Germany’s TNT Comedy Producing Short-Form Dramedy Ausgebremst

TNT Comedy in Germany, together with Poppular Pictures and Atalante Film, is making the five-part short-form dramedy Ausgebremst.

Ausgebremst will center on a woman named Beate who has just lost her husband to a student of their joint driving school, as well her driving license after she’s caught driving under the influence. With her life falling apart, she decides to end her life, but then an online video-chat window suddenly pops up featuring a woman confessing to her that she is about to kill herself. Before Beate can begin to comprehend what is going on, the next video-chat window pops up.

Produced in collaboration with eitelsonnenschein, Ausgebremst stars Maria Furtwängler, Ulrike Folkerts, Monika Gruber, Sabin Tambrea, Alice Dwyer, Annette Frier, Alessandro Schuster, Maren Kroymann, Rauand Taleb and Thomas Loibl, among others. Lutz Heineking, jr. will direct the actors remotely based on their character description and story outlines provided by the writers—but with room left for improvisation. WarnerMedia will broadcast the new original production soon after shooting finishes on TNT Comedy, TNT Serie and TNT Film as well as on their social media channels.

All ad revenues made in connection with the new series will go to the project #KunstNothilfe, which supports artists and culture professionals who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the people involved, including writers and actors, are waiving their pay in order to make this project possible.

Anke Greifeneder, VP of original productions of TNT channels in EMEA, said: “Good television is created by the teamwork of creatives both in front of and behind the camera. In times like these, we aim not only to entertain our viewers but also, as a producing network in collaboration with the amazing Ausgebremst team, to show solidarity with everyone working in our industry. By supporting this important arts and culture industry we would like to do our part to ensure that all of us will continue being able to realize exciting projects.”