Jan from the bank

Jan von der Bank (* 1967 in Saarland ) is a German screenwriter , writer and sailor . He graduated from high school in Mainz in 1986 . Jan von der Bank lives in Eutin .

Screenwriter

After completing his degree in architecture as a graduate engineer at the Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel in 1992, Jan von der Bank initially worked as a freelance architect. He began working as a screenwriter through a Bavaria Film talent competition for the television series Gegen den Wind in 1995. Between 1995 and 1998 he wrote five scripts for "Gegen den Wind". From 2000 he worked for the series Coast Guard , to which von der Bank still contributes. He contributed further scripts to Stolberg and Der Fahnder . In 2001/2002 the bank wrote and produced the 15-minute 16-mm short film "Chinese Brassiere", which is broadcast by "MiniMovie" on pay TV. He had already gained his first directorial experience as an assistant director in the production of HeliCops - Einsatz über Berlin . The bank was also responsible for the script for the NDR crime scene episode Shift Change , which was first broadcast on March 28, 2004. It was the second episode of the Kiel crime scene with inspector Klaus Borowski (played by Axel Milberg ), the bank was involved in the debut as a location scout . Since 2012 he has also been writing scripts for the ZDF crime series " Der Alte ". According to information on its website, in 2013 the bank is also working on episodes for the ZDF television series " Kripo Holstein - Mord und Meer ", which initially became known under the working title " The Baltic Sea Cops ".

writer

In the spring of 2010, von der Bank's first novel The Color of the Sea was published by Ullstein-Verlag. The book is set as a spy thriller in the sailing environment. The action takes place in the late summer of 1939 at the time of the start of the war ; The starting point of the plot is the world championship of the Olympic sailing class Starboot , which was actually held in Kiel in 1939. The first edition of the book was sold out after just three weeks. The fourth edition of The Color of the Sea was published in early 2011.

A year later, von der Banks published his second novel entitled "Hundewache". This thriller is also in a maritime context. Narrative time of the book is the present, the action takes place in the sail training ship of the German Navy , the Gorch Fock . UFA film production has acquired the film rights to "Hundewache" . The bank should write the script itself.

At the end of the time the book was being written, Jan von der Bank received some media attention through the controversy surrounding the events surrounding the voyage of the "Gorch Fock" in autumn / winter 2010. , TV and radio media interviewed because he had done military service on the "Gorch Fock" and was familiar with the current situation on board through research for his novel.

In the foreword, von der Bank countered unspoken possible allegations of taking advantage of the coincidence of book publication and the public Gorch-Fock debate:

“This book is a thriller and purely fictional! His story [...] has nothing to do with the fatal accidents of the recent past and the subsequent media coverage. When I started working on this story in the spring of 2010, the sailing training ship [...] had not yet left for its current voyage; When, in January and February 2011, the tragic events of the previous November caused highly controversial discussions in the media, I had already given the finished manuscript to the publisher. "

Nevertheless, in this context the title was changed from corpse catcher to dog guard at short notice .

Sailing

Jan von der Bank is probably the most successful German sailor in the Contender . In this one-handed trapeze dinghy he became world champion in Travemünde in 2005, and in 2007 he won the bronze medal in Medemblik / NL. With three victories at German championships, von der Bank is also a (shared) German record champion. He also sailed the Mediterranean twice with his family for several months. As a basic military service on the "Gorch Fock" sailed from the bank in 1987 across the Atlantic.