Abstract by Lars Wiebe & Jan Bennemann (Netflix)

Jan Bennemann and Lars Wiebe have been working in the film industry for a long time and have worked for various national and international production companies. Both joined Netflix last year as content executives and, together with other colleagues, are responsible for Netflix’s fictional film and series business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As creative directors, they receive many project developments and pitches from all over the German-speaking world, giving them a unique insight into the wealth and breadth of the most diverse content. The two often accompany the process of story development in close collaboration with the creatives and work in story consulting themselves.

In conversation with Jan Bennemann and Lars Wiebe, Mike Schaerer would like to discuss what developments can be felt in dramaturgy and narration, whether trends are emerging in content themes and tonality, or whether new developments in narrative styles and patterns are emerging as a result of the new players on the market. He is also interested in the extent to which they influence the development of material in their work and what material they are looking for.

> Deutsche Version

ABSTRACT VON FRED BAILLIF

Eine Gruppe von Mädchen im Teenageralter wird von Sozialarbeitern in einem Pflegeheim untergebracht. Diese erzwungene “Familien”-Erfahrung führt zu unerwarteten Spannungen und Intimitäten. Ein Vorfall löst eine Kette von Überreaktionen aus. Die Folgen offenbaren die Schwächen des rückschrittlichen Jugendsystems und die Dämonen, die “La Mif” heimsuchen. Ein Sozialdrama, das unsere unkultivierte Moral widerspiegelt.

Auf der Suche nach natürlicher Darstellung und ungeahnten Talenten hat Fred Baillif einen direkten Filmstil entwickelt, der auf realen Personen und Improvisation beruht. In diesem Fall begann der Prozess mit Einzelinterviews mit allen Bewohnern und Mitarbeitern eines Kinderheims. Anschließend führte er zwei Jahre lang Improvisationsworkshops durch, in denen sich nach und nach Charaktere herausbildeten. Er sammelte alle Elemente, die dabei herauskamen, und schrieb ein Drehbuch. Es enthielt keine Dialoge, aber eine allgemeine Handlung, eine Skizze und einige Pointen. Die Schulleiterin Claudia Grob (Lora) teilte ihm ihre starke Frustration über das Jugendschutzsystem mit und inspirierte dadurch die Geschichte sehr. Fred wird diese Erfahrung und seine Vision von dem, was man “Cinema verité” nennt, teilen.

> English Version

Abstract by Dr. Linda Seger

The creative writer works with boundaries and with balance. There is a balancing act between art and craft – knowing the craft and expressing the art. Without craft there is confusion and an arbitrary approach to art – which sometimes works, but usually does not. Without art, the product is derivative and obvious and on-the-nose.

There is a balance between art as expression and art as communication.
There is a balance between pushing our art into new forms, and being so beholden to what are thought of as the “old rules” that we become locked in.
There is balance between “always coloring inside the lines” and “doing what you want.”

I don’t believe in rules and formulas, but I do believe in concepts and ideas. I believe “You can do anything you want, if you can do it!” That means that any time you move away from what other people call Rules, you usually have to compensate and be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it and how to get around it to make it work. So we will be talking about some of these sneaky techniques that are good to know and that can serve your art.

This 30 minute talk will look at the following issues and questions:
1. Momentum Issues: How do you keep a story moving if you put an emphasis on episodes and development rather than results and resolutions?
2. Focus and Orientation Issues: How do you keep focus if you put an emphasis on emotional moments and transformation rather than action points?
3. Structural Issues: what are the aspects of the Three Act Structure that can help you rather than hinder you and how do you bring these in, while seemingly “breaking all the rules?” (If you have time, watch the film Luther with Joseph Fiennes where I was the script consultant and broke two of the biggest “Rules” in screenwriting in the Third Act. I will talk briefly about what those were and how we compensated for the problem this was going to cause.)
4. Action Points: how do you diminish action points so you don’t pound the audience over the head (ala Die Hard) while still using them for clarity? How much distance do you want between your audience and your action?
5. Sources and Knowledge: How do you look for sources and work with the knowledge and insights of other artists while not allowing them to lock you in to their own formulas?

You might find it helpful to take a look at several of my books that cover these issues in different ways: Making a Good Script Great which deals more with conventional structures. Advanced Screenwriting which deals with unconventional structures. Making a Good Writer Great which deals with the creative process. And the chapter on the film Crash in And the Best Screenplay Goes to – Learning from the Winners.

> Deutsche Version

Abstract by Christian Schwochow

The tone in politics, but also in society, has become louder in recent years. Those who want to get through with their opinions: polarize, simplify and coarsen. This changes politics and this also changes the view on politics. How do we as artists, as filmmakers, react to the intensifying populism in Europe and the world? How can we use our means to confront the anti-democratic forces that reject our understanding of society and try to divide it without becoming didactic or lecturing?

In recent years, Christian Schwochow has attempted to narrate political television and cinema with various works such as: “NSU-Heute ist nicht alle Tage”, “Deutschstunde”, “Je suis Karl” and “Munich -The Edge of War”. At the conference, Christian Schwochow will report on his various approaches. It will be about why it is becoming more and more important to tell shades, what limits political storytelling brings with it and why he nevertheless considers it extremely important as an artist to confront political issues. Also in films.

> Deutsche Version

Abstract von Christine Lang

In aktuellen Drehbuchratgebern werden vor allem 3-Akt-Strukturen und damit Modelle einer geschlossenen Dramaturgie diskutiert. Dabei stehen immer eine Hauptfigur und ihre Handlungen im Mittelpunkt. Das europäische Kino zeichnet sich jedoch durch andere, weitaus vielfältigere dramaturgische Traditionen aus. Hier findet man epische, analytische, offene und experimentelle Formen. In diesen spielen ästhetische Mittel wie metaphorische Bilder, die symbolische Aktivierung dramatischer Situationen, dialektische Kontrastierungen und Variationen eine Rolle. Im Vergleich zu einer geschlossenen Dramaturgie verlangt diese Art des Erzählens eine aktivere Rezeption und lädt den Zuschauer zur Interpretation ein. Doch nur auf den ersten Blick wirken diese Filme unregelmäßiger oder gar unfertiger als Werke der geschlossenen Form; im Hintergrund wirken die Gesetze des dramatischen Erzählens, so dass ihre ästhetische Offenheit erst durch Teile der geschlossenen Form ermöglicht wird. Dabei werden jedoch traditionelle dramaturgische Verfahren variiert, gebrochen, fragmentiert und rekombiniert.

In diesem Vortrag werden dramaturgische Verfahren und ihre moderne Adaption anhand verschiedener Filmbeispiele des zeitgenössischen europäischen Kinos vorgestellt und nachvollziehbar gemacht: Asghar Farhadi verbindet in Le Passé (F/I 2013) das klassische Familiendrama mit einer analytischen Dramaturgie; Michael Haneke verlagert in dem epischen Drama Happy End (F/D/AU 2017) die eigentliche Narration ins Implizite, wodurch ein zentrales Thema exemplifiziert wird; Julia Ducournau verbindet in Titane (F 2021) verschiedene Genres auf postmoderne Weise. Diese Filme zeigen, wie facettenreich und vielfältig moderne Dramaturgie sein kann.

> English Version

Abstract by Christine Lang

In current screenplay guides, mainly 3-act structures and thus models of closed dramaturgy are discussed. Here, the focus is always on a main character and its actions. European cinema, however, is characterised by other, far more diverse dramaturgical traditions. Here one finds epic, analytical, open and experimental forms. In these, aesthetic means such as metaphorical imagery, the symbolic activation of dramatic situations, dialectical contrasting and variations play a role. Compared to a closed dramaturgy, this kind of storytelling requires a more active reception and invites viewers to interpret. But only at first sight do these movies seem more irregular or even unfinished than works of closed form; in the background, the laws of dramatic narration are at work, which means that their aesthetic openness is only made possible by parts of closed form. In the process, however, traditional dramaturgical procedures are varied, broken, fragmented and recombined. In this lecture, dramaturgical procedures and their modern adaptation will be presented and made comprehensible on the basis of various film examples of contemporary European cinema: In Le Passé (F/I 2013), Asghar Farhadi combines the classic family drama with analytical dramaturgy; in the epic drama Happy End, (F/D/AU 2017), Michael Haneke shifts the actual narration into the implicit through which a central theme is exemplified; in Titane (F 2021), Julia Ducournau combines different genres in a postmodern way. These films show how multifaceted and diverse modern dramaturgy can be.

> Deutsche Version

Abstract by Fritz Breithaupt

Why do we love stories? Life is experienced more intensely when we are enmeshed in stories – I narrate, therefore I am. But it is not only our own lives that are heightened by narratives; through narratives we are also able to transform individual experience into shared experience. To achieve this, our brains and the ways in which we tell stories must be attuned to each other. But how exactly does this happen? And what makes a story a good story?

In this talk, Fritz will draw on the latest scientific research including neuroscience and experiments where thousands of participants play the telephone game (Stille Post Spiele) to discuss the structure of successful narratives that people co-experience. The reward of narrative thinking, it turns out, is emotional, and we live the way we live because we follow the specific reward patterns of narratives. Yet at the same time, things can always turn out differently in narratives, and it is precisely this fact that allows us to try out different versions of our own lives.

> Deutsche Version

Abstract by Marja-Riitta Koivumäki

A performance or an audio-visual performance (screening) is an essential part of theatre and film art. My concept of dramaturgy is tied around the concept of a performance but what does it mean, when we talk about film. I will start my presentation by discussing the dramaturgical approach in studying film from the practitioner’s point of view.

TBA

Abstract von Fritz Breithaupt

Warum lieben wir Geschichten? Das Leben wird intensiver erlebt, wenn wir in Geschichten verstrickt sind – ich erzähle, also bin ich. Aber nicht nur unser eigenes Leben wird durch Erzählungen intensiviert; durch Erzählungen sind wir auch in der Lage, individuelle Erfahrungen in gemeinsame Erfahrungen zu verwandeln. Um dies zu erreichen, müssen unser Gehirn und die Art und Weise, wie wir Geschichten erzählen, aufeinander abgestimmt sein. Aber wie genau geschieht das? Und was macht eine Geschichte zu einer guten Geschichte?

In diesem Vortrag stützt sich Fritz auf die neueste wissenschaftliche Forschung, einschließlich der Neurowissenschaften und Experimente, bei denen Tausende von Teilnehmern das Telefonspiel (Stille Post Spiele) spielen, um die Struktur erfolgreicher Erzählungen zu erörtern, die Menschen gemeinsam erleben. Die Belohnung des narrativen Denkens, so stellt sich heraus, ist emotional, und wir leben so, wie wir leben, weil wir den spezifischen Belohnungsmustern der Narrative folgen. Gleichzeitig können die Dinge in Narrativen aber auch immer anders verlaufen, und genau diese Tatsache ermöglicht es uns, verschiedene Versionen unseres eigenen Lebens auszuprobieren.

> English Version

Kathrin Resetarits works as a writer, dramaturg, director, actress, lives in Vienna. Since 2000 she has been artistic assistant to Michael Haneke, Senior Lecturer at the Vienna Film Academy in the Department of Screenwriting and Dramaturgy and guest lecturer at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) Berlin. Kathrin Resetartis gives lectures and workshops on thematically bound or constellative storytelling for filmmakers in Austria and Germany. She is also a founding member of FC GLORIA networking for women in film.

Selection of current works:

Screenplay:
Licht, feature film A/D 2017, director: Barbara Albert.
Weihnachten, ORF television film 2022 (in production), Director: Mirjam Unger, Arman T. Riahi.

Dramaturgy:
Quo vadis, Aida?, feature film 2020, directed and written by Jasmila Žbanić,
Western, feature film D 2017, director and screenplay: Valeska Grisebach

Drama:
L’animale, A 2017, directed by Katharina Mückstein.

Artistic assistance:
Happy End, F/A 2017, director: Michael Haneke

Co-director:
Michael, A 2011, Director: Markus Schleinzer, Cannes Official Competition.

Book:
Vögel sind zu Besuch, Czernin Verlag

> Deutsche Version