TALK TO A SERI­AL EYE with Mar­lene Mel­chi­or (SE#7): MAX­TON HALL

On Septem­ber 17th, 2025, we hos­ted a spe­cial edi­tion of TALK TO A SERI­AL EYE, presen­ted in col­lab­or­a­tion with our part­ner Seriesly Ber­lin. This ses­sion was ded­ic­ated to one of the biggest stream­ing suc­cesses of the year — Max­ton Hall – The World Between Us. Writer Mar­lene Mel­chi­or, Seri­al Eyes Alumna (SE#7) and writer on both sea­sons of Max­ton Hall, joined Kat­rin Merkel, Head of Stud­ies at Seri­al Eyes, for an in-depth con­ver­sa­tion about adapt­ing a best­selling nov­el into a glob­al hit. The event took place at Bar Clara dur­ing the Seriesly Fest­iv­al and was also streamed live on Zoom.

About Max­ton Hall – The World Between Us
Max­ton Hall – The World Between Us is a cap­tiv­at­ing Ger­man-lan­guage drama based on Mona Kasten’s best­selling Save Me tri­logy. The story fol­lows Ruby Bell, a determ­ined schol­ar­ship stu­dent, and James Beaufort, a wealthy heir whose life takes an unex­pec­ted turn when their paths col­lide at the elite Max­ton Hall school.

Since its premiere on May 9th, 2024, the series has become Amazon Prime Video’s most suc­cess­ful non-Amer­ic­an ori­gin­al launch ever, top­ping the charts in over 120 regions world­wide. Fol­low­ing this phe­nom­en­al suc­cess, Amazon com­mis­sioned a second sea­son, set to premiere on Novem­ber 7th, 2025, and has already con­firmed a third. Pro­duced in Ger­many, Max­ton Hall show­cases the rise of European storytelling on a glob­al plat­form, blend­ing emo­tion­al intens­ity, romance, and high-end pro­duc­tion val­ues.

As one of the key cre­at­ive voices behind the show, Mar­lene Mel­chi­or played a cent­ral role in shap­ing the adaptation’s tone and nar­rat­ive struc­ture. Her work illus­trates how Seri­al Eyes alumni bring strong authori­al voices and craft to inter­na­tion­al tele­vi­sion drama. Dur­ing the talk, Mar­lene dis­cussed the cre­at­ive pro­cess behind the adapt­a­tion, explor­ing how the team bal­anced fidel­ity to the source mater­i­al with the demands of seri­al­ized storytelling. She also shared insights into the col­lab­or­at­ive work­flow with­in the writers’ room, includ­ing the cre­ation of beat boards and nar­rat­ive out­lines.

What Mar­lene and Kat­rin talked about in the ses­sion, and what you will learn bei rewatch­ing it:
Adapt­ing the Nov­el – Learn how Mar­lene and her team trans­lated Mona Kasten’s best­selling tri­logy into a visu­al medi­um while main­tain­ing its emo­tion­al core and mass appeal.
Romantic Ten­sion – Dis­cov­er how Marlene’s expert­ise in writ­ing romance-driv­en nar­rat­ives shaped the tone, pacing, and chem­istry between the cent­ral char­ac­ters.
Women in Writ­ing – Gain per­spect­ive on work­ing with­in a pre­dom­in­antly female writers’ room and cre­at­ive lead­er­ship team, and how this influ­enced the storytelling approach.
Cre­at­ive Work­flow – Take a look behind the scenes at the writ­ing pro­cess she was part of, includ­ing the cre­ation of beat boards.