Grundy UFA

UFA Serial Drama (founded as Grundy UFA or Grundy UFA Produktions GmbH) is a German production company and part of the Universum Film AG. It was founded in 1991 and became a major influence for German soap operas and telenovelas. The company is known as one of the largest producers of industrially produced serial formats in Europe.

The business produces more than 750 hours of fictional programs. Due to a special industrial system, the production company can produce up to 42 minutes broadcast material per day. In addition to the production sites in Berlin, Cologne and Potsdam-Babelsberg UFA Serial Drama maintains a subsidiary, Magyar Grundy UFA, in Budapest, Hungary.

In 2005, UFA Serial Drama founded the first school for a professional education in story-telling, the Grundy UFA Serienschule. The first year started in November 2005.

The first daily soap opera, Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten became the prestige project of Grundy UFA. After low ratings and negative reviews in the beginning the serial became a popular part of Germany's pop culture and having about seven million viewers in the beginning of the 2000s. The show is still pulling more than 20% market share in the target group 14-49 and isn't only the longest-running daily soap, but also the most successful one.

After GZSZ became a success, the RTL network wanted to add another daily soap to their line-up. Grundy UFA adapted the Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters and presented the network a show called Verbotene Liebe. But RTL was afraid to touch an incest storyline that revolves around most of the show's beginning and canceled the project. Grundy UFA decided to not give up on the idea and presented the idea to Das Erste. The show premiered on January 2, 1995, while RTL added the Grundy UFA production Unter uns, a soap opera about a neighborhood in Cologne, which premiered on November 28, 1994 - five weeks before Das Erste could introduce viewers to Verbotene Liebe.