About Wigge
Name: Michael Wigge
Born: 1976
Reporter, Filmmaker, Presenter
Reports for WDR, ARD, Deutsche Welle, Sat 1, RTL 2, GEO, MTV, Viva, ZDF, KIWI
Michael Wigge has been working as a reporter, presenter and producer for both private and public television channels for nine years. His work is characterized by a mixture of journalism and entertainment/comedy. His area of expertise lies in culture topics, which he approaches in an entertaining fashion.
In 2002, Wigge drew attention to himself for the first time. He produced and presented unconventional comedy clips for and in the daily show "London Calling" on TV broadcaster VIVA plus. In this context he conducted the longest recorded donkey ride in history of music television with 60.4 hours.
In 2003, he returned to Germany and attracted the attention of the political world as satirical reporter "Dr. Wigge" for the political program "The Chancellor's Bungalow". From 2004 to 2006, he was on the road as a reporter and comedian for VIVA and MTV. He carried out unusual tasks in his show, including a four-day self-experiment as a voluntary prisoner to portray a jail in Cologne.
He also appeared on the 'ARD Morning Show' as a reporter and comedian for the summer Olympics 2004 and the European Football Championship 2004. Furthermore, Wigge produces independent television formats like 'Wigge BIG in Japan' on VIVA (2004), "Metropolenreport" on RTL 2 (2003) and "Kulturschock" (2006). For the latter, he lived with the Sanema-Indians in the Amazon rainforest. He started producing his self-mocking series "The Truth about Germany" on Deutsche Welle TV in 2007. He was granted platinum for this series at the 41st World Fest Houston International Film Festival in 2008. In 2008, he became GEO-travel reporter.
Wigge received the ZDF VJ award for his Deutsche Welle production in 2009. His book "To the End of the World without a Penny" was published in Germany and South Korea in 2010. The 5 x 30 mins video documentary series was broadcast on zdf_neo TV. For this project, Michael Wigge travelled 35,000 kilometres without a penny in his pocket.
Wigge produces in 2011 the TV series "Trade-Up". Therefore he barters during a world travel from an apple to a house in Hawaii. This stunt is been broadcasted as 6x45 minutes on ZDFneo and published as a book.
Curriculum Vitae Michael Wigge
Occupational Background
| 2012 | Production "Trade-Up" 6 x45 mins | ZDFneo |
| 2011 | Accolade Award, best feature documentary "To the End of the World without a Penny!" | |
| 2011 | Grimme Preis Nominee, best entertaining TV program "To the End of the World without a Penny!" | |
| 2011 | Jaipur Film Festival, Nominee 'best international film' for the project "To the End of the World without a Penny!" | |
| 2011 | "To the End of the World without a Penny!" | Hawaii State Television |
| 2010 | "Land of Loveliness" - TV production, 30 episodes | Deutsche Welle TV |
| 2010 | "To the End of the World without a Penny" book published in Germany and South Korea | |
| 2010 | "To the End of the World without a Penny" TV series 5 x 30 mins | |
| 2009 | VJ Award as Newcomer | ZDF |
| 2008/9 | GEO Video-Reporter | GEO |
| 2008/9 | Wigge's World | Einslive |
| 2008 | Finalist New York Film & Television Awards | |
| 2008 | 41st World fest Houston Platin Award Category "On-Air Personality" | |
| 2007/8/9 | Series: "Wigge and the Truth about Germany" | Deutsche Welle TV |
| 2007/8 | "Goldener Prometheus" Off-air Event Reporter |
|
| 2007/8 | Series: "We are sector" | Einslive |
| 2007/8 | "Blitz" Series: "Wigge-Partycracker" | Sat1 |
| 2007 | Comedian in commercials | Nokia 5700 |
| 2006/7 | 30 mins documentary, Sanema Indians/Venezuela | |
| 2005/6/7 | Roving reporter "Test of Courage" | Einslive Radio |
| 2005/6 | Reporter/Comedian "Kuttner" – Clips with VIPs | MTV |
| 2005/6 | MTV-production: "30 things you should never do under 30!" | MTV |
| 2004 | "Wigge BIG in Japan!" 2hr satirical VIVA-Japan special, celebrating the "Year of the Germans" |
VIVA |
| 2004 | Comedian/reporter under the headings "Wigge investigates" and "Wigge on mission" |
VIVA |
| 2004 | 1hr "Wigge-Special". The eight best segments | VIVA |
| 2004 | Reporter at ‘ARD-Morning Show’ for the Olympic Games and Football World Cup | ARD |
| 2003 | Satirical reporter for the political program "The Chancellor’s Bungalow" as character "Dr. Wigge". Life conferences/segments | WDR |
| 2003 | Reporter "Checking Europe’s Metropolises" for "Afterwork TV" | RTL 2 |
| 2001/2 | Presenter of the series "London Calling" from London | VIVA-Plus |
Educational Background
| 1998-2001 | BA-Studium "Film and TV Production" | Guildhall University, London |
| 2000 | Camera training and acting course | City-Lit London |
Internships
| 1997 | American studio RTL - New York |
| 1997 | P Pohl Productions, Commercial production – New York |
| 1996 | Viva 2 "2Rock" |
| 1996 | Santa Barbara TV, California |
Technical References
Radio cutting/editing, Cut master and Easy track, AVID Video cutting/editing. DV-Cam
Interests
Basketball, Badminton, Dogs, Travelling, Bizarre things in everyday life, Latin America, Sub-Cultures