I trained in storytelling and directing at the University of Art and Design Linz and in Writing & Creative Producing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. I rounded off my training with the Film & TV Screenwriting programme at the Masterschool Drehbuch.

For me, dramaturgy isn't a rulebook – it's a repertoire. Classic film dramaturgy is my foundation, and I build on it with the full range of narrative design: serial architecture, non-linear and hybrid structures, interactive and platform-specific formats. Concepts from anime and manga are part of my toolkit, too. Pop culture and a strong creative vision aren't a concession to the market – they're a tool and an attitude. The vision is always the real substance.

In my free time, I take apart series that have entertained, moved or impressed me in an unusual way – to lay bare their structure and make it my own. I'm currently a mentee of screenwriter Lisa van Brakel (KRANK BERLIN, SOULS). Before that, I was mentored by Kirsten Niehuus (FFA president, former managing director of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg) in the German Cultural Council's mentoring programme for women in leadership. I'm a founding member of WAM – Women in Arts and Media, served on the jury of Prix Europa 2025 and sat on the DDV jury for the German Screenplay Award.

Sabrina Stockner

I'm an award-winning storytelling and development creative, trained across genres and formats with deep expertise in film and TV series development — from an Award of Merit and Best Short (US) to Best Pitch, the Silberner Cäsar advertising award, and a Coup de Coeur selection in Cannes, alongside numerous nominations spanning short film, branded content and screenwriting.

I work as a script reader for feature film, high-end series and New Media, and as a creative/development producer and screenwriter. My focus is on creative excellence: a strong sense of artistic vision, audience design, and the craft of creating emotion and experience. I think format-independently, moving fluidly between commercial and artistic demands, and I bring structure to complex material without losing the story's heartbeat. Years of experience in development and IP acquisition have sharpened my instinct for what makes a story work — for audiences and for the market alike. I know both sides of the table: the one that writes and the one that buys.

I used to be a competitive athlete. Today I practise Shaolin Kung Fu and Taiji Quan with a Shaolin master and am training to become an instructor. In Taiji, power doesn't come from the arms but from your centre, and travels outward through the kinetic chain. So I ask every project: Where does the energy come from – and does the structure carry it or choke it?

I'm drawn to projects with a point of view that reach their audience through emotion and impact: stories that don't simply repeat traditional images of masculinity, femininity and normality, but challenge them – whether entertaining, funny, dark or dramatic.

MASTERCLASSES & TRAINED BY (Auszug)

Christian Berger AAC (The White Ribbon), Directing & Cinematography; Nicola Daley BSC, ACS, Cinematography; Katharina Mückstein, Directing; Jakob Ballinger, Cinematography & Lighting, gaffer on productions including By the Sea and films by Michael Haneke; Keith Cunningham, Screenwriting; Shonda Rhimes, Screenwriting & Producing; Issa Rae, Screenwriting & Producing; Winterclass Serial Writing and Producing at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, with masterclasses by Kelly Souders (Smallville, Salem, Genius, The Hot Zone), Maggie Murphy (Malcolm in the Middle, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jantje Friese (Dark, 1899), Jörg Winger (Deutschland 83/86/89), Michal Aviram (Fauda) and Annette Hess; Masterschool Drehbuch, advanced specialization and professional training as a writer for film & television (2026); Mentoring Programme of the German Cultural Council for Female Leaders, mentored by Kirsten Niehuus, first female President of the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and former Managing Director of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg; Shaolin Kung Fu & Taiji Quan instructor training with Shaolin Master Jierui Zhang (2026).

Awards, Nominations & Scholarships

Nomination for the spec_script Award, Drehbuchwerkstatt Salzburg; nomination as co-writer for the ARD Degeto Impuls Prize; selected talent at fact20 Wiener Talenteschau; Award of Merit and Best Short Award for You & Me in the US; Cannes Coup de Coeur Selection; BEST OFF at Moviemento; selected talent at Innsbruck Film Campus; winner of the third party funded project with Rosenbauer International AG; spotlight students nomination at the International Advertising Film Festival; winner of the “Crowdfunding” pitch competition by Creative Region Upper Austria; DAAD Scholar; VFF Scholar; EXIST Women Noise* Scholar 2026.

Worked for and with

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg

Jerusalem Film Lab,

Sam Spiegel Film Lab,

Rosebank Entertainment & Bantry Bay Productions

Beta Film

Prime Productions GmbH,

Gebhardt Filmproductions,

ORF, ARD Degeto,

and many more ...