Michael Esser:
Michael lives and works as scriptwriter and producer in Los Angeles. He won
numerous US script-writing contests and develops TV series and feature films with
renowned German and US talent and production companies.
In Germany, Michael created and wrote drama series, over sixty TV movies and feature
films. As a producer he initiated and overlooked national and international productions;
among many others are IDOLS – ROMY SCHNEIDER by director Jeremey Fekete,
Oscar Roehler’s JEW SUSS: RISE AND FALL and the adaptation of the Colombian
Telenovela hit BETTY LA FEA. In 2006, Michael won the GERMAN TELEVISION
AWARD (“German Emmy’) and the Rose d’Or de Montreux as head writer of VERLIEBT
IN BERLIN.
Michael studied editing at the National Italian Filmschool and holds a PhD from TU
Berlin; he researched teaching methodology at UCLA’s School for Film and Televison
(TFT). He also is an evaluator for the Directorate Research and Development of the
European Union and a jury member for the German Television Academy.
Sergei Monakhov:
Since 2020 Sergei is a research fellow at the Institute for English and American Studies
of the Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet, Jena, Germany.
From 2017-2019 he was the director of the Institute for Applied Russian Studies of the
Russian State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg as well as assistant professor at
the Department of Russian Literature of the St. Petersburg State University.
From 2010-2013 Sergei headed the Arts and Humanities Research Department at the
Office of Scientific Research of the St. Petersburg State University, and from
2008-2009 he was secretary and then vice-director of the Institute for Philological
Studies of the St. Petersburg State University.
In 2007 he finished his postgraduate course at the Department of Russian Literature of
the St. Petersburg State University, with a PhD in History of Russian Literature
(Evolution of Rhythm and Semantic Models of Poetic Language).
Alive Entertainment:
Alive Entertainment, a boutique development, production, finance and distribution
company, is involved in a diverse slate of feature film, television and digital media
projects over the last two decades.
The company also engages in a variety of traditional Entertainment and New Media
Ventures focusing on production, international sales as well as OTT streaming
platforms both transactional and advertising supported.
Philip von Alvensleben is a Producer and executive, a 30-year veteran of the film and
TV industry. He is founder, president, and CEO of Alive Entertainment; president (with
others) of Myriad Pictures; member of executive board of IN-motion AG, Germany,
non-executive director of Adconion Media Group; and former managing director of
Tele-Muenchen Group (TMG), Germany.