…via our buddies / production partners at Tandem.
There was an informal “guessing pool” in the office as to what the first night’s ratings of Die Nibelungen on Germany’s Sat.1 would look like. The target (“most desirable”) ratings group is 14-49s. In that group, 20% is acceptable. 25% is pretty damn good. Rola (one of our producers) was holding out for 28-30%. I confess to having chickened out, suggesting 26%. 
This morning’s result:
30.2%. The highest result Tandem has ever achieved in its home market for a TV production…and generally just an astonishing number.
In the Austrian market, where the national broadcaster ORF 1 showed the first night of the miniseries, the rating was 40%. (Here’s their page about the second night.)
We’re still waiting for the Swiss results (Sat.1 has a “daughter” channel in Switzerland). But in the meantime, Peter and I are sitting here and feeling so, so vindicated. All that hard work…all those late nights…have produced the desired result.
There’s always the second night’s ratings to wonder about. We’ll see how we do.
Meanwhile, the champagne is in the fridge…and we’re getting the next projects ready.
(Re the comments: Sony will be releasing the English-language DVD version sometime in the spring, with the title “Ring of the Nibelungs”. [The trailer can be seen at ring-of-the-nibelungs.com.] The version which is on theatrical release at present in the UK will be airing on Channel 4 sometime in the spring, either around Easter or over one of the May bank holiday weekends.)
(Re: making the script public: Unfortunately we can’t… sorry.)
[tags]Ring of the Nibelungs, Sword of Xanten, Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King, Peter Morwood, Duane Duane, Tandem Communications, Rola Bauer, Tim Halkin, Uli Edel[/tags]
