week 48 / 26 November 2015 week 48 / 26 November 2015 Cover Montage © RTL Television / Robert Grischek Publisher RTL Group 45, Bd Pierre Frieden L-1543 Luxembourg Editor, Design, Production RTL Group Corporate Communications & Marketing k before y hin ou T p r in t backstage.rtlgroup.com backstage.rtlgroup.fr backstage.rtlgroup.de QUICK VIEW Investment in Full Fat TV FremantleMedia SECRET MISSION: p.10 TO CONQUER VIEWERS IN DEUTSCHLAND RTL-Spendenmarathon celebrates its RTL Television 20th anniversary p.4–9 RTL Television p.11–12 Latest meeting of the Media Advisory Council Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland p.13 BCE provides technical support to RTL Z Big Picture BCE / RTL Nederland p.16 p.14 SHORT Successful start for Válótársak RTL Hungary NEWS p.15 p.17 PEOPLE p.18 SECRET MISSION: TO CONQUER VIEWERS IN DEUTSCHLAND Germany – 26 November 2015 RTL Television Deutschland 83 immerses viewers in life in Germany during that extraordinary decade: the 1980s. Following its international success, the UFA Fiction production will start airing at 20:15 on 26 November 2015 on RTL Television. © Morris Mac Matzen From left to right: Jörg Winger (Co-Creator and Producer), Frank Hoffmann (Managing Director Programming at RTL Television), Samira Radsi (Director Episode 6-8), Jonas Nay (Main Actor), Anna Winger (Co-Creator and Headwriter), Edward Berger (Director Episode 1-5), Nico Hofmann (Producer, Chairman and CEO of UFA Fiction) 4 © RTLTelevision / Conny Klein © RTL Television / Nik Konietzny Nik / Television RTL © Moritz with his aunt Lenora Leading roles – Moritz Stamm and Alex Edel It’s 1983. The Cold War between East and West is His aunt, Lenora Rauch (Maria Schrader), a senior in danger of escalating, and a divided Germany is member of the GDR’s foreign intelligence service, literally caught right in the middle. In the wake of HVA, successfully pitches the idea to her hierarchical NATO’s so-called ‘double-track decision’, Germany superior, Walter Schweppenstette (Sylvester Groth). arms itself with Pershing II missiles and NATO Martin is duly ghosted into Germany’s federal armed organises manoeuvres exercises on a nuclear forces, the Bundeswehr, where he goes by the emergency. Its ‘Able Archer’ exercise is so authentic name of Moritz Stamm. His mission? To discover the that Soviet President Andropow believes it is a plans for the deployment of the Federal Republic’s pre-emptive nuclear strike by the United States. Pershing II missiles and ascertain the preparations for the ‘Able Archer’ exercise. His former life in While peace demonstrations are held in Western the GDR starts fading more and more into the Europe, in the East there is no hint of any peaceful background, and he is quick to see how relations solution. This is the difficult political situation in between the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) which Martin Rauch (played by Jonas Nay), a young and GDR are developing into a real tense situation. soldier serving in the National People’s Army (NVA), Meanwhile, he’s caught right in the thick of it, divided is selected to go and spy in the West for the German between loyalty to his homeland and his attachment Democratic Republic’s foreign (GDR) secret service. to the free Western world. © RTL Television / Laura Deschner Laura / Television RTL © © RTLTelevision / Laura Deschner A new world for Moritz – a supermarket in FRG HVA executive – Walter Schweppenstette Next > 5 © RTL Television / Stefan Gregorowius Television © RTL “A SERIES THAT NOT ONLY FEATURES GERMANY IN ITS TITLE, BUT WILL ALSO HOLD THE COUNTRY IN ITS THRALL” Philipp Steffens, Head of Fiction at RTL Television To mark the series’ launch in Germany, Backstage Can you reveal anything about how the series spoke to Philipp Steffens, Head of Fiction at came about? What form did your collaboration RTL Television, about his cooperation with UFA with the UFA team take? Fiction and the fiction highlights on RTL Television It began with the phenomenal work done by the during the coming year. two creative minds, the writer Anna Winger and producer Jörg Winger, and then continued under the What in your view made Deutschland 83 an amazing direction by Edward Berger and Samira international success? Radsi and with great acting by a unique cast. Many, Well, the series had a fantastic team working on many more names deserve a mention here though, it. We had experienced, deeply committed camera because Deutschland 83 was a combined effort by crews and excellent actors. And although the drama a really exceptional team, both behind and in front is very German affair, the backdrop to events is the of the camera. Crucially, everyone shared the same hottest phase of the Cold War, which resonates vision about making a series that not only features with and fascinates international audiences too. Germany in its title, but will also hold the country in Then there’s also the universally appealing, modern its thrall. narrative style of this thrilling spy series, and last but not least, the script produced by the series’ creator, Deutschland 83 first aired in the United States Anna Winger, which views the topic from a very on Sundance TV – before being shown on distinctive angle. RTL Television. How come? FremantleMedia International offered Sundance TV all episodes of Deutschland 83 before the series had even been finished. They were immediately won over by the quality of the series and seized their opportunity, even though this was a bold experiment for an independent channel like Sundance, especially since the series was broadcast in German with subtitles, © RTL Television / Nik Konietzny Television © RTL something unheard of in the United States. In the end, it all turned out very well: the series was a hit in America, confirming the excellent ratings given to it by international critics. Martin Rauch alias Moritz Stamm Next > 6 Which fiction highlights and own productions do you have in store for the coming year that viewers can look forward to seeing on RTL Television? Our spring highlight in the genre fiction will be the event film Die Turnschuhgiganten (The Sneaker-Giants), which is about the brothers who founded Adidas and Puma respectively. Winnetou is the single word needed to whet viewers’ appetites for the autumn and winter, when RTL Television will air a classic three-part made-for-TV mini series / Nikola Predovic, RatPack Television © RTL based on the Wild West stories by Karl May. Where series are concerned, this season we even have 13 episodes of our hit show Der Lehrer (The Teacher) lined up, as well as plenty of excitement in the new Winnetou season of Alarm für Cobra [long-running police series], which comprises 11 episodes featuring new But with such a magnificent team on both sides cast member Daniel Roesner. of the camera we’re convinced that our efforts will be crowned with success and we feel certain that How is shooting on Winnetou going? What the TV film we are making will bring whole families are the challenges you face when producing a together around their TV sets. remake of such popular material? Shooting is going gratifyingly well. Karl May’s What makes a series ‘good’? What does it take Winnetou is one of the best-known German novels to achieve more than niche success? and its stories about the Apache chief are known RTL Television’s programmes must aim to reach a the whole world over. So of course there are some broad and sizeable audience of men and women, major challenges involved. Firstly, there is the huge young and older viewers. In my view therein lies the logistical effort involved in bringing the legendary major challenge: how to find stories with universal figure back to life again at the same locations in appeal that move everyone in equal measure, not Croatia where the original movies were made. just a smaller, more limited group. Our two series Secondly, there is the content-related challenge of Alarm für Cobra 11 and Der Lehrer are perfect creating a modern reinterpretation while retaining examples of how to achieve success. We believe the spirit of the old films. in strong, true-to-life figures and characters who leave our viewers feeling good. For our ongoing series we rely on modern procedurals, meaning cases that are concluded within a single episode, but have horizontal strands of narrative extending over multiple episodes. Next > © RTL Television / Willi Weber Television © RTL Die Turnschuhgiganten 7 COLD WAR CONTINUES After the premiere of Deutschland 83, RTL Television will air the documentary 1983 (K)ein bisschen Frieden at 22:15 – with news journalist Peter Kloeppel and TV presenter Inka Bause embarking on a journey into the past, meeting key figures from the time © RTL Television / Gordon Mühle Television © RTL who made their mark on events in 1983 and paint a very personal picture of the dramatic events unfurling back then. Inka Bause and Peter Kloeppel take on the eventful year between pop and politics WHAT HAS THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS SAID ON THE SERIES: week 46 / 13 November 2014 Backstage visited the cast of Deutschland 83 last year, when the shooting of the event series began Click here to find out more COLD WAR GETTING HOT How UFA Fiction and RTL Television produce the historical large-scale event seriesThe Deutschland! Netherlands Belgium RTL Nederland Next > Luxembourg ‘360° Expert Meeting launches brand new RTL Group Q3 results: on Media – Convergence – multi-channel network Solid results driven by Regulation’ slight improvement in advertising revenue in key markets 8 EAST-WEST ZEITGEIST THE HERO’S JOURNEY HISTORY RTL TELEVISION HAS PRODUCED VARIOUS TRAILERS TO HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THIS TROUBLED PERIOD ADDRESSED IN THE SERIES 9 FULL FAT ENTERTAINMENT FremantleMedia On 25 November 2015, FremantleMedia announced that it has invested in the Birmingham-based factual entertainment indie Full Fat TV.