BRIDGING GENERATIONS

In times of challenges and fragmentation globally, we need stories built on shared beliefs, values and dreams. We need stories with relevance and resonance that speak across the echo chambers dividing us. We need stories that can unite us across generations and countries in Europe, and hopefully make changes for the better.

Facilitated by
Le Groupe Ouest and Leading Creative Talent

Our initiative, Bridging Generations, is designed in collaboration with our advisory board, Le Groupe Ouest, and Leading Creative Talent who will be the facilitators for all the camps.

In times of challenges and fragmentation globally, we need stories built on shared beliefs, values and dreams. We need stories with relevance and resonance that speak across the echo chambers dividing us. We need stories that can unite us across generations and countries in Europe, and hopefully make changes for the better.

EWC’s current pilot session, Bridging Generations/connecting audiences is designed to address this challenge.

In Bridging Generations/connecting audiences, we will encourage cross-generational storytelling. Teams of experienced writers – young and old – can apply together to co-create original TV series, bringing fresh perspectives through innovative storytelling.

The primary goal is the co-creation of a TV series. The secondary goal is to explore the potential of adapting each project to other formats, such as games, web series, podcasts, feature films, social media and other audiovisual narrative formats.

The selected teams of writers will participate in three immersive camps across Europe, where they will develop, test and try out their projects, turning them into concepts ready to be commissioned for further development.

Program

Eight teams from different countries, each with their own concepts for a TV series (early stage of story development), were selected to participate in three immersive camps across Europe (France, Sweden and Spain), where they will develop, test and try out their projects, turning them into concepts ready to be commissioned for further development in collaboration with broadcasters, sales agents, audience experts, audience panels and producers attached to the projects. Additionally, format consultants will work with each team to explore the potential of adapting their story into another format, such as a game, web series, podcast, feature film, social media or another audiovisual narrative format.

All our participants (teams of writers, broadcasters, sales and producers) will follow a collective process specially designed for Bridging Generations/connecting audiences together with our operators Le Groupe Ouest, Leading Creative Talent and our Special Advisory Board.

The camps are primarily focused on practice and learning by doing. Each team will be assigned a tutor with experience in writing TV series. The teams will explore their stories from different angles and perspectives through a mix of creative exercises based on pre-writing methodology and classic workshop sessions with feedback from the other participants, format consultants, audience panels, etc.

Our Goal

The primary goal is to develop the selected TV series concepts Into impactful, important and engaging TV series with the potential of crossing borders and generations in Europe, and to get them ready to be commissioned for further development.

The secondary goal is to explore the TV series IP for adaptation into other audiovisual narrative formats.

Camp no. 1

07 - 11 April
Brignogan / France

Team Building, Concept Testing and deciding on theme.

Explorational camp focusing on team building and testing the selected concepts with co-creating and pre-writing tools. .

Camp no. 2

9 - 13 June
Malmö / Sweden

Concept development.
A workshop camp focusing on further development of concept. Audience perception of themes. Introduction to additional formats with format consultants.

Camp no. 3

15 - 19 September
Spain (City TBC)

Proof of Concept.
Last project development push, integrating live audience feedback and exploration of selected additional format for each project.

The teams are expected to develop their projects further with deliveries prior to the forthcoming camp.

Writers will attend to all camps.
Broadcasters, sales, and producers of the projects will be included in the second and third camp (TBA)

The teams and eligibility criteria

We selected 8 teams from different countries. All applicants had to be EU citizens. Each applicant team must include one younger writer (aged 38 and under) and one older writer (aged 39 and above) with an age gap of at least 10 years.

Older writers must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Be the creator or showrunner of a TV series.
Be the head writer of a TV series.
Have written at least two episodes (minimum of 25 minutes each) of a show that aired in at least two countries, including the country of origin.

Younger writers must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Be the creator or showrunner of a TV series.
Be the creator or writer of a game, web series, short film, podcast or any other audiovisual narrative format.
Have written at least one episode of a TV series.
Have written a theatre play that was performed to the public.
Have a writer’s credit on a feature film.

Teams must submit a concept in the early stage of story development (not yet at treatment or script stage). The teams must be open to making changes to the story as part of the development process. Teams must have resolved all legal copyright issues before applying. When applying, teams do not need a producer attached but can include a one at a later stage during the session.

Selection criteria

Emphasis on the age gap between the younger and older writers.
Evaluation of the team's experience.
Consideration of cultural, national and gender diversity within the team.
Recommendations and/or involvement from broadcasters and/or producers.
Consideration of the cross-generational potential of the project.
Evaluation of the cross-border potential of the project.
Assessment of the potential impact of the concept.
Overall quality of the project.

Once the call closes, the selection process will begin in January and continue throughout February. The selection committee will consist of EWC, Bridging Generations’ Special Advisory Board, EWC General Advisory Board and Le Groupe Ouest. The shortlisted teams will be interviewed online. A final selection of 6 to 8 teams will be made and we will announce these teams at Series Mania in March 2025.

Application Material

When applying, the following documentation was requested:

Name, email address, phone number and:

1. short bio for each of the writers on the team applying.

2. Filmography with links to prove credits.

3. Recommendation letters from a broadcaster and/or producer (if available).

4. Summarised concept in minimum 1 page, maximum 3 pages.

5. Motivation for the concept in 1 page by addressing:
a. Why this genre, universe, characters?
b. What is the status of the concept?
c. What is the cross-generation and cross-border potential of the story?
d. What is the potential impact of the story?

6. Motivation video: Teams had to include a joint motivation video, including information about their background, explaining why they were applying for the BG programme, stating their expectations and goals, and explaining how they met.

(maximum 2-minute video).

The call is closed

The call closed on the 7th January at 23.59.

Thank you to everyone who submitted their projects for Bridging Generations / connecting audiences!

We are amazed by the incredible ideas and creativity from all over Europe.

Selected Projects

Håkan Lindhé

Sweden

Emma Le Marc

Denmark

Alter Ego

Alter Ego tells the story of a type of criminality that in recent years has become so intertwined with everyday Swedish life and civil society that it is almost invisible. In this series, the criminals are not young suburban gangsters but ordinary people who resemble us, forced by circumstances to do things they never could have imagined; men and women drawn into the dark currents of crime due to financial troubles, addiction, or sheer naivety, with no chance of ever escaping.

Hanna Leivonniemi

Finland

Vivian Säde

Estonia

Clean

Two lost souls find freedom in each other while escaping the dirty laundry of their pasts. Clean is a drama series by Hanna Leivonniemi (Finland) & Vivian Säde (Estonia). Mona, trapped in her parents’ Estonian laundry and a toxic relationship, meets Mikko, a struggling Finnish trucker. When her jealous boyfriend frames Mikko for smuggling drugs, they must flee across icy Nordic landscapes.

Horacio Gómez Alcalá

Spain

Vasily Malykhin

Spain

Freeloaders School

"Freeloaders School" follows a group of party crashers who infiltrate high-society events. When La Chata joins this underground society, her first mission ends in disaster with an heir in a coma and a black market tiger missing. The group must choose between exposing their secrets or becoming scapegoats.

Sanne Nuyens

Belgium

Anne Vanoppen

Belgium

Merrieland

The Whitman family relocates to Flanders, eager to train their youngest daughter Julia for a shot at the next Olympics as a show jumper. But shortly after their arrival, their 7-year-old granddaughter Zoë claims to be the reincarnation of a regional missing child and things do not turn out as they hoped.

Henner Schulte-Holtey

Germany

Katie Murphy

Ireland

Revenge Friends

The tranquil east coast of Ireland, or is it… When sixty year old Patricia’s marriage falls apart after a botched threesome, she sets up a group for fellow divorcées. A book club for bitter people minus the books. What happens when you put a group of unhinged, heartbroken singletons in one room and add wine? Revenge.

Verena Kurth

Austria

Brigitta Kanyaro

Romania

Roza, The Schnitzel Princess

A Wildly Unfiltered Coming-of-All-Ages Dramedy

At a greasy roadside pizza-wurstel joint, ROZA, a whip-smart migrant teen, turns her summer job into an identity revolution. As she fights for self-discovery, she collides with older generations who are just as lost. She copes with reality by slipping into her fantasy alter ego: a fearless Romanian princess. With biting humor and vivid imagination, Roza reclaims her own story - one order at a time.

Jón Atli Jónasson

Iceland

Basem Nabhan

Sweden

The Powder Room

A dark comedy set in the grungy nightlife of Berlin, where a group of misfits, mostly exiles from a distant war, with a few disillusioned locals, navigate absurd struggles in a city that both embraces and alienates them. Their stories seem separate until one wild night in a cramped nightclub restroom, where drugs, banter, and bad decisions collide, unraveling secrets and unexpected connections.

Francesca Nider

Italy

Sofija Sztepanov

Hungary

This is It

An assisted-dying clinic disguised as a wellness spa literally floats between Italian and Swiss waters to maintain its legality, while its overstressed doctor and her quirky, fiercely dedicated team navigate legal threats from an undercover reporter on a desperate mission, ethical dilemmas, and their own personal struggles to provide their guests with a dignified checkout - preferably with a view.

Our selection committee &vspecial advisory board

For the purpose of giving input to the design and planning of Bridging Generations/connecting audiences, we have created a Special Advisory Board that also acts as Selection Committee. With each their field of expertise spanning from public broadcasting, streaming, gaming, social media, AI, and beyond, they bring fresh, exciting perspectives. Their diverse expertise and backgrounds provide valuable insights and suggestions, guiding our design for the Bridging Generations program, and also ensure a thoughtful and inclusive selection process for participants, which promotes intergenerational collaboration and innovation.