ifs internationale filmschule köln Master’s Program Serial Storytelling Lecturers and Guest Speakers Overview 1. ifs Professors 2 2. Guest Lecturers (2013-2021) ● Showrunners and Series Writers 7 ● Producers, Commissioning Editors, Network Executives 19 ● Screenwriting Teachers and Script Consultants 29 ● Media Scholars 40 ● Festival Curators 43 ● Transmedia, Animation, Comics and Game Experts 47 ● Agents & Lawyers 50 1/52 1. ifs Professors Prof. Dr. Joachim Friedmann Professor for Serial Storytelling Joachim Friedmann is a German screenwriter, comic writer, developer of online formats, and media scholar. He worked for popular TV series like »In aller Freundschaft«, »Die Camper«, »Der letzte Bulle (The Last Cop)«, and »Die Lindenstraße«. As a comic writer, he is the only German to write »Donald Duck« stories in English. He created the comic series »Lais and Ben« (Carlsen Publishing House) and wrote the comic adaptation of the TV movie »Mörderische Entscheidung« with Oliver Hirschbiegel. Another focus of his work is interactive, online-based formats. In this field, he was responsible for the concept and storytelling of the transmedia project centering on the DFB mascot »Paule« and designed the award-winning interactive learning game »Die Schlaumäuse«. Since 2001, he has been teaching dramaturgy, series development, and series writing at the University of Hildesheim and at various film schools. In 2017 he became professor for Serial Storytelling at ifs internationale filmschule köln. Friedmann’s dissertation on »Transmedia Narrative: Narrative Design in Literature, Film, Graphic Novel and Game« was published in 2016, his textbook »Storytelling« (UTB) in 2019. Prof. Dr. Gundolf S. Freyermuth Associate Professor for Comparative Media Studies Gundolf S. Freyermuth is a writer, media producer, and a professor of media and game studies at the Cologne Game Lab, which he co-founded in 2010. He also co-founded and co-edits the series »Bild und Bit. Studien zur digitalen Medienkultur« (»Image and Bit. Studies in Digital Media Culture«, since 2012). Freyermuth studied comparative literature and aesthetics at the Free University, Berlin. He wrote his MA thesis on the aesthetics of modern theater and his Ph.D. thesis on the impact of the techno-cultural process of digitalization on the arts, entertainment, and communication. From 2004 to 2014, he was a professor of comparative media studies at ifs internationale filmschule köln, where he still teaches as an Associate Professor. For the last decade, Freyermuth has been lecturing on digital games and game studies all over the world, inter alia in Los Angeles (UCLA), Hong Kong (Lingnan University), Shanghai (Shanghai Theater Academy), Budapest (University of Film and Theatre), Vienna, Klagenfurt, Brussels, Maastricht, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. Recent publications include: »Utopian Futures. A Brief History of Their Conception and Representation in Modern Media – From Literature to Digital Games.« In: Benjamin Beil / Gundolf S. 2/52 Freyermuth / Hanns Christian Schmidt (eds.): Playing Utopia. Futures in Digital Games, Bielefeld 2019 and »Games | Game Design | Game Studies. An Introduction.« (2015) Prof. Uli Hanisch Professor for Production Design Uli Hanisch, born in Nuremberg, grew up in the Ruhr area and initially worked as a graphic artist. In 1990 he began to design the films of Christoph Schlingensief. Shortly afterwards he worked with Helge Schneider. Hanisch supervises the films of many renowned directors such as Adolf Winkelmann, Sönke Wortmann, Max Färberböck, Andreas Dresen, Oliver Hirschbiegel and Leander Haußmann. Since 2009 Hanisch has also been working on American productions abroad. He has worked closely with Tom Tykwer for many years, including »Das Parfum« in 2005, for which he received several film awards, and the American production »The International« in 2007. He received his third German Film Award in 2012 for the production »Cloud Atlas«. In 2015, work begins on the historical series project »Babylon Berlin«, for which Hanisch also designs the new permanent outdoor backdrop »Neue Berliner Straße« in Babelsberg. Uli Hanisch has been a guest lecturer at all relevant film schools in Germany since 2001. Prof. Dr. Ulrike Hanstein Professor for Film Studies with a Focus on Theory, History and Aesthetics of Film Ulrike Hanstein was born in Erfurt. She graduated in theatre studies at the Justus-Liebig- Universität, Gießen. She developed collaborative performance pieces, both as site-specific works and for theatre spaces. She worked as assistant director and production manager for theatre and performance projects. She gained her PhD in film studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, with a thesis on the melodramatic film aesthetics of Lars von Trier and Aki Kaurismäki. She was postdoctoral fellow in the research team »Transmissions: Media and Religion« (Weimar, Jena, Erfurt), and held academic positions at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena. She was a fellow at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. She worked as lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater »Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy«, Leipzig and at the University of Vienna. She served as an interim professor of Film Studies at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Graduate Academy in Jena. Prof. Dr. Ulrike Hanstein is professor for Film History and Film Analysis at ifs internationale filmschule köln. 3/52 Prof. Peter Herrmann Professor for Creative Producing Peter Herrmann studied ethnology in Munich, followed by documentary film director and producer. The first feature film as executive producer is »Deathmaker« (Director: Romuald Karmakar), which was awarded the German Film Prize for Best Director and Best Film. Numerous productions followed, including Roland Suso Richter’s »Eine Hand voll Gras«, which won the children’s film section in Cannes in 2001, Jan Schütte’s »Fette Welt« and the award- winning TV two-parter »The Bubi Scholz Story«. With Caroline Link and her joint film »Nowhere in Africa«, he won the German Film Award in several categories and numerous awards at international festivals in 2003 as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Many of his films are set in different parts of Africa, including »Desert Flower« and »Exit Marrakech«. »Desert Flower« was not only a great success at German box offices, but also sold very well internationally and won several prizes. Peter Herrmann is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of German Films, the official export and promotion organization of the German film industry, and a member of the Awards Committee of the Filmförderanstalt Berlin. Prof. Mika Kallwass Professor for Screenwriting and Dramaturgy Mika Kallwass studied directing at the National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield near London. She started her filmmaking career in London with music videos and documentaries for Channel 4. After her return to Germany she made a feature film for cinema and TV for ZDF. In 1995 she was participant of the first cohort of the Schreibschule Köln e.V., a forerunner of ifs’ »Screenwriters’ Program«. In 2001 she received a scholarship for screenwriting and directing at Columbia University in New York, where she studied with Nora Ephron, James Schamus, and Mike Hausmann. Mika Kallwass works as a freelance screenwriter and script consultant in Germany. Since 2017 she holds the professorship for Screenwriting and Dramaturgy at ifs internationale filmschule köln. 4/52 Prof. Uwe Kersken Professor for Masterclass Non-Fiction Uwe Kersken is a renowned producer, writer and director of documentary films and series as well as docu-dramas with a focus on history, science and nature for German and international TV. From 1970 to 1980, he worked for German broadcaster WDR, amongst others in the editorial department of Germany’s leading news program »Tagesschau«. After that he created his own documentaries as a »One Man Show«. In 1989 he co-founded Gruppe 5 Filmproduktion where he worked as managing partner until April 2014. Uwe Kersken is internationally known for primetime documentary formats such as »The Forgotten Island« (BBC) »Die amerikanische Reise«, »Die Juden, Geschichte eines Volkes« (ARD), »Die Deutschen«, »Sturm über Europa«, »Die Varusschlacht«, »2057 – Die Welt in 50 Jahren«, »Welcome to China«, »Armageddon – Der Einschlag«, »Dawn of the Oceans«, »America Before Columbus«, »Planet Egypt« (ZDF & Dicovery, National Geographic, History, NHK, SBS, and many European partners). Not to forget the major series Wildlife Series »Fabulous Animals« (WDR, Canal+ & National Geographic) and »Dolphin-Stories« (WDR & Discovery). In 2009, Uwe Kersken initiated and designed the further education program Masterclass Non-Fiction at ifs internationale filmschule köln, where he is continually involved in the further development of the program and consultation of the participants. In 2014 he founded G5fiction with ZDF-Enterprises, where he is responsible for the development, financing, production and exploitation of high-quality, original drama programs, including »Duell der Brüder« and »Goldjungs«. Upcoming projects include »Die Nibelungen«, »La Légion«, »Alexander The Great, »Ellis Island, and »Radio Cold War«. For a more detailed CV and filmography click here. Prof. Rolf Mütze Professor for Visual Effects and Animation Rolf Mütze studied visual communication in Münster and received his Master in computer arts at the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco, where he received