Grim humor

From radio studio to Grimme Award: FAU alumna Jana Forkel shows how humor and integrity can help approach even the toughest topics.

Jana Forkel looks proudly at the silver shimmering trophy, its many surfaces skillfully interwoven, sitting atop a small black base. In April 2025, she won the Grimme Award for the screenplay of the German series “Angemessen Angry” (“Appropriately Angry”). How has she experienced the time since receiving the award? “Not all that different from before,” she says. And yet: “The moment of the award ceremony was definitely a highlight of my life.” The Grimme Award is the most prestigious honor for television programs in Germany. And Forkel has received it twice: in the categories “Fiction” and “Audience Award.” She could hardly have dreamed of this success while studying at FAU. In Erlangen, she studied Theater and Media Studies as well as English and American Studies. “I didn’t really know yet what I wanted to do,” she says. She was quickly drawn to “funklust,” the campus media at FAU. “That’s where I realized: journalism is cool, but for me personally, it’s even cooler to tell my own stories through images.”

Back to the Berg every year

“Appropriately Angry” tells the story of sexualized violence against women, a difficult topic that Forkel and her co-author Elsa van Damke deliberately approached differently. “We wanted it to be entertaining. If we were going to do this, then in a way that lets people catch their breath now and then.” The humor, she says, is not a cheap gag, but a kind of declaration of solidarity. “We wanted to make a series by survivors for survivors.” The project came about through a competition by the German broadcaster RTL. Elsa van Damke had the idea, both of them developed the concept further – and even before the Grimme Awards, they received a guaranteed production contract from the broadcaster. “You could say we actually won three awards,” Forkel jokes. She remembers the later Grimme Award ceremony in Marl, a city in the northern Ruhr area, well. “It was really relaxed, not fancy at all, and there was vegan currywurst at the reception. Everything was very warm and welcoming.” Although Forkel now lives in Hamburg, it doesn’t mean she has forgotten Erlangen. “I come back to the Berg festival in Erlangen almost every year, it’s a must for anyone who’s studied there.” During her time as a student in the city, she enjoyed a lot of freedom. “I was able to try things out, do internships, figure out what I want – and what I don’t want.”

Today, she works in a collective of writers. “Most of the time, we stare at the wall together and hope ideas will come,” she says dryly. A lot of time passes before actual assignments finally come in. Jana Forkel mostly writes exposés, and not all of them are paid for at the moment. But that’s exactly what appeals to her: finding stories that no one else is telling. “I want to create pure cinema someday, like David Hasselhoff’s square pectorals in the SpongeBob movie.” With future projects, above all, she wants to always have fun. “Everything I do has to be a passion project for me. Or I make sure it becomes one. That way, I don’t have to slog through just any assignments, and I hope that in ten years I can say: I didn’t sell my soul.”

Sebastian Schroth

This article is part of the FAU Magazine

The third issue of the FAU Magazine #People is once again all about the people who make our FAU one of the best universities in the world. The examples in this issue show how lively and diverse our research is, the commitment of our students, and the work in the scientific support areas.

Highlight is certainly the new research cluster “Transforming Human Rights.” Or you can follow our scientists into laboratories and workshops, where they make potatoes climate-resistant, teach robots social behavior, or reconstruct ancient ships and cannons. At FAU, students are developing vertical take-off aircraft or impressing with outstanding performances at the Paralympics. And let’s not forget the people who work at our university or remain closely connected as FAU alumni. Visit the Children’s University with them or watch a TV series with an FAU alumna and Grimme Award winner.