Sky Studios and Gaumont to produce 'The Wasp'

Sky Studios and Gaumont announce The Wasp, the first Sky Original comedy to be produced for Sky Deutschland.

The six-part series tells the story of Eddie Frotzke, a fallen professional dart player who, after a prolonged career slump, wants to return to his former glory. With the help of his old buddy Nobbe, also a rusty dart pro but with a strong tendency to alcohol, Eddie wants to find his way back into life and his career, proving that he was not called "The Wasp" for nothing.

The series was created and written by Jan Berger ("Der Medicus," "Ich war noch niemals in New York") and will be directed by Hermine Huntgeburth ("Neue Vahr Süd," "Männertreu," "Lindenberg! Mach Dein Ding"). Florian Lukas ("Good Bye Lenin!," "Der Überläufer") will take on the role of Eddie. Andreas Bareiss and Sabine de Mardt executive produce for Gaumont with Quirin Schmidt for Sky Studios.

Shooting is scheduled to begin later this year and the project is supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg.

The Wasp will build on Sky’s strong track-record in producing original content for its customers in Germany, including international smash hit dramas Das Boot, Babylon Berlin and Der Pass, and follows other recently announced projects from Sky Studios in Germany including The Ibiza Affair, Paradiso and a documentary series on the Wirecard scandal.

Quirin Schmidt, Executive Producer Sky Studios said, "With Eddie 'The Wasp' Frotzke, Jan Berger has created an extraordinary character who immediately won us over. You've got to love the way Eddie, who is actually totally screwed up, fights his way back into the German darts elite with a lot of chutzpah and even more cheeky snark. In doing so he learns more about himself than he can ever imagine. We can't wait until the first dart flies and are excited to bring viewers inside the crazy world of professional darts with our series."

Andreas Bareiss, Executive Producer Gaumont, said: "Having Florian Lukas in the lead role is a great pleasure for all of us. We are equally proud to have Hermine Huntgeburth on board as our director. Hermine has an unerring feeling for the funny but also touching moments when supposedly 'little' people chase big dreams."

About "The Wasp":
Professional dart player Eddie is in crisis. Fame gone, money gone, wife gone and physical fitness also leaves more than a little to be desired. With the help of his old buddy Nobbe, also a rusty dart pro, but with a strong tendency to alcohol, Eddie wants to find his way back into life and career and prove that he was not called "the wasp" for nothing. Easier said than done. Until "the wasp" can reliably sting again, Eddie must first embark on the path of self-knowledge and overcome some setbacks.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love - TV, music, games, online video, fitness and educational content, all in one place, easy. Our streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, while Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel, makes the arts accessible for everyone. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve put in place a new programme to invest £30million across our markets over the next three years to tackle racial injustice.

About Gaumont

Gaumont is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Since 1895, the French family-owned company has been producing high-quality fictional films and series, including classics such as "In the Deep," "Léon the Professional," "La Boum - The Fete" and "Pretty Best Friends," as well as the current Netflix series "Lupin."

With the Los Angeles subsidiary founded in 2011, Gaumont is also opening up to the U.S. market. Among others, the successful series "Narcos" and "Hemlock Grove" were produced for Netflix, and "Hannibal" for NBC. Since 2018, Gaumont has also been developing and producing from a German branch. In its first two years, Gaumont GmbH, based in Cologne and Berlin and headed by Sabine de Mardt, has already produced the bestselling film adaptation "9 Tage wach" for ProSieben and the streaming hit "Barbaren" for Netflix.

About Sky Studios

Sky Studios brings to screen unique stories from the very best talent in Europe.

We develop, produce and fund original drama, comedy and documentary for Sky’s 24m customers and beyond. Building on the success of critically-acclaimed Sky Originals including Emmy-winning Chernobyl, Bafta-winning Patrick Melrose and international hits Das Boot, Riviera and Britannia, Sky Studios is the new creative home of Sky Originals, such as The Third Day with Jude Law, I Hate Suzie, co-created by Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper and BAFTA-nominated hit comedy, Brassic.

We’re an agile Studio, seeking out the best untold stories from new voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany and Italy, we understand local tastes across Europe better than anyone else and have plans to more than double our investment in original content by 2024, fully supported and backed by Comcast NBC Universal.

We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Sky Studios invests in the cultural economy and global production sector with equity stakes in several production companies in the UK and the US, including Great British Bake-Off creator Love Productions, and the premier reality crime producer in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, creator of long-running hit Snapped. Sky Studios has invested in high quality factual specialists Blast Films and True North Productions; entertainment and format expert Znak & Co (US & UK); natural history producer True to Nature; drama producers The Lighthouse and Longboat Pictures; and growth businesses Sugar Films, Chrysalis Vision, and Talos Films (US).

Sky Studios launched in June 2019. The senior leadership team is Chief Executive Officer Gary Davey, Chief Content Officer Jane Millichip, Chief Operating Officer Caroline Cooper, Director of Drama UK Cameron Roach, Director of Comedy UK Jon Mountague, Director Original Production Sky Italia Nils Hartmann, and Director Original Productions Sky Deutschland Marcus Ammon.