Kleine Brüder: Improvised Realities

What happens when a group of friends turns their everyday chaos into a series? For the creators of Intimate and Die Discounter, the answer lies somewhere between Hamburg backyards, improvised scripts, and a shared refusal to follow industry norms. Their production company, Kleine Brüder, is the creative brainchild of Oskar and Emil Belton, Bruno Alexander, Leo Fuchs, and Max Mattis.

Last week, the team traveled to Berlin for the premiere of Intimate’s second season. What started as a DIY YouTube experiment has evolved into one of the most refreshingly raw formats in the German streaming landscape — carried by mockumentary aesthetics, absurd humor, and the kind of honesty that can only come from playing (versions of) yourself. When the group stepped into our office, it felt like stepping into one of their own scenes. The boundaries between reality and performance seemed to dissolve. And in that moment, it became clear: their strength lies not only in storytelling, but in their ability to turn lived experience into something real.

SLEEK: Your project started as a YouTube series, and now you can watch it for free on Joyn. How important is accessibility and the choice of platform for your series? Why does it work on Joyn, and could it also work on other streaming platforms?

Emil Belton: Joyn was actually the first platform brave enough to take on Intimate. But honestly, it would probably work on other platforms too. Back when we were working closely with ProSieben, so Joyn just felt like the right fit. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which platform – as long as someone believes in what we do and supports it financially, it could work anywhere.

Bruno Alexander: Over time, we’ve also really dialed in how we promote our projects in-house. We just did a big promo tour for Intimate, and that made a huge difference. Good promotion is more important than the platform itself – whether it’s Amazon, Joyn, or wherever. The cool thing now is that you can watch four episodes for free. That binge-watch component is super important for a show like this.

S: You’ve mentioned that you do in-house marketing for your productions. How essential is that to a project’s success?

Max Mattis: Super essential. We even did that with Discounter – in the beginning, there was basically no marketing from the network, we handled most of it ourselves. If we hadn’t, I don’t think it would’ve taken off the way it did. Marketing that feels cohesive and personal plays a huge role in making the series successful.

S: You use a lot of improvisation in your shows. What’s your approach to that? Do you train for it, or is it more intuitive?

BA: We’re really into the imperfect – the raw and real. Improvisation helps us get there. Just yesterday we talked about how some of the best moments in Intimate and Discounter are the ones you’d usually cut: people yawning, misspeaking, doing something awkward or just… real. You can’t write that kind of stuff – it only comes up in the moment.

Our process is to write scenes where the characters’ motivations clash in interesting ways. That creates tension. Then we cast people who can really think fast and improvise naturally.

S: You play versions of yourselves in Intimate. How do you separate your real selves from your characters?

BA: The character kind of acts like a little shield. You can let out your most extreme sides without it feeling too vulnerable. It’s not necessarily who you are, but you get to show all your sides. We also swap stories in the writers’ room. If something embarrassing happens to me, I might give that moment to someone else – or keep it myself. It all blurs together anyway.

S: The show has a bit of a reality-TV feel. What sets it apart from actual reality TV like Berlin Tag & Nacht?

EB: We’re basically scripting a reality show from our own lives. It’s different from Berlin – Tag & Nacht, but not maybe not that different. We’d totally do Intimate: Berlin – but with five female and non-binary leads. That’s actually kind of in the works already.

S: You play yourselves and you improvise – how does that affect your day-to-day working life? Is it fun? Do you ever just not feel like doing it?

MM: Of course, there are good days and bad ones. But overall, it’s such a fun and fulfilling job. We work in intense phases – writing, shooting, editing – and that helps keep it exciting. It’s project-based, so we can let it breathe in between. Still, it’s hard to “turn off.” Anything that happens in our real lives could end up in the show. We’re always taking notes. Or at least trying to.

S: Why do you think this mockumentary vibe resonates so well with your generation?

EB: I think people today are just craving something real. Everything’s been so curated and aesthetic for years – the algorithm-perfect life. Now people want authenticity again. And there hasn’t really been a show in a while that feels this real or this close to what young people are actually living.

S: So would you ever do something totally different in style, away from mockumentary or improv?

MM: Definitely. We’re planning something totally new for the end of the year – different tone, different format. 

S: You’ve created your own production company with your friends. How do you manage that while staying close? How do you set boundaries?

MM: We’re figuring it out as we go, to be honest. It’s not exactly like a “normal” company – more Pippi Longstocking vibes. We do things the way that works for us. The taxes get paid, the accounts are (mostly) in the green. But yeah, we also have help – people with more experience in business and finance. Still, we’re doing it differently on purpose.

S: So your whole company setup is a bit of a response to how things usually work in the industry?

Leo Fuchs: Totally. We all acted before, and we were frustrated with how slow and rigid the system can be. We just wanted to do stuff. Make things, shoot them, put them out there. That energy flows into everything we do. We’re constantly pushing to create, even when the bureaucratic side gets tricky. But we make it work.