Joerg Winger (born 1969 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

) is an

Executive Producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

and Managing Director at Big Window Productions and a co-creator of the television drama ''

Deutschland 83 ''Deutschland 83'' is a 2015 German spy thriller television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who is sent to West Germany in 1983 as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. I ...

''.

Early life and education

Winger was born in Cologne. He studied

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and was trained to listen to intercepted Russian radio broadcasts during his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

in West Germany. Winger worked as a journalist and studied economics at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

. In 1990 he met his wife

Anna Winger Anna Winger (née LeVine; born 1970) is an American writer, producer, screenwriter, and photographer who lives in Berlin, Germany. She is co-creator of the television dramas ''Deutschland 83,'' '' Deutschland 86,'' '' Deutschland 89,'' and ''Unor ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

.Peter Zander
"Deutschland 83: „Vielleicht braucht es den fremden Blick“"

Career

In the early 2000s Winger moved from

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

to be the showrunner of

Leipzig Homicide ''Leipzig Homicide (SOKO Leipzig)'' is a German crime drama television series first broadcast on 31 January 2001 on ZDF. More than 400 episodes have been screened since. On 12 November 2008, the first of a two-part crossover between ''SOKO Leipz ...

Winger has since produced more than 300 episodes of multi-award-nominated prime-time series

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

, including 14 feature-length episodes set in locations such as Moscow, Istanbul and Santo Domingo and a crossover episode with UK series ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' on ITV. In 2012, Winger created a YouTube channel "Trigger", where he co-created the animated series ''Serial Killers'' with Marie Meimberg. ''Serial Killers'' was sold to German TV network RTL Crime. With his wife,

, is co-creator and executive producer of ''

'', broadcast on

Sundance TV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

(USA) in June 2015 and on RTL (Germany) in November and December 2015. The 8-episode series, is about a young East German spy on an undercover mission to West Germany in 1983 and was inspired by Winger's military service experiences. ''

'' had its world premiere when the first two episodes were shown at the 2015

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

and has gone on to win a number of awards including: The Grimmepreis,

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show was usually held in early February in Hamburg, but also took place in Berlin on occasion. It has been paused ...

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

, and an

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

. Winger is co-creator and executive producer of ''

Hackerville ''Hackerville'' is an international co-produced Romanian and German language television drama series consisting of six episodes, which aired on HBO Europe and German TNT Serie channel in November–December 2018. Cast * Anna Schumacher * Andi ...

'', a six-part German-Romanian cybercrime drama for

HBO Europe HBO Europe is a premium television group of channels by HBO. It is available as a group of film channels and streaming television services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Mace ...

and

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

which was awarded the Grimmepreis in 2019. Winger regularly gives lectures on the development and production of television series at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...

.Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
"Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH: Infotext Serien Producing"
.

Filmography (Producer)

* 2007-2008: ''Ein Fall für Nadja'' * 2008: ''

'' * 2011: '' World Express-Atemlos durch Mexiko'' * 2013: '' SOKO: Der Prozess'' * 2015: ''

'' * 2002–2018: ''

'' * 2018: ''

Deutschland 86 ''Deutschland 86'' () is a 2018 German spy thriller television series starring Jonas Nay as an agent of East Germany in 1986, in relation to the Angolan Civil War. It is a sequel to the 2015 series ''Deutschland 83'' and precedes the 2020 seri ...

'' * 2020: ''

Deutschland 89 ''Deutschland 89'' is a 2020 German spy thriller television series, starring Jonas Nay as Martin Rauch, an agent of East Germany following the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It is a sequel to the 2015 series ''Deutschland 83'', and 2018 series ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winger, Joerg Television people from Cologne Living people 1969 births