About
How To Make It In: Berlin is the first season of How To Make It In: ______________, a web-series about small business owners, startup founders and everyday success stories from Main Streets all around the world.
Selected by Germany’s prestigious Medienboard as one of only two 2015 residencies awarded in Berlin, How To Make It In: ______________ kicks off its debut season with 10 captivating stories from Europe’s capital of cool unveiling the hidden gems only locals know about and highlighting the risk-takers who give Berlin its unique character.
With the insight and savvy of a business series and the wanderlust and adventure of a travel show, each 3-5–minute episode of How To Make It In:__________ tells the real life story of one small business owner: how they got started, the challenges they faced at every turn, the “aha moment” when it all came together, how they’ve maintained their success and, of course, why their city is integral to their business.
Email us: colabprods@gmail.com
THE TEAM
MARCUS LEHMANN started his career in still photography and lighting design on feature films. His early work included lighting design for large-scale photographer Gregory Crewdson on the multi-year oeuvre Beneath the Roses. As a cinematographer, Marcus has focused on projects that explore and document the natural and man-made world. He is proud to have filmed for Discovery Channel’s The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero and the theatrical documentary film Song of the Basques, which examines the survival of the Basque culture. His passion for visual storytelling has taken him on expeditions around the world from Antarctica to Madagascar. He has eaten and joked his way through Asia with Phil Rosenthal for the new PBS series I’ll Have What Phil’s Having, and has staged recreations for The Hunt with John Walsh for CNN. His film and TV clients include Science Channel, National Geographic Channel, Discovery, CNN, Animal Planet, PBS, & the American Museum of Natural History among others. Marcus is a graduate of Boston University. Check out his work at https://vimeo.com/marcuslehmann
Justine Simonson is a producer and writer of documentary media and the owner of Co Lab Productions in New York City. She’s worked in various genres from investigative journalism to arts and entertainment, and her work has appeared on PBS, ABC, NBC, National Geographic, and Showtime among other outlets. Most recently she directed two video features for MarieClaire.com’s Women and Guns project, and in 2015 she went behind the scenes at the Academy Awards for ABC’s Countdown to the Oscars: An Insiders Guide. She also served as the Web Features Producer on Showtime’s Emmy Award winning climate change series, Years of Living Dangerously. From 2006 to 2010, Justine was a staff producer and writer in the News and Current Affairs department at WNET, the flagship PBS station. Her work at PBS appeared on Frontline, Exposé: America’s Investigative Reports, Bill Moyers Journal, Blueprint America and Need To Know, and earned several awards including two Emmys, a Hugo and several Cine Golden Eagles. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. Check out her work at www.colab.productions
ALETTA VON VIETINGHOFF is a documentary editor based in Berlin. We think her work speaks for itself. www.alettavonvietinghoff.com
J.R. NARROWS is a composer, sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, video gamer and science fiction lover, working deep from the jungles of his Brooklyn, NY studio. With a deep love for storytelling, J.R. enjoys working closely with narrative, crafting a colorful musical palette to help bring stories to life in beautiful and unique ways. His music and sound work have been featured in film festivals, concert series, documentaries, web-series, commercials and art galleries around the world. www.jrnarrows.com