Unwritten+

Mounia Aram didn't arrive in the animation industry through a straight door. Born in Casablanca and raised outside Paris, she came through a betrayal, a depression, a phone call to her sister in San Francisco — and a brother-in-law who happened to work in Japanese animation. That's fate, she says. And she means it. Today Mounia Aram is one of the leading voices in African animation — found...

One of the biggest myths in television is that you can take a successful show from one country and simply reproduce it somewhere else. In reality, formats may travel — but they almost never work unchanged . They have to be rebuilt — culturally, creatively, sometimes even structurally. That’s something my guest Marc Lorber has spent decades doing, producing television across more than 20 countries...

Simone Baumann was still a teenager when she left Eastern Germany to study philosophy in the Soviet Union. She arrived in Rostov-on-Don in the early 80s to empty supermarket shelves, ration coupons for butter, water running only twice a day and a city she wasn’t allowed to leave. No internet. No quick call home. No exit strategy. But somewhere between translating philosophy texts with a dictionary...

The new Unwritten+ episode is with Jarmo Lampela , director, teacher, and Head of Drama at Finland’s public broadcaster. Jarmo talks about growing up between places, spending his childhood moving, observing, adapting. About learning early how communities work. About noticing class, distance, and belonging - long before having language for it. We talk about: – directing without pretending to have a...

Unwritten+ is back — and we’re starting the year with something new: our first-ever video episode. I’m excited. And yes, a little bit terrified. Which usually tells me it’s the right move…   🎙️ Pedro Lopes: Building Stories Across Time, Formats, and Borders On history, conflict, and why stories sometimes refuse to stay on screen   Our guest is Pedro Lopes, Director of Content at SPI in Portugal —...

In the new episode of Unwritten+ , I speak with Deborah Bayer Marlow — a producer whose entire life has been shaped by instinct, reinvention and the kind of courage you only discover when the ground under your feet disappears. Deborah’s story begins in 1988 — a year she calls “a rupture.” At 18, in the chaos of a family falling apart, she grabbed a backpack, $1,500 and followed the Grateful Dead a...

What I love most about my conversations on UNWRITTEN+ is when they stop being about titles and job descriptions — and become about the life underneath. My new episode with Daniela Tully is exactly that. Daniela is a novelist, screenwriter, and creative producer whose journey has unfolded across five countries and three continents — and every place has reshaped the way she writes, works, and sees t...

Some stories don’t just stay with you — they change you. This conversation is one of them. Katya grew up in Mariupol, a city now synonymous with destruction and unimaginable loss. Before the war, she had already built an extraordinary producing career across CEE, the Nordics, the UK and beyond — a life that changed completely from one day to the next in February 2022. And two days before the full-...

Born in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. A childhood marked by the Iran–Iraq war. Growing up in a dictatorship where silence was survival. Ali May’s journey took him from Iran to London, where he studied Creative Writing, and from there to Bloomberg, Euronews, and the BBC — before turning to stories for the screen and stage. His projects now cross borders — from France to Germany, Denmark to Fin...

Sylvia Yu Friedman | A Life of Fearlessness ✨ Born in South Korea, raised in Vancouver, shaped in Beijing, and now rooted in Hong Kong — Sylvia Yu Friedman has lived many lives in one. As a journalist, documentary filmmaker, author of three powerful books ( A Long Road to Justice , Silenced No More , and Fearless ), and an advocate for survivors of modern slavery, she has walked into places most...

🎙️ Episode 10 of Unwritten+ — our first-ever LIVE recording in a SERIESLY BERLIN SPECIAL is now available! From Enugu to the Olympic Dream. Unwritten+ Live with Kaelo Iyizoba at Seriesly Berlin Yesterday at the beautiful Fotografiska Berlin with an amazing view over Berlin in Bar Clara , during the fantastic second edition of Seriesly Berlin , I sat down with Kaelo Iyizoba —a Nigerian American fil...

Fourteen books devoured on a single road trip. A teenage obsession with musicals and VHS horror films. An intern who borrowed money just to take her dream job at Fortissimo Films — and later helped steer Lumière from DVDs to Netflix deals. That same drive now powers Marike as Head of International Financing & Co-Productions at Nordisk Film — where she’s building bold partnerships across Europe...

How do you go from a cinema seat in a Dutch small town, moved to tears by a Brazilian film - to selling stories across continents, backing an €11M vampire series, and now showrunning a bold, romantic costume drama? That’s the arc of Fleur Winters—producer of Dutch Gouden Kalf Winner The Crash , founder of Big Blue, and the creative force behind the upcoming Grand Hotel by the Sea . A series that b...

You have 5 minutes to convince a room full of strangers your story matters. What do you say? If you’re lucky, you’ll have Agathe Berman in your corner. Known as The Pitchologist , she’s the go-to coach for filmmakers, showrunners, and producers across Europe who need their ideas to land — in a room, on a stage, or across a screen. But what Agathe really teaches isn’t just how to pitch. It’s how to...

Some producers start with a screenplay. Michael Polle started with popcorn. 🍿 What began behind the concession stand of a one-screen cinema turned into one of the most respected careers in European drama— Babylon Berlin , Furia , Other People’s Money (aka Cum-Ex )… you’ve seen his work. Now, in his first interview since launching his new company Polle Hofmann , Michael joins Unwritten+ to talk ab...

Some careers begin with a degree. Paolo Ciccarelli’s began with a scam. (Yes, really.) What was meant to be a short trip to London turned into a five-year detour — retail jobs, canceled plans, and a crash course in international storytelling. Now, he's one of the most trusted voices in European drama: an  International Scripted Advisor for Film & TV  and  Head of Drama at MIA - Internation...

In this new episode of  Unwritten+ Seriencamp Conference Special , Irina Ignatiew speaks with  Samya Hafsaoui —a Dutch-Moroccan filmmaker, writer, cultural critic, and the kind of multi-hyphenate who doesn’t wait for permission—she builds her own stage. Her debut feature is a smart, funny, deeply personal story about ADHD, fan culture, and the pressure to finish what you start—even when your brain...

On the latest episode of  Unwritten+ , Irina Ignatiew talks to Piodor Gustafsson, the producer and creative force behind Black Spark and Rainy Days — and one of the key figures shaping the rise of Scandinavian storytelling on the global stage. We talk about: 🧠 How  The Bridge  was literally pulled out of the bin and turned into an international hit 🌍 Why great stories start with local roots — an...

What’s it like to lead global teams, speak five languages fluently, and navigate careers at companies like Sony Pictures, Huawei, BetaFilm, and Movistar? In this episode of  Unwritten+ , I speak with  Maria Valenzuela , now founder of Brisa Media, to talk about building a career across borders—both geographic and cultural. We dig into what it really means to work internationally: the unspoken rule...

Seriencamp Conference Special! In this episode, I talk to Andri Ómarsson, co-CEO of Glassriver and one of the driving forces behind Iceland’s global TV boom. What starts as a chat about icy road movies ( Cold Fever , anyone?) turns into a personal revelation: I suddenly realize  The Case —a show we invested in 11 years ago as a coproduction at Red Arrow—was actually the  first-ever Icelandic inter...

Unwritten+ brings you conversations with people working across cultures and borders in media and beyond. In this special series for Seriencamp Conference, Germanys leading series festival and conference, I talk to some of the speakers and guests of Seriencamp to explore their creative sparks and global perspectives. More to come soon!