05/06/2024 - Based on the real life of reformed German extortionist Arno Funke and sold by Beta Cinema, the 1988, West Berlin-set show is set to open Cologne’s Seriencamp

This week, Beta Cinema sealed several key distribution deals for a brand-new 6x60-minute series titled I Am Scrooge. The German firm sold the show to the USA and Canada (via MHz), Australia (SBS), Denmark (DR), Latvia (TET) and Hungary (RTL). Further negotiations with key clients are ongoing.

Helmed by Hannu Salonen (Empire Oktoberfest) and penned by Ronny Schalk (Dark, Empire Oktoberfest), the plot unfolds in West Berlin in 1988 and zooms in on extortionist Arno Funke, who must solve a conundrum: how can he overcome an existential crisis as a failing artist forced to spray-paint cars to make ends meet? A talented tinkerer, he uses his creativity to find his extraordinary new purpose in life: building bombs in his kitchen and detonating them at night in high-end department stores as leverage for extortion. But evading the authorities proves to be more difficult. Detectives Çoban and Strack are hot on Arno's heels, after he’s escaped with half a million Deutsche Marks. The man fools the police under his new alias, “Scrooge McDuck”, leading to one of the most spectacular extortion cases in German criminal history.

Funke is portrayed by Friedrich Mücke (Liberame, Funeral for a Dog), who stars alongside Mišel Matičević (Babylon Berlin), Sonja Gerhardt (Deutschland 89, Ku’Damm 63) and Moritz Führmann (How to sell Drugs Online (Fast) [+see also:
series review
series profile]).

The show will celebrate its world premiere by opening this year’s Seriencamp Festival in Cologne on 5 June, attended by the real-life Arno Funke, who was labelled by The New Yorker as the “DuckTales Bandit”, Mücke and Gerhardt. 

I Am Scrooge was staged by Dominik Frankowski, Michael Souvignier and Till Derenbach for Beta Film subsidiary Zeitsprung Pictures (Germany). It will be released on RTL+ in Germany later this year.