Expert for Gender & Diversity
Inventor of NEROPA. Author of Series Report 2022.
Actress for Film and TV. Voice artist. Aspiring Scriptwriter.
Born in Hamburg. Left-handed.
I’ve been aware since early drama school days that there are usually more male than female roles in plays,- not only in classical. The same applies to film and television shows. When I passed 40, I noticed that offers for film and television roles declined significantly. What was the reason for this? I began to systematically evaluate lists of roles in film productions. And indeed, the already existing role imbalance of the sexes gets even bigger from age group 36-40 onwards.
To get to the bottom of the matter, I began to analyse and comment on film and TV shows, festival line-ups, funding decisions, nomination lists and screenplays. I pay special attention to the different participation of and situation for women and men in front of and behind the camera as well as to the representation of marginalised social groups.
In 2013, I launched my bilingual German/English blog SchspIN – An Actress’s Thoughts on gender and media policy issues. Here I am still publishing the largest part of my analyses.
This was followed by collaboration on the first diversity report 2010-13 of the Bundesverband Regie BVR (German Association of Directors) in 2014. I went on to consult institutions and committees (editorial staff of ZDF Kleines Fernsehspiel, FFA, Degeto; PACT, BFI and others) and regular participation as expert in panels, conferences and seminars.
Since analyses of the current situation have not yet brought about any changes, I invented the method NEROPATM Neutral Roles Parity in 2016 to reduce the underrepresentation of women in films and series and to show a way out of one-sided male dominance towards equality and more diversity in film, TV and in other areas of society.
I give lectures and workshops on NEROPA and other topics at home and abroad (FIA Federation Internationale des Acteurs, Into the Wild mentoring programme, FSE Dramaturgy Day, FU Berlin, UdK Berlin, Skript Akademie, Akademie der Künste, achtung berlin festival, Filmlöwinnenkino, WIFT Germany, WIFT UK, Equity UK, Irish Equity, verdi FilmUnion, etc.).
In addition to recurring analyses (TATORT German TV top cop drama, Top 100 German films, festivals etc.), I produce commissioned analyses. Recently for example,I did a 3-departments-study of the competitions of 12 German film festivals in 2019-21 as well as the Series Report 2022, a study on the participation of female writers in the creative areas of screenplay, creation, showrun and head 2017-21.
I’ve been a member of the EWA European Audiovisual Network since 2014. In 2020, I became an honorary member of WIFT Women in Film and Television Germany.
I’d be happy to work with you as well. Looking forward to hearing from you!