Beta Shops Crime Drama ‘I Am Scrooge’ To U.S., Canada, Australia & Europe Ahead Of Seriencamp World Premiere

EXCLUSIVE: German drama series I Am Scrooge has landed homes in North America, Europe and Australia ahead of its world premiere at Seriencamp in Cologne this week.

Beta Film has sold the RTL miniseries, which is from the German producer-distributor’s subsidiary Zeitsprung Pictures, to MHZ in the U.S. and Canada, SBS in Australia, DR in Denmark, TET in Latvia and RTL in Hungary. Launching on RTL+ in Germany later this year, it will open Seriencamp tomorrow (June 5).

I Am Scrooge is set in West Berlin in 1988, following Arno Funke, a man operating under the alias ‘Scrooge McDuck’ who becomes the center of one of the most spectacular extortion cases in German criminal history. Funke, a failing artist, uses his talent to build bombs in his kitchen, detonating them overnight at high-end department stories as leverage for extortion. Detectives are soon on the cases, as Funke bags more than half a million while fooling police with his ‘Scrooge’ persona.

The real-life Funke, who The New Yorker labelled ‘The DuckTales Bandit’, will be in attendance at the premiere alongside lead actor Friedrich Mücke (Liberame, Funeral for a Dog), who portrays him in the series, and Sonja Gerhardt (Deutschland 89, Ku’Damm 63).

The series is directed by Hannu Salonen (Empire Oktoberfest) and also stars Mišel Matičević (Babylon Berlin) and Moritz Führmann (How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)). Dominik Frankowski, Michael Souvignier and Till Derenbach are the producers, and Beta Film handles international distribution. 

The premiere will be one of the highlights of Seriencamp this week, which begins tomorrow and runs through to Friday (June 7). Deadline will be on the ground, moderating panels featuring the likes of ZDF Studios, the makers behind Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama Constellation and Annette Hess, the screenwriter behind the Ku’Damm series and the likes of We Children from Bahnhof Zoo. Hess will be receiving the festival’s first Deadline Disruptor Award, which honors outstanding personalities from the German TV and film business that have defined the industry through excellency and by breaking barriers.