FABW alumni win RTL+'s “Storytellers” competition with the young adult comedy series project “Good Lord” (WT)
Five teams made it to the final of the fifth “Storytellers” competition for young talent organised by RTL+, with Lisa Purtscher, Lotta Schmelzer, and Bernhard Strobel*, all alumni of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (FABW), ultimately winning. They were awarded the contract for their series concept “Good Lord” (working title).
Worlds collide between bookshelves
„Good Lord“ is about Jonas, a young gay man who has to take over his parents' Catholic bookstore during Carnival, of all times. While he tries to keep his queer community and his strict Catholic background separate, the bookstore becomes a melting pot of both worlds: during the day, believers buy their rosaries, and at night, “the sinners” throw wild underground parties.
Lisa Purtscher and Lotta Schmelzer will produce the new young adult comedy on behalf of RTL+ with their company LiseLotte Films, which they founded immediately after graduating from film school. Filming is scheduled to begin in 2026.
Pitching on a “class trip”
The final competition for the Straight-to-Series Greenlight took place as part of the “Storytellers Class Trip,” where the five nominated teams pitched their projects to young industry professionals.
In addition to the winners, the other contenders were: Lars Bürmann, Robert Deꞔani, and Daniel Suarez-Wessel from ifs with “Günnis Eck,” Samuel Gheist and Max Kubitschek from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg with “Dein Kampf,” Anne Katz and Philipp Straetker from HFF Munich with “Emo_Girlz<3,” and Valentin Wanker and Samuel N. Schwarz from Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf with “Love Resort.”
“Good Lord” (working title) is the second winning project from the “Storytellers” competition to benefit from the long-term cooperation between RTL+ and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (Film and Media Foundation NRW) to promote talent.
* Lisa Purtscher, Lotta Schmelzer, and Bernhard Strobel are scholarship holders of the foundation Baden-Württemberg Stiftung and participated in an international exchange programme as part of their studies.
Photo: RTL / Sebastian Ganschow
Bernhard Strobel, Lotta Schmelzer und Lisa Purtscher