The Dark Ones: German islands re-imagined Flanders

Belgian producer Beside Productions answered the call. “This is the kind of project we can do, we like to do, and that we are good at,” says managing director Christophe Toulemonde.

On an island in the North Sea, a rift between dimensions has opened up, letting through not monsters or demons, but humans. Or almost. They are the worst possible versions of ourselves, sinister doppelgangers who have made the wrong decisions at important moments in their lives and will do anything for a second chance. To this end, they plan to take the place of humans. The only person who can stop them is Soma (Lisa-Marie Koroll), a young woman who doubts her abilities and is searching for her origins.

The series, with six 45-minute episodes, has an all-German cast. It is directed by Lea Becker, with scripts by Jan-Martin Scharf and Arne Nolting.

The producer’s first question was whether Belgium could provide the North Sea island atmosphere required for the series. At first sight, this was not obvious: Flanders may have a North Sea coastline, but much of it is built-up rather than wild and isolated. Yet Beside’s location scout, Wim Verstraeten, had some suggestions.

“We identified two or three spots on the Belgian coast that could work, mainly in the Zwin and Het Zoute areas of Knokke, and in Nieuwpoort,” Toulemonde recalls. But his secret weapon was Zilvermeer, a series of woodland lakes near Mol, close to Antwerp. “These lakes are divided by paths and surrounded by pine woods, and if you place the camera cleverly you really believe that you are on the coast.”

With the coastal locations locked down, it made sense to see if the other locations could also be found near by. The list was soon filled out with a series of isolated villas and houses, and city locations in Antwerp, Bruges, Brasschaat, Damme and Balen. “We shot almost everything in Flanders, over 60 days, with just one day in Germany for a very specific location.”

Time was also booked at the Lites studio, in Vilvoorde near Brussels, to film key sequences involving small boats, the doppelgangers emerging from the sea, and fight scenes in the shallows. “Lites is one of the best-equipped water stages in Europe,” says Toulemonde. “It is not cheap, but using it helped us to work quickly on many aspects of the production in a short space of time.”

With so much shooting in Flanders, it made sense to engage crews locally, to control transport and living costs. “This is money you don’t see on screen, and we wanted to limit those transport and living costs as much as possible,” Toulemonde says. “So, on all levels, Flanders was the best configuration for the project.”

While the director, DoP and continuity team were all from Germany, along with one or two positions supporting the actors, all other roles were filled in Flanders. This included assistant directors, camera operators and assistants, sound crew, the art department, make-up, costumes, grips and gaffers.

“We found a production manager/line producer in Flanders, June Beeckmans, who was able to put all these people together. And since Flemish crew speak English very well, communication went very smoothly.”

The series was commissioned by German public broadcaster ZDF, which provided the largest part of the financing. Next in line was funding from the Belgian tax shelter, channelled through Beside’s own tax shelter operation, followed by an essential contribution from Screen Flanders.

“Most of the time, the tax shelter on its own is not sufficient to attract this kind of international coproduction to Belgium, so having the support of Screen Flanders is essential,” Toulemonde says.

ZDF also brought in contributions from the New8 partnership, an alliance of public broadcasters that includes NPO in the Netherlands, VRT in Flanders and five Scandinavian broadcasters. There was also a minimum guarantee for international sales, and a small amount of public money from Germany and Austria.