey Bell is a showrunner, writer, director and executive producer. He began his television career writing for The X-Files. He was showrunner on several network series including Alias and Day Break for ABC and Harper’s Island for CBS. He was co-creator and showrunner of the ABC-produced series The Protector and a consulting producer on the …
Jan Bennemann
VP Acquisitions & Co-Productions / Dynamic Television LLC
Following his studies of International Economics at the Maastricht University, Jan Bennemann started his career in TV as dramaturge and assistant director. In 2003 he went on to work as producer and since then has produced over 100 hours of serialized primetime TV drama for the German and the international market. Working for German prodco’s …
David Bianculli
TV critic, author, editor and columnist (USA)
David Bianculli has been the TV critic for National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, where he also appears as occasional guest host, since 1987. He has worked as a TV critic for newspapers in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, most recently for the New York Daily News from 1993-2007. Currently, he is editor and columnist …
Olivier Bibas
Producer, CEO (France)
Olivier Bibas is an executive producer and Co-Managing Director of Atlantique Productions, a subsidiary of Lagardère Studios. Since 2011, he has overseen development and production of numerous international TV series, including Midnight Sun, Borgia, Jo and Transporter – The Series. He started his career at CANAL+ in 1995 where he held various positions in business …
Jimmy Desmarais
Producer (France)
After studying screenwriting at the Conservatoire Européen d’Ecriture Audiovisuelle, Jimmy Desmarais started up Haut et Court’s TV department where he produced highly acclaimed shows including Xanadu, Silex and the City, Les Revenants (The Returned), and The Last Panthers. He joined Atlantique Productions in 2015.
Vegard S. Eriksen
Executive producer (Norway)
Vegard worked as Head of Drama for NRK during production of the mini-series Eyewitness (2014) and Struggle for Life. Vegard is Cand. Philol. from the University of Trondheim, but is also trained as a teacher from his early years. His skills in TV drama and production include working as an editor in all genres, directing …
Ellis Freeman
Writer (UK)
Ellis is a screenwriter born in London and currently living in Berlin where he is Head of Screenwriting and Development at the DFFB. His screenwriting credits include the feature Princesa, which screened at Sundance and won best foreign narrative at the LA Outfest, the comedy feature January 2nd and the acclaimed short Coming Down. As …
Piodor Gustafsson
Producer (Sweden)
Piodor Gustafsson has more than twenty-five years of experience in film, TV and advertising. Since September 2012, Piodor has run his and Tomas Alfredson’s production company Another Park Film. Peter joined SVT in October 2009 and was a member of the Programming Board until August 2012. At SVT he was Head of Programming and Commissioning …
Benjamin Harris
Head of Programme
Benjamin Harris is Head of Programme for Serial Eyes. As such, he is responsible for the curricular and administrative oversight of the programme. Prior to that, Benjamin was the Assistant Director of the MFA Producers Program in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for eleven years. He is a TV writer and a …
Kirsten Ittershagen
Writer (Germany)
Kirsten Ittershagen is a German TV writer-producer who produces German and international TV series. In 2005 she started her career as a staff writer at UFA Serial Drama (GrundyUFA TV). She was the head writer of long-running TV series Unter Uns (Among Us), Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times) and in 2013 was …
Dominique Jubin
Managing Director, Studiocanal Original (France)
Dominique graduated from French leading movie school LA FEMIS with a major in Screenwriting. For ten years, she worked as Director of French Drama and Co-Productions at the Canal+ Création Originale (Original Programming) Department, where she played a pivotal role in their series’ development. In 2016, Dominique was appointed Executive Creative VP of Studiocanal TV …
Sarah Linton
Development Excecutive, UK
Sarah Linton is a Development Executive at Kudos. Prior to this, Sarah worked as Script Editor on the first series of dramatic thriller Killing Eve. Produced by Sid Gentle Films and written by Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge for BBC America. Prior to Killing Eve, Sarah script edited several dramas including ITV’s The Halcyon (Left Bank …
Steve Matthews
VP Executive Producer, Drama Development, HBO Europe
Steve was Consulting Producer on all three series of Neil Jordan’s The Borgias for Showtime Networks, and produced four series of RTE’s award winning Dublin gangster series Love/Hate. He was formerly Head of Development at Ray Winstone’s Size 9 Productions. He worked as a script editor at the BBC on Silent Witness and was co-creator …
Sonia Moyersoen
Writer, Story Editor (France)
Born in 1966, Sonia Moyersoen first completed a law degree and studied theatre before becoming an actress. Since 1994, she has developed around a hundred TV movies, in the capacity of Head of Development at GMT Productions: including Monte-Cristo, Balzac, Les Misérables, Aime ton père by Jacob Berger. Since 2007, she has supervised and acted …
Maggie Murphy
Co-head of Shaftesbury U.S., (USA)
Maggie Murphy is the Head of Shaftesbury U.S and focused on development for the U.S., Canadian and international markets. Shaftesbury US has a dozen projects currently in development with projects set up at the major networks in the US, Canada, as well as the one-hour drama Houdini & Doyle, picked up to series for ITV …
Isabelle Pechou
Consultant (France/Denmark)
Isabelle Péchou recently founded The Drama Agency, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The consultancy company sets up co-productions on an international scale. The Drama Agency also scouts scripted formats and ready-mades, and draws up fiction trends. Prior to this role, Isabelle had worked in the media field since 1999. She graduated from La Sorbonne, Paris and …
Mayte Kappel Rovira
Coach (German)
As a Berlin-based coach, trainer and facilitator, Mayte is an expert in designing, planning and supporting human development processes for groups and individuals. Her work focusses on good collaboration, leadership, collective ideation and storytelling. Besides a university degree in Fine Arts, Performative Arts, Philosophy and Cultural Management, she holds certificates in Systemic Coaching and Facilitating …
Donna Sharpe
Writer (UK,Germany)
Donna Sharpe is co-writing TROM, a Danish political/crime thriller series (6 x 54 for Viaplay Nordic, ZDF and the BBC, scheduled to shoot summer 2020). Prior to his, she co-wrote all six episodes of Berlin-set espionage drama WEST OF LIBERTY (6 x 45 for ZDF and SVT, 2019), as well as the pilot for Season 2 (in development). …
Johnathan Young
VP Original Production, HBO Central Europe
Johnathan Young is a producer and executive producer with a long history in the television industry. He joined HBO Europe as an Executive Producer in 2014, and was responsible for Mammon in the Czech Republic and Pakt in Poland in 2015, and Pakt2 and Valea Muta in Romania in 2016. In January 2017, he became …
Klaus Zimmermann
Managing Partner, Dynamic Television (Germany/ France)
Klaus Zimmermann’s career started in 1993 at the German company KirchGruppe. For two years, he worked in Munich alongside the company’s Director of Production and Distribution, Jan Mojto. He was successively in charge of marketing, international distribution and international productions. In this capacity, he participated in production of animation films, feature films, television series and …
Mentors
Piodor Gustafsson
Producer (Sweden)
Piodor Gustafsson has more than twenty-five years of experience in film, TV and advertising. Since September 2012, Piodor has run his and Tomas Alfredson’s production company Another Park Film. Peter joined SVT in October 2009 and was a member of the Programming Board until August 2012. At SVT he was Head of Programming and Commissioning …
Hanno Hackfort
Writer, German
Hanno Hackfort was born in Paderborn in 1970. After jobs as Assistent Director and musician on several theatre productions, he started working as Boomoperator and Sound Engineer on various TV and feature films in Germany and abroad. At the same time, he started directing his own short films and in 2002 he shot his feature …
Dominique Jubin
Managing Director, Studiocanal Original (France)
Dominique graduated from French leading movie school LA FEMIS with a major in Screenwriting. For ten years, she worked as Director of French Drama and Co-Productions at the Canal+ Création Originale (Original Programming) Department, where she played a pivotal role in their series’ development. In 2016, Dominique was appointed Executive Creative VP of Studiocanal TV …
Bob Konrad
Writer, German
Bob Konrad was born in Heidelberg in 1968 and studied at the UdK Berlin. Since 1993 he has written and directed numerous radio plays, radio play series and radio comedy for public broadcasters. He found his way to television in 2000 through an animation series. His first feature film Besser als Schule followed. Since then …
Richard Kropf
Writer
Richard Kropf was born in West Berlin in 1979. He began his career as an actor and trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York before writing the short film Bum Bum in 2005, which he co-directed with Marcus Schuster. Kropf then focused on screenwriting and was co-head writer of the SAT1 series Der …
Sarah Linton
Development Excecutive, UK
Sarah Linton is a Development Executive at Kudos. Prior to this, Sarah worked as Script Editor on the first series of dramatic thriller Killing Eve. Produced by Sid Gentle Films and written by Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge for BBC America. Prior to Killing Eve, Sarah script edited several dramas including ITV’s The Halcyon (Left Bank …
Steve Matthews
VP Executive Producer, Drama Development, HBO Europe
Steve was Consulting Producer on all three series of Neil Jordan’s The Borgias for Showtime Networks, and produced four series of RTE’s award winning Dublin gangster series Love/Hate. He was formerly Head of Development at Ray Winstone’s Size 9 Productions. He worked as a script editor at the BBC on Silent Witness and was co-creator …
Donna Sharpe
Writer (UK,Germany)
Donna Sharpe is co-writing TROM, a Danish political/crime thriller series (6 x 54 for Viaplay Nordic, ZDF and the BBC, scheduled to shoot summer 2020). Prior to his, she co-wrote all six episodes of Berlin-set espionage drama WEST OF LIBERTY (6 x 45 for ZDF and SVT, 2019), as well as the pilot for Season 2 (in development). …
Sabine Steyer-Violet
Writer, Producer (Germany)
Sabine Steyer-Violet is a screenwriter (Other Parents, TNT Series) and creative producer (Unorthodox, created by Anna Winger, Netflix) and works sometimes as a music supervisor (Bad Banks, ZDF/Arte) too. She studied visual communication with Wim Wenders and Gerd Roscher at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. She completed a feature length documentary, various documentary contributions for Arte, 3sat and ZDF …
Anna Winger
Showrunner (USA, Germany)
Anna Winger is the creator of the acclaimed TV series Deutschland 83 and Deutschland 86. Her novel This Must Be the Place is published by Riverhead Penguin.Her essays have appeared in The NewYork Times Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Her work for Deutschland 83 has been awarded with an International Emmy …
Ben Worsfield
Producer, Comedy Central (UK)
Ben is an award-winning Development Producer and Broadcast Hotshot, specialising in scripted TV and Radio comedy shows for the UK and International markets. He has a strong track record of developing, script editing and producing high quality comedy and drama with emerging and established talent. He currently works at Comedy Central, and prior to that …
Klaus Zimmermann
Managing Partner, Dynamic Television (Germany/ France)
Klaus Zimmermann’s career started in 1993 at the German company KirchGruppe. For two years, he worked in Munich alongside the company’s Director of Production and Distribution, Jan Mojto. He was successively in charge of marketing, international distribution and international productions. In this capacity, he participated in production of animation films, feature films, television series and …
Special Guest Speakers
Sven Clausen
Producer (Denmark)
As Executive Producer with DR TV (Danish Broadcasting Corp.) Sven Clausen became a three time Emmy winner for the drama series Unit One (2002), The Eagle (2005), and The Protectors (2009). After retiring as producer Sven worked throughout 2013 as Head of Fiction at the commercial Danish TV2 and is now a consultant with major …
Channing Dungey
Ms. Channing Dungey has been President of ABC Primetime Entertainment since February 17, 2016. Ms. Dungey served as Senior Vice President of Drama at ABC Primetime Entertainment since June 2009. She served as Senior Vice President of Drama Development at Touchstone Television Productions, LLC (formerly ABC Television Studio) and also served as its Vice President …
Tom Fontana
Writer and Producer (USA)
Tom Fontana has written and produced such ground breaking television series as St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life On The Street, Oz, The Philanthropist, and Copper. He recently finished filming Borgia for Netflix and Canal+. He has received, among others, three Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, three Writers’ Guild Awards, four Television Critics Association Awards, the Cable …
Jeppe Gjervig Gram
Writer (Denmark)
Winner of the BAFTA for Best International Series, 2012 Jeppe Gjervig Gram was born 1976 in Odense, Denmark. After university studies, he worked for 6 years as a drama series consultant for Danish network TV 2, dealing with acquisition of international series as well as commissioning of original Danish series, before enrolling in the screenwriting …
Jed Mercurio
Writer (UK)
Jed Mercurio is one of the few UK script-writers to work as an American-style showrunner. His most recent credit, Line of Duty, is the most watched BBC2 drama series in the multichannel era. His other credits include Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Critical, Strike Back, Bodies, The Grimleys, Invasion:Earth and Cardiac Arrest. Line of Duty and Bodies …
Abi Morgan
Writer (UK)
Abi Morgan’s plays include SKINNED and SLEEPING AROUND (Paines Plough); TINY DYNAMITE (Traverse); TENDER (Hampstead); SPLENDOUR and FUGEE (National Theatre), LOVESONG (Frantic Assembly) and 27 (NTS) and The MISTRESS CONTRACT (Royal Court) . Her television work includes MY FRAGILE HEART, MURDER, SEX TRAFFIC, TSUNAMI – THE AFTERMATH, WHITE GIRL, ROYAL WEDDING, BIRDSONG and THE …