EXCLUSIVE: Big news out of Germany today, with showrunner and writer Jörg Winger joining Dynamic Television‘s new German arm as President.
At the same time, thriller series Conspiracy, which Winger co-created with Marco Girnth, is now in development at public broadcaster ZDF.
At Dynamic Television Germany, Winger will lead development of German and international scripted projects out of the country. He will report to Dynamic Television Managing Partners, Klaus Zimmermann and Daniel March.
Winger and Girnth’s new show Conspiracy is pegged as an early step in Dynamic’s plan to build a writer-led slate of scripted series and films out of Germany that have “both local authenticity and international reach.” No details on the plot right now, with ZDF playing its cards close to its chest.
Speaking to Deadline at Seriencamp in Cologne, Winger said he hopes Conspiracy could follow in the footsteps of Deutschland 83 in being the next big franchise, with ambitions to make it a returning series. The thriller stars Deutschland 83’s Svenja Jung. “It feels like a real family that is getting back together,” added Winger.
The team have two more shows in development with streamers and Winger said they will search for “really original ideas that we really believe in.”
News of Winger’s appointment will no doubt sweep through German TV industry event Seriencamp, which is into its final day. We’ve been on the ground reporting on developments all week.
Winger is one of Germany’s highest-profile showrunners, having helmed the first 200 episodes of crime series SOKO Leipzig. He is most widely known as the co-creator of the Deutschland 83, Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89 trilogy, which he made with his wife, writer Anna Winger. The shows were among the most internationally-successful German titles of the modern era, landing wide distribution and accolades including a Peabody Award, an International Emmy and multiple Grimme Awards. He also worked on HBO Europe’s Hackerville and Disney+’s Sam – A Saxon.
“Jörg is one of the few creative talents in the German TV industry who consistently combines distinctive authorship with broad international appeal,” said Zimmerman. “As Dynamic continues to expand its global production activity, his arrival marks an important step in our ambition to build a writer-driven slate of premium series from Germany with both local authenticity and international reach.”
Winger added: “I’m excited to join the team at Dynamic, an agile, independent and globally minded company with a strong creative vision for both German and international projects.”
He revealed he has twice nearly joined his former colleague Zimmerman’s Dynamic in the past. “We have similar tastes and vision for the stories we want to tell but we also have complementary skills,” added Winger. “So three time’s a charm and we’re making it happen.”
“The missing piece”
Bar Apple TV’s Drops of God, Zimmerman said it is difficult for Dynamic to afford big IP so it therefore has to be nimble, which suits Winger’s style.
“We don’t have the capacity to spend millions on optioning books but in the end you have a pulse in the market and we are always focused on where we think the market is going,” he added. “This is why when the bubble came four or five years ago we were not part of the bubble but not part of the explosion of the bubble either, so we kind of have steady growth.”
With a hub in France already, Zimmerman feels ike Dynamic Germany is the “missing piece” and is unlikely to open anywhere else in the near future.
“There’s a difference in the American market or UK market but the two big commissioning markets in Europe are France and Germany,” he added.
Internationally, Dynamic is also making the likes of Hallmark Media’s Paris is Always a Good Idea with the UK’s Clapperboard Studios, Netflix Spain’s Innate and AMC/Acorn’s Art Detectives.
