Writing warriors
Jan Martin Scharf and Arne Nolting look back on their 20-year writing partnership and discuss the making of their latest collaboration, Netflix’s German historical epic Barbaren (Barbarians). Since their first collaboration on German action drama Alarm für Cobra 11, Jan Martin Scharf and Arne Nolting have risen through the ranks from staff writers to creators and showrunners, most recently on Netflix’s epic historical drama Barbaren (Barbarians). The pair first met and forged their partnership at a university film club and, after picking each other out as serious writers, they have collaborated ever since. Their early joint credits include episodes of SOKO Köln, Letzte Spur Berlin and Der Letzte Bulle (The Last Cop), before they went on to create mystery series Weinberg (The Valley) and crime drama Rampensau, which is based on an Israeli show about a young girl who goes into school as an undercover agent to bust a drug-trafficking operation. “You could say that we grew up in business together, but we didn’t start as friends,” Scharf tells DQ. “We co-wrote our first script 20 years ago and we have made our living writing together ever since.” “It’s good that we started together. If you write alone for a long time, it might be difficult to get into a partnership because you have to accept the other has an opinion too, which is quite hard in a creative collaboration,” Nolting says. “But what makes it successful and helps you to overcome things is, if I’m sitting there alone, maybe … Continue reading Writing warriors
