German drama is on the up as respected names including Ridley Scott heap praise on miniseries Generation War, UFA Fiction’s Nico Hofmann tells Nico Franks.

When you’re complimented by Ridley Scott and courted by Ted Sarandos, the man leading Netflix’s original content charge, you can be confident you’ve made something special.

That is the situation Nico Hofmann, producer and chairman at FremantleMedia-owned German production outfit UFA Fiction, says he found himself in with critically acclaimed period drama Generation War (3×90’).

Scott was inspired to write to Hofmann to say how much he enjoyed the series, having caught it on a flight, while Sarandos has been keen to meet Hofmann after the US VoD giant launched recently in Germany.

Dubbed by many the ‘German Band of Brothers,’ Generation War follows the lives of five friends during the Second World War and has been sold into 148 territories around the world by Beta Film.

The drama sparked a nationwide discussion about the role of ordinary soldiers during the conflict after it aired on German broadcaster ZDF, as well as protests from the Polish, who were unhappy with the way the nation was portrayed as anti-Semitic.

Despite the controversy, the €14m (US$18m) production inspired BBC2 in the UK to show a foreign-language series for the first time since 2001 and Hofmann believes it has changed perceptions about the country’s drama industry abroad.

“Generation War had a very Hollywood style and was not typically German. It’s really opened us up to new markets around the world,” he says. And Germany’s tumultuous history will always provide stories that have the power to resonate in Europe, Hofmann believes.

Events from the past that may not have been seen on screen before – what Hofmann refers to as “hidden history” – are also being sought by UFA. To that end, the company is preparing a drama about German prisoners of war in Phoenix, Arizona.

“There’s never been a TV show in Germany about it,” says Hofmann, who is looking to shoot in Canada, South Africa and the Czech Republic, and reap the rewards of each country’s tax credit system.

UFA Fiction was recently ^[1] greenlit by RTL to produce period thriller Deutschland 83, set against the backdrop of the threat of nuclear conflict in the 1980s, and is also developing Bornholmer Strasse, set during the fall of the Berlin Wall. Also in development are Nackt unter Wölfen, which dramatises the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp, and an eight-part miniseries based on Thomas Webers’ book Hitler’s First War.

“But we’re not limited to historical projects,” Hofmann argues, adding that Scandinavian fiction and long-running Mexican dramas are likely to be adapted by the company.

Pointing to the work of Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell (Wallander) and the late Stieg Larsson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Hofmann wants to see UFA work with Danish prodco Miso Film, which is also owned by FremantleMedia, to bring more of the authors’ novels to screen. The company is no stranger to international adaptations and this year optioned Turkish drama The End to develop for ProSiebenSat.1’s channel Sat.1.

The arrival of Netflix in Germany, where it competes with other VoD services such as Maxdome, Watchever and Amazon’s Prime Instant Video, will further boost the reputation of German drama abroad, Hofmann believes, as budgets increase and productions become “edgier.”

“The broadcasters all want to have their own big, strong series to go up against Netflix. It’s all about having one tremendously well-produced drama that gets the whole market talking,” Hofmann says.

In the UK, Netflix is planning £63m (US$100m) series The Crown, about the British royal family, while in France it has ordered political drama Marseille, which will debut in all Netflix territories. A big-budget German commission looks inevitable.

But despite being courted by the US company, UFA’s loyalties lie with FremantleMedia owner RTL Group, Hofmann adds, and his “first dialogue” is always with Frank Hoffman, programme manager at RTL TV in Germany.