Michael Esser

Michael lives and works as scriptwriter and producer in Los Angeles. He won numerous US scriptwriting contests and develops TV series and feature films with renowned German and US talent and production companies.

In Germany, Michael created and wrote drama series, over sixty TV movies and feature films. As a producer he initiated and overlooked national and international productions; among many others are IDOLS – ROMY SCHNEIDER by director Jeremey Fekete, Oscar Roehler’s JEW SUSS: RISE AND FALL and the adaptation of the Colombian Telenovela hit BETTY LA FEA. In 2006, Michael won the GERMAN TELEVISION AWARD (“German Emmy”) and the Rose d’Or de Montreux as head writer of VERLIEBT IN BERLIN.

Michael studied editing with Roberto Perpignani, the editor of Bernardo Bertolucci and the Taviani Brothers at the National Italian Filmschool and holds a PhD from TU Berlin; he researched teaching methodology at UCLA’s School for Film and Televison (TFT), and works on an entertainment business related start-up in Natural Language processing (NLP). He also is an evaluator for the Directorate Research and Development of the European Union and a jury member for the German Television Academy.

Michael dedicates his free time to marathon running and his role as a facilitator and panelist for the Neighborhood Justice Program (NJP) of Los Angeles’ City attorney Mike Feuer.
 

1979 - 1982 Abitur und Studium: Psychologie, Germanistik, Kunstgeschichte an der Universität Köln.

1982 Rechercheur für „The Economist“, London
1982 – 1986 Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (nationale italienische Filmakademie): Montage und Dramaturgie. Cutter-Assistent bei „La Notte di San Lorenzo“ (Taviani) und „L’Ultimo Impera-tore“ (Bertolucci)
1986 – 1988 Cutter in Italien. U.a. „45 parallelo“ (de Sica Award Venedig ‘86 und Variety Award: bester Schnitt ‘86)
1988 Regie von Werbe-und Industriefilmen in Zürich (Schweiz):
ab 1988 Dokumentarfilme für das deutsche Fernsehen: u.a. „Venedig, traumhaft billig“, dokumentarischer Spielfilm mit Otto Sander, WDR. 1990 „Tonfilm, Filmton“, mit Jean-Luc Godard, Marcel Carné, Jean Rouch, u.v.a. WDR. 1992 „Die Da“, NDR und WDR.
ab 1989 Dozent für Montage an der dffb, Berlin.
1990 - 1992 Kunsthochschule für Medien, Köln, dramaturgische Beratungen, Konzeptentwicklung
1994 – 1995 Leitung Script Dept. und Story Editor bei „Verbotene Liebe“ (Daily Soap der ARD) Folgen 1 - 349
ab 1995 Producer bei der Regina Ziegler Filmproduktion, Berlin.
ab 1998 Dissertation TU Berlin (Prof. Knilli) „Zur Geschichte dramaturgischer Konzepte“
ab 2000 Vorbereitung der Gründung der Dramaworks GmbH
seit 2000 Geschäftsführer Dramaworks Agentur für Autoren- und Stoffentwicklung

Referenzprojekte:
- Verkauftes Land (NDR/WDR 2003)
- Meine Mutter, mein erster Freund und ich (Pro7, 2003)
- Die Wache (RTL, letzte Folge 2003)
- Der Verleger (ARD, 2002)
- Reihe “Lauter tolle Frauen” (ARD 200-2002)

Paketförderung Filmboard
- Sympathie für den Teufel
- Lilienthal
- Alaska

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Personal

Nationality
American
Languages
German: native
English: native
French: intermediate
Italian: native
Spanish: fluent
Professions
Creative prod., Development prod., Script consultants, Screenwriters, Format development, Producers
Associations
DAfF - Deutsche Akademie für Fernsehen e.V. [de]
Preferred working area

Producer, Development, Editing

Accommodation options
Berlin, Muenchen, Koeln, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, New York

Experience & skills

Education

Editing - National Italian Filmschool
Media Science - TU Berlin (PhD)
Communication Science - KHM Cologne
Scriptwriting - UCLA, Los Angeles

Experience abroad
Australia, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, United States, United Kingdom
Licenses
Motorcycle class, Truck class, Mopeds up to 50 cc & 45 km / h, General radio certificate AZF, Amateur radio certificate class E, Commercial Pilot Licence CPL-A (Flugzeug), Motorised aeroplane, Press card, Private pilot license A (brothers), Ultralight aviation, SPL
Special skills

Head Writer, Show Runner, Development Executive, Executive Producer, Budgeting, Editing

Further references

Ziegler Film, UFA Fiction, Constantin, Leonine, Morgan Creek, LA,

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