KATRIN MERKEL 
has been a television enthusiast for more than 30 years: After earning her degree in German studies at the University of Hamburg in 1995, she first worked as a video journalist and editorial assistant at HH1-Fernsehen, one of Germany’s first regional television stations.

She then completed various internships and assistant positions in film and television production (production management, script continuity, assistant producer, assistant director). From 1999 to 2004, she worked as a freelance author and script reader, including from 2001 as a script reader in the fiction department of RTL in Cologne. In 2005, she took over as head of script editing and advised RTL on a number of series projects.

From 2010 to 2021, Katrin worked as a freelance script consultant and development producer for various German series productions, as well as a presenter. As a teacher and lecturer, she supported series writers at ifs in Cologne and masterschool drehbuch in Berlin.

In 2021, she and her esteemed colleague Timo Gößler published the professional book *THE GERMAN ROOM – The US Writers' Room in German Series Development* (edition masterschool).

Since 2022, she has worked as a Writers' Room coach and, as Head of Studies, leads the renowned European postgraduate program Serial Eyes at the dffb in Berlin. Additionally, she teaches serial writing and Writers' Room techniques at various national and international institutions, including masterschool drehbuch (Berlin), HFF (Munich), EPI (Berlin), focal (Zurich), midpoint (Prague), and Filmschool Lodz (Poland).