Giant egos, tiny budgets, constant crises: Call My Agent Berlin turns the German film scene into a deliciously chaotic workplace comedy that feels surprisingly authentic.

By Gesa Mayr

These are troubled times for the high-profile talent agency STERN in Berlin. Despite representing the elite of Germany’s actors and directors, the family-owned company is losing money left and right. While the champagne fridge is full, the project pipeline is too empty. The many expenses for lavish dinners and secret hotel rooms certainly do not help the case.

And off we go into the abyss that is the German entertainment industry: a rather small scene with rather giant egos.

The pilot follows Twentysomething Sophie Goldbach (Dana Herfurth) who ends up applying for an open assistant role. It’s a chaotic first day, to say the least. The STERN team is shocked to learn that founder Richard has re-hired one of the most notorious agents in the business: Sascha (Karin Hanczewski), a cutthroat girl boss with a killer wardrobe. Naturally, the agency’s top dog Gabor (Lucas Gregorowicz), a man with tailored sweaters and a five o’clock shadow that commands authority, is immediately threatened. The three assistants working lobby and phones are taking turns tending to everyone’s sensitivities.

Meanwhile, the most prestigious project is on the line: Christopher Nolan wants to book middle-aged German actor Moritz Bleibtreu for his next movie – but only if he stops by the cosmetic surgeon to shave 15 years off his face. His agent Konstantin (Michael Klammer) is still figuring out how to convince his client to inject 37 units of Botox, when Bleibtreu turns to him and says the words every agent loves and loathes: “You are such a good friend.” Fun!

It’s the perfect vanity fair and the worst is still to happen: founder Richard’s heart attack sets in motion a complex Game of Thrones between Gabor, Sascha and Konstantin all striving to take over. Everyone has an agenda, everything is constantly on the line, every endeavor is ridiculous – and that’s actually a surprisingly accurate portrayal of reality.

Reflections on the entertainment industry are always a balancing act, trying to negotiate an already self-indulgent business while pulling in a mainstream audience is tough. Often, the approach is too romanticizing (LaLaLand) or too camp (The Morning Show, especially in its later seasons).

The Studio recently showed that it can be done. The series, created by Seth Rogen who also stars, sent shockwaves through Hollywood for its accuracy. It became not only the talk of the town and was catapulted to the top of the list at the Emmys. It was also outrageously funny – because it was not afraid to lean into the pain points of industry and celebrity culture.

Call My Agent Berlin might not be as daring as Rogen’s Studio – but it sure is juicy. Do Heike Makatsch, Max von der Groeben and Florence Kasumba play caricatures of themselves? Yes. Do actors in real life call their agents five times a day when they’re lonely? Also yes. And though based on the French cult hit Dix pour cent, the Berlin adaptation feels unexpectedly autonomous.

There’s blackmail, a secret daughter, affairs, more blackmail and more affairs, a putsch attempt, tax raids, friends who fight and make up and fight again, betrayal – an almost incest storyline (this is Germany after all).

It’s messy in all the right ways and the writers deliberately lean into the chaos. They torture their characters and the stakes rise episode by episode. A lot is happening and it makes for a great overall speed in the story.

Many German formats shy away from that sort of intertwined dramedy, the soapiness, the silliness, the emotion of it all. It is refreshing to watch a show that so clearly wants to be a good time and not capital-S Serious Art. As with most ensemble shows it takes a minute for the cast to come together, but by episode five the actors are humming with a great collective energy. Even the weaker junior performances are uplifted by the stellar chemistry of the core three agents Sascha, Konstantin and Gabor.

Finally, what makes the adaptation feel so well rounded out is the portrayal of Berlin itself. Rarely has the German capital been portrayed successfully, leaning either too much into the city’s gnarliness (Krank Berlin, 4Blocks) or its hedonistic expat community (Beat, Unorthodox in parts). But many locations are authentic, from the Hotel de Rome in Mitte and the company party in Kreuzberg to bookstores in Prenzlauer Berg and alternative cinemas in Friedrichshain – Berlin is recognizable.
At the same time, Call My Agent Berlin never gets lost in German cinema nostalgia. There are mentions of legendary actors and performers like Marlene Dietrich. But for once it doesn’t feel reminiscent, it feels like a tender nod to the past.

The German TV landscape has been missing comedies. There have been several attempts, few are truly funny. Prime Video’s workplace comedy The Discounters comes to mind. Netflix’s How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast). If Call My Agent Berlin lets the writers off the leash next season, the show has the potential to be an exclamation mark.

Call My Agent Berlin
Season 1: 10 episodes @42 min. – based on the French Series Dix pour cent
Starring: Karin Hanczewski, Lucas Gregorowicz, Michael Klammer, Diana Herfurth, Florence Kasumba, Heike Makatsch, Heiner Lauterbach, Veronica Ferres, Katja Riemann, Iris Berben
Directed by: Boris Kunz, Laura Lackmann and Johann Buchholz
Production Company: Friday Film GmbH, together with Wild Bunch Germany GmbH