As a writer for television, I have written and created various TV series and movies for the German television market. My work covers a wide range from sitcom over medical and mystery to comedy and action. Among these, the action series Alarm für Cobra 11 has proved a spectacular international success in over 140 countries for more than twenty years.
I have moved on to write feature films for the Asian market. I wrote the script for the German-Chinese coproduction Out of Control-The Phantom Drive, an Action-movie starring T.O.P. and Cecilia Cheung.
My most recent work is the Netflix Show "THE BARBARIANS", which I created and co-scripted with Arne Nolting & Jan-Martin Scharf. The launch of THE BARBARIANS is scheduled for autumn 2020.
I was born and raised in Germany's industrial Ruhr-Valley in 1965. Both my parents were teachers. Originally, my father came from a farm; my mother was a coalminer's daughter of Polish background. I have an older brother, who is a professor of medicine.
After taking my A-levels, I hitch-hiked all over the U.S. for six months. Back in Germany I went to attend university in Münster,Cologne and Cambridge. In 1994 I graduated earning a Master of Arts in English and History. My thesis was on screen adaptions of Shakespeare plays.
I am an alumnus of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 2001 I went on a trip around the world with my novelist-friend Andreas Izquierdo. Blindfolded we threw darts at a large map of the world to determine our actual destinations. Izquierdo‘s and Heckmann‘s travel accounts were published in a book called ''Dartpilots'' (Piper publishing house).
I am married and have one son. We live in Cologne, Germany.
References: