Welcome to We Are Einsteins (CHE) – the world’s first science sitcom! Here, relationship drama and fights between flatmates are turned into grand scientific experiments.
Senior Producer Katharina Shwarz spoke to Melbourne WebFest about finding the balance between education and entertainment in a science sitcom.
How important is the message/theme in your series?
The individual science topic is the core of each episode. We use the narrative structure, plot lines, tropes and character constellation of classical sitcoms to bring them across in a new, engaging way. Also, studies show that it is easier to remember facts when they are tied to a storyline. Of course, we even have an episode where you can learn more about this phenomenon.
What was your greatest challenge creating the series?
Finding balance between sitcom conventions and the educational approach of the show.
We Are Einsteins Episode 1
What inspired you to create a science and education-based web-series?
SRF, the commissioning broadcaster was looking for a YouTube spin-off to their long-running science show “Einstein TV”. We came up with a fictional approach: What if you could actually learn lots of scientific facts from a show like Big Bang Theory?
On average, how much research did you do for each episode?
We based each episode on one installment of “Einstein TV”, which already provided us with a depth of research on each topic. We then identified the aspects of each topic that were best suited to be told as part of a fictional storyline, and cross-checked our adaption with the SRF editors and “Einstein” team of experts. The entire process of adapting the research for the fiction format could take up to a few weeks.
What prior experience did you all have before you started the web-series?
As a production company, Divimove/UFA X has several years of experience with short form webseries, just as director and editor Matthias Bollwerk. We love to experiment with storytelling formats across platforms.
What is your favourite part of the series?
The dynamics our lovely cast creates for Bettina, Amelie and Remo. And getting the broadcaster on board with producing a full musical episode.
What is the future for your series?
At the moment, we are in preproduction of a third season and are looking very forward to get to shoot with this awesome crew again.
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