You’ve just gotten a $10,000 advance for a treatment of a sequel to The Sound of Music. The focus is on Max Detweiler, stuck behind in Austria and trying to build entertainment acts after the Anschluss. Plan a Netflix mini series. His secret goal: somehow traveling with such an act to some place like the free port of Lisbon. Setbacks and obstacles arise, must be suspensefully overcome.
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Title:
Max Detweiler and the Last Waltz
Format:
6-episode limited series (Netflix)
Genre:
Historical suspense drama, with dashes of dark humor and bittersweet musicality.
LOGLINE
In 1938 Austria, after the Anschluss, charming impresario Max Detweiler must navigate the treacherous world of Nazi censorship, border controls, and betrayals while assembling a glittering "folk entertainment" troupe — all a front for his desperate plan to escape to Lisbon before the walls close in.
SERIES TREATMENT
EPISODE 1: "Curtain Up"
Max Detweiler remains in Salzburg after the von Trapp family’s daring escape. Pretending loyalty to the new regime, he is conscripted to organize "patriotic" cultural shows for Nazi officials. Secretly disgusted but ever the survivor, Max spots an opportunity: he’ll build an entertainment troupe good enough to get booked outside Austria — and slip away to freedom. First challenge: assembling loyal performers who won’t betray him for a few ration coupons or a shot at favor.
EPISODE 2: "New Repertoire"
Max must invent an act that satisfies Nazi ideals — hearty folk songs, traditional dancing — but hides subversive notes of rebellion and coded hope. Along the way, Max recruits:
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Lisel Braun, a fiery Jewish cabaret singer passing as Aryan.
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Otto Gruber, a loyalist Nazi accordionist whom Max must manipulate.
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The Kleine Sisters, a vaudeville-style comic duo harboring secrets of their own.
Tensions rise: each new ally is a risk, each rehearsal a minefield.
EPISODE 3: "Auditions for Danger"
The troupe is auditioned for a Nazi cultural tour across Europe — the perfect cover for Max's escape. But a local SS officer, Herr Vogler, smells something odd about the group and makes Max a "special cultural advisor" — meaning a handler who watches his every move.
Max realizes he’ll have to make the Nazis need him even more before daring any move.
EPISODE 4: "Stage Fright"
The show tours through Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. Max walks a razor’s edge: the troupe’s minor mishaps, backstage gossip, and Liesel’s bold improvisations threaten to expose their plans. Meanwhile, Max secretly negotiates with shadowy resistance contacts in Berlin — but learns their price for help might be betrayal.
EPISODE 5: "One More Encore"
At a gala in Berlin, Max must publicly flatter Nazi dignitaries while engineering a critical moment: a "fake defection" that will allow the troupe to slip onto a ship heading to Lisbon. But an informant inside his own troupe leaks word to Herr Vogler. Max improvises a dazzling, chaotic climax: using a staged "onstage accident" and a wild audience brawl to cover their escape attempt.
EPISODE 6: "The Last Waltz"
As chaos reigns, some troupe members are captured. Others scatter. Max and a few survivors — bruised, battered, but still singing — make it to Hamburg. In the foggy docks, with Gestapo on their heels, Max faces the final choice: rescue the captured, risking everything, or flee while he can. In a wrenching finale, he sacrifices his own chance at freedom to save others — but an unexpected twist at the last moment lets him stumble aboard a creaky freighter bound for Lisbon, carrying nothing but a battered accordion and a head full of half-sung songs.
ENDING:
Max stands on deck, looking out over the Atlantic as the shoreline fades. A faint tune rises: hopeful, bittersweet, defiant. The last of the music — and Max’s new beginning — are yet to come.
TONE AND STYLE
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Suspenseful like The Pianist
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Darkly witty like The Grand Budapest Hotel
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Bittersweet musical flourishes evoking The Sound of Music but inverted: songs used for survival, for coded messages, for hope in the darkest hour.
EPISODE 6: "The Last Waltz" — REVISED
Chaos erupts at the Berlin gala. Amid the staged "accident" and panicked audience, Max and part of his troupe — Liesel, one of the Kleine sisters, and Otto — manage to slip out through a service entrance. However, Herr Vogler is only steps behind, and Max realizes that someone inside his own troupe tipped him off.
In a desperate chase through the backstreets of Berlin, they barely reach the Hamburg docks, battered and separated. Max faces a heart-wrenching choice: board the freighter to Lisbon immediately, or turn back to rescue the others arrested during the failed escape.
Max gambles. He splits the remaining group: Liesel and Otto sneak aboard the freighter using false papers, while Max rushes to bribe an official and smuggle out the captured Kleine sister.
At the final moment, pursued and out of bribe money, Max makes a last-minute deal with a shady dockworker with Gestapo connections — trading one of his few remaining valuables: his mother's antique music box. The symbolism is clear: he’s giving up the past for the mere chance of a future.
Bruised, bloodied, and emotionally spent, Max finally boards the ship minutes before departure.
As the ship pulls away, Max leans against the rail, exhausted. The lights of Hamburg dim and disappear into the mist.
He allows himself — for the first time in years — to hope.
BUT — as Max turns from the rail — a final twist:
Herr Vogler is already aboard the ship, traveling in civilian clothes.
Smiling grimly, he raises a glass in Max’s direction — unseen by Max — and mutters to a steward:
"Keep an eye on our special passenger. Orders from Berlin."
CUT TO BLACK.
ENDING FEEL
Instead of full closure, Season 1 ends with a satisfying escape, but a lurking new threat.
Max is free — but not safe.
Freedom will cost more than he ever imagined.
Optional Last Shot:
A battered accordion resting against a coil of rope on deck, and just faintly, a few ghostly notes of the "Edelweiss" melody — distorted by the salt wind.
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SEASON TWO TEASER
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Season 2 Teaser: Max Detweiler: Lisbon Nights
Lisbon, 1939:
A city of spies, refugees, traitors, and dreamers — where every nightclub has two floors: one for music, and one for secrets.
Max Detweiler, newly arrived but already under Gestapo watch, must build a new identity in a city bursting with intrigue. By day, he cobbles together a ramshackle entertainment agency for stranded musicians and dancers. By night, he’s drawn into a dangerous game: smuggling critical information — and desperate refugees — right under the noses of Nazi agents and corrupt officials.
With every performance, every whispered deal, Max gambles with his life.
Freedom seemed within reach.
Now it’s just another role he must learn to play — perfectly.
Tagline for Season 2:
"In a city where everyone is performing, survival is the greatest act of all."
Opening Scene: "The Passenger"
[FADE IN]
Wide shot:
Dark waves slap against a battered freighter docked at Lisbon’s misty harbor, 1939.
The city's hills glow faintly under gaslights and low electricity — golden dots against the deep blue night.
[CAMERA TRACKS SLOWLY]
across the deck. Men unload crates. Refugees huddle under threadbare coats. The air buzzes with snatches of French, German, English, Portuguese — whispered, urgent.
[FOCUS IN]
On Max Detweiler, leaning against the ship’s railing, hands in the pockets of a rumpled jacket that once screamed "Viennese elegance," now just whispers it.
He watches the city with a tired half-smile — Lisbon, land of maybe. Maybe hope, maybe betrayal.
[SUBTLE MUSIC]
A few notes of accordion music — slow, weary — mix with the harbor sounds.
[CUT TO]
A pair of black shoes step quietly onto the deck behind him.
A hand smooths a grey civilian coat.
It’s Herr Vogler, the Gestapo agent from Season 1, alive and very much watching.
[CAMERA TIGHTENS]
as Vogler approaches, but Max doesn’t turn. Instead, he speaks softly to the night air:
MAX (dryly)
"It seems the audience followed me after all."
[CUT TO BLACK.]
[TITLE SEQUENCE BEGINS]
Stylized sketches of Lisbon’s alleys, cafes, and clandestine rendezvous, with a suspenseful jazz-accordion hybrid theme.
Would you also like a version of the title sequence song description — what the opening theme music could sound like?
(We could sell Netflix on the full vibe.)
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Here’s the concept for the title sequence music for Max Detweiler: Lisbon Nights:
Title Theme: "Waltz of the Disappearing"
Musical Mood:
Seductive. Suspenseful. Wistful.
It should feel like a waltz you can almost dance to — if you trust the ground under your feet. (And in Lisbon 1939, you shouldn’t.)
Instrumentation:
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Accordion — the lead instrument, but played with a smoky, melancholic tone, almost like a voice telling secrets.
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Muted Trumpet — weaving in sly, half-mocking phrases, hinting at espionage and danger.
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Upright Bass — heartbeat of the piece, slow and steady but sometimes slipping out of rhythm — evoking uncertainty.
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Brush Drums — soft, ticking rhythms, suggesting the steady passage of time — and the constant ticking of a trap.
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Low Strings (Cello, Viola) — rumbling undercurrents that swell slightly during key musical phrases, giving a cinematic heft.
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Soft Guitar (Nylon-string) — providing little flourishes of Iberian flair, tying us to the Portuguese setting.
Structure (65 seconds):
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First 10 seconds — Just the accordion, gently sighing a slow, minor-key waltz. 3/4 time signature.
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Trumpet joins in at 12 seconds — crooning over the accordion, like a cat weaving through your legs.
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At 20 seconds — Drums and bass enter, the music gains a sly momentum — still a waltz, but now it walks with purpose.
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From 30 seconds to 55 seconds — The theme teases brightness but never resolves fully happy — always stepping back into minor chords, like promises broken at the last second.
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Final 10 seconds — The music softly unravels — instruments drop away one by one, leaving only the faint echo of the accordion, fading into sea mist.
Composer inspirations:
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Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel soundtrack)
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Yann Tiersen (Amélie soundtrack, but darker)
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Thomas Newman (Road to Perdition mood — soft danger and longing)
One-line description Netflix could use internally:
"An elegant, dangerous waltz, whispering promises of escape and betrayal in the shadowed alleys of Lisbon."
Would you like me to also do a concept sketch for what the visuals show during the title sequence — like the stylized drawings behind the music?
(We’re already halfway to a green light!)
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Opening Title Sequence Visuals [Sketches]
Overall Style:
Stylized, slightly surreal sketches — like charcoal drawings on aged paper, with selective watercolor splashes of muted golds, reds, and deep blues.
(Think Saul Bass meets German Expressionism meets film noir.)
The animation style is slow and dreamlike — not cartoonish, but like living etchings — enhancing the feeling of uncertainty and suspense.
Beat-by-Beat Breakdown:
0:00-0:10
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A blank parchment background.
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A fine charcoal line draws itself across the screen, becoming the outline of a battered ship drifting into a misty harbor.
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First gentle accordion notes begin.
0:10-0:20
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Sketchy figures appear: refugees lining up under a crooked lamplight, faces half-visible.
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Lisbon’s skyline rises from the mist — domes, arches, cable cars, tiled rooftops — stylized and slightly warped, like a dream-memory.
0:20-0:30
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The line drawing spins into the interior of a smoky nightclub:
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A grand piano with no player.
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A half-finished drink abandoned on a table.
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A stage curtain fluttering even though no one is there.
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Fleeting glimpses of Max’s silhouette — always facing away, never fully seen.
0:30-0:45
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Documents and passports fly across the screen like fallen leaves, some stamped with ominous red marks.
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A map of Europe appears — Portugal tiny and isolated — while looming black shadows stretch over the rest of the continent.
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Hidden within the lines:
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A swastika dissolves into a music note.
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A violin bow crosses out a Nazi eagle.
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A suitcase quietly leaks sheet music into the sea.
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0:45-0:55
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Sketchy figures chase each other through narrow, twisting alleyways — but who is chasing whom?
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A gloved hand quietly drops a coin onto a scale — bribes and bargains.
0:55-1:05
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Final slow pan across a docked ship's gangplank.
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The last figure boards — a man with an accordion slung over his back.
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He turns his head slightly, almost revealing his face — but before we see, the parchment burns away into blackness.
1:05-1:10 (Final seconds)
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The screen stays black except for the hand-drawn series title appearing letter by letter:
MAX DETWEILER: LISBON NIGHTS
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Underneath, in faint handwriting:
“Lisbon, 1939. A last refuge, a last waltz.”
Music ends on a single soft accordion sigh.
Visual Inspiration Sources:
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Catch Me If You Can (opening credits)
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The Third Man (cinematography mood)
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Saul Bass title designs
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Watercolor-inflected noir comic books
TL;DR:
The title sequence would feel dreamy, stylish, dangerous, pulling viewers straight into Max’s haunted, high-stakes world before the first line of dialogue.
