Michael Esser – Writer, Producer, Content Analyst

About Michael

Mike is passionate about storytelling and he has a unique voice. He dedicates his work to the question of how past deeds influence our thinking, our present and future.

The most important quote for Michael is:

“The past is never dead, it is not even past”
William Faulkner

His material has been optioned by Fremantle, Myriad Pictures and Rainmaker Content. Mike has worked with Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, Daniel Cerone, Adi Hasak and Frank Spotnitz, who associated their names with three of his projects thanks to his ability to pitch convincingly.

Mike is proud of his adaptation of Ugly Betty as Daily Dramedy. Mike was executive and head writer of the 685 episodes; the 3 seasons became the most successful access-prime-time show ever for Pro7Sat1, Germany's biggest commercial TV network. The show won him a German Emmy and subsequent successes make him a credible and valued professional in Germany. Mike now wants to expand his reach to the US.

Michael worked as a juror for the Emmys, Bluecat, The Peter Ustinov Prize for Emerging Screenwriters and the scriptwriting Award of the German Academy of Television (the “German Emmy”).

Mike has acquired option rights to non-fiction and fiction bestsellers, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalistic works. He believes in himself and his projects and that every voice must be heard.

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Writer

MIchael writes stories out of passion. He has learned his trade from great teachers like Frank Daniel and Robert McKee. His biggest successes are “Sold Out Country,” the truth behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall, “Jew Suss – Rise and Fall,” how Germany’s biggest movie star was casted by the devil, and the mega hit series “Verliebt in Berlin,” that broke all records and is the most successful German TV series ever.

100

Producer

As a producer Michael has helped numerous young writers, directors and actors with their first steps. He also has worked with big names like Jean Marie Straub, Margarete von Trotta, Nico Hofmann, Oscar Roehler, Jeremy Fekete. He has worked internationally, with great creators like Gus van Sant, George Shengelaia, Bob Rafelson, in coproductions in Italy, Greece, Poland, Georgia.

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Development Producer

Michael has done much of his best work in and with writing teams, starting with Germany’s first daily drama series “Forbidden Love” for which he headed the story department for the initial 150 episodes, adapting a successful Australian format by the “genius of daily drama” Reg Grundy. He went on helping create high profile thrillers like “Solo for Clarinet” after a novel by Elsa Lewin, “The Publisher,” about Germany’s Randolph Hearst, Axel Springer, and “A Time of Thunder and Lightning,” after an international bestseller by Charlotte Link.

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Content Analyst

In the US, Michael began focussing on web content development, achieving three Google certificates. The result was, among many others, a startup that brings Neural Networking and Machine Learning to the Entertainment Industry, enhancing content choice procedures. His dual profile as a name in traditional content creation and development, and the expertise in tech gained him a job offer on a multilingual team at TFF@Google where he improves processes and decision making.

Coverage

Initial assessment of your screenplay, pilot script or series concept. Please head over to my company website totellastory.net for detailed information and pricing.

Consultancy

Consultation packages (Skype or FaceTime (30 min/week) Coaching and preparing for pitches and presentations. Please head over to my company website totellastory.net for detailed information and pricing.

Media Relationship

Strategizing in building relationships with US studios, production companies, buyers, agencies and management companies. Please head over to my company website totellastory.net for detailed information and pricing.

Research on Creative Strategies

Michael writes his PhD at Berlin Institute of Technology about story development procedures. The strategy he devises to optimize the process becomes the basis of his company Dramaworks.

2002

Owns Development Agency

Michael creates Germany’s most successful access prime time TV series of all times, “Verliebt in Berlin.” He headwrites the 685 episodes and is awarded the German Emmy in 2007 for this achievement.

2004-2007

Success as Development Producer

Michael develops series, TV Movies, feature films, among them the controversial entry into the Berlinale of 2011 “Jew Suss – Rise and Fall,” a documentary about Germany’s biggest post war movie star Romy Schneider, a docudrama about the background of the myth around the Holy Grail.

2008-2013

Moving Onward

Michael moves to the United States and establishes himself as a producer, development producer, business liaison manager and startup entrepreneur. He writes material for Myriad Pictures, pitches to all major studios and networks, develops content with major US talent.

2015

Bringing it all together: Tech and Content Creation

Michael pitches a startup in Machine Learning to the entertainment industry which earns him the attention of Google. In August 2021 he is hired as a Content Analyst (TFF@Google), assessing content, structuring rating processes while bringing his startup to fruition.

2020

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Dark Side of the Moon

*How to get away with mass murder and become a hero of all mankind?*

“When I first saw the camp and the underground tunnels of the V2 factory that it had supplied with slave laborers (some 20,000 of whom died) […] the shock of grasping the size of the distortion perpetrated by von Braun and his American apologists was so strong that trying to convey the nature of the falsehood suddenly seemed futile. [They] covered up the place’s horror or maintained that being involved with the V2 was different from being involved with the slaves–that science was above society, in largest terms. Who would believe this without seeing it? Germans might cover it up to save their necks, but why would Americans help them? One falls back on Aristotle. But the way out of this bind ultimately came from the people most damaged by the camp. On that raw grey Thuringian spring day, as the old French Resistance fighters –who had been imprisoned by the SS at Dora, wired in the brutal tunnels and somehow survived–climbed down the steps of a tour bus that had brought them back to the camp’s drab entrance of commemoration ceremonies, children of the current citizens of Nordhausen silently handed each of them a white rosebud. I shall never forget the men’s faces as they struggled to appreciate the gift. They all held onto the roses. There is something going on here that is bigger than flying to the moon, I thought to myself.” — Wayne Biddle in DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich and the Space Race (W.W. Norton, New York 2008)

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Unconditional

Keep the memory alive

“Human bonds, relationships exist independently of space and time. You can feel close to someone who is far away, long gone or even dead. Secrets, doubts, and fear can destroy this invisible but strong bond. Then the loved one drifts away, irretrievably lost in the ocean of time, banished forever from the realm of those we miss.
Lea Dahlen went missing twenty years ago and Paula Dahlen hasn’t seen her sister ever since. Yet, something tells her that she cannot stop looking for her, that Lea still needs her. Paula’s family fell apart and moved, but Paula could not leave, she just couldn’t. She stayed behind, desperately holding up a fading feeling of sisterly love against the darkness that began to enwrap her memory. With the beginning of the story, it dawns on Paula that she must fight powerful, dark secrets, if she is to keep her memory, and then herself, alive.”

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Unleashed

Runes are just waiting for their resurrection

Runes stem from mankind’s oldest religion. But they deal with energies, not with Gods. People of the North used them as doors into that other world which is right behind the surface of things, and yet unreachable for the common human being. Their origin is unknown. The Romans invaded the north, suppressed the usage and discredited Rune symbols as a primitive alphabet. Their power was soon to be forgotten. The Nazis resurrected the Runes in their search for means to gain control over minds and souls. By the time they found out that Runes are deeply anchored in our subconscious and just waiting for their resurrection, it fortunately was too late, the Third Reich was doomed. But the Runes’ power has never ceased to be – waiting to be Unleashed,

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Jason DanielHead of Drama Development, FremantleMedia Worldwide

Michael’s natural instinct for story and ability to work creatively with others made him a valued team member and I came to rely heavily on his experience and judgment. After just six months I promoted him to the position of story editor, leading the story team.

Timm OberwellandCEO Tobis Film GmbH, Berlin

We immediately connected thanks to his pragmatic and straight forward perspective on the landscape of international tv series production, I value his opinion and talent immensely.

Nico HofmannCEO UFA Holding, Berlin Germany

Michael is an award winning writer and producer and a pioneer for German TV, he has an excellent understanding of dramatic structure and pacing and the rare ability to create vivid and memorable characters.

George F. “Chip” JohannessenExecutive Producer “Homeland”

Michael is that rare combination of distinguished academic and gifted professional. He has that rare and special gift not only understanding the commercial possibilities but also possessing creative imagination to make things happen