Scripted

Royals sell: Beta Film has closed presales with two leading European broadcasters, France’s TF1 and Austria’s ORF, on RTL Group’s modern series about legendary and iconic Austrian Empress Sisi.
Shooting of the six-hour series has just started in the Baltics and will continue in Austria, Hungary and Germany. RTL Group’s streaming service TVNOW plans to release Sisi at the end of this year. Further negotiations with several international broadcasters are underway.

Empress Elisabeth, nicknamed Sisi, whose fictional character was immortalized by Austrian actress Romy Schneider in the 1950s, was a pop star and influencer of her time at the end of the 19th century, an icon in Europe and around the world. Her pictures, depicting her legendary beauty, have become bestselling merchandising articles ever since and stand as a symbol for European Royalty as a whole.

The role of Sisi is newly interpreted by up-and-coming Swiss-American actress Dominique Devenport (Night Train to Lisbon), while Emperor Franz is portrayed by Germany’s Jannik Schümann (Center of My World, Charité). Also starring are Grimme-awarded Désirée Nosbusch (Bad Banks, Irish Crime) in the role of Archduchess Sophie, the mother-in-law of the young Empress, and Julia Stemberger (Wild Republic) as her mother Ludovica and Tanja Schleiff (Downfall) as famous Countess Esterhazy, amongst others.

The series circles around the tomboy and Bavarian princess, who, after her marriage with Franz Joseph I., Emperor of Austria, has to realize that life at the Habsburg court in Vienna is not at all what she expected. Sisi fights against the strict and even cruel regime at court and for her ideals. Franz, the love of her life, is a man whose emotions and feelings are suppressed by the façade of a strict and brutal ruler.

Beta handles world sales for Sisi. The TVNOW-series is produced by Story House Pictures (Jens Freels and Andreas Gutzeit, who also serves as showrunner) in collaboration with Satel Film (Heinrich Ambrosch, Bettina Kuhn) and Beta Film. Scripts are written by Elena Hell and Robert Krause.
Head writers are Andreas Gutzeit and Robert Krause. Sven Bohse (Dark Woods) directs the series; Hauke Bartel leads the RTL Mediagroup’s team with Sylke Poensgen (EP) and Markus Böhlke (commissioning editor).

The series is supported by the FFA German Federal Film Board and the FFF Bavarian Film and Television Fund.