Ellen Jens

Directing

Ellen Jens

Born October 6, 1940 · Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Died November 17, 2023 · aged 83

Ellen Jens was a Dutch television director and producer, best known for her collaboration with Wim T. Schippers on VPRO television. She has produced and directed a large number of other television shows, especially on literature and art, and is referred to as a "television legend".

Known For

Grote GenadeGrote Genade · 1976
Grote Genade
1976
MovieTV Movie
Sjef van Oekel escapes from prison and heads for a restaurant. Unfortunately there is nobody there to annoy. Even at the train station he is ignored by former colleagues and he ends up alone.
Sans RancuneSans Rancune · 1987
Sans Rancune
1987
MovieTV MovieComedy
Dora Leenders is about to give birth. Since she was impregnated during a school reunion, she invites both men whom she had sex with that night to her flat to witness the birth.
Ninette de Valois (Mag ik mijn grijze mapje terug)Ninette de Valois (Mag ik mijn grijze mapje terug) · 1977
Ninette de Valois (Mag ik mijn grijze mapje terug)
1977
MovieTV Movie
A performance of Joseph Haydn's Hour Symphony is interrupted several times within half an hour.
80 jaar, reeds - op de T bij Wim Schippers80 jaar, reeds - op de T bij Wim Schippers · 2022
80 jaar, reeds - op de T bij Wim Schippers
2022
MovieDocumentary
An ode to multi-talented artist and radio and television producer Wim T. Schippers by absurdist Ronald Snijders. In a cheerfully disruptive manner, Snijders guides the viewer through a richly illustrated overview of Schippers' work, where they meet the man who could both seduce and intentionally bore, confuse, shock, and irritate Dutch television viewers. Many clips of Schippers became legendary, such as Queen Juliana cleaning Brussels sprouts, a naked Phil Bloom reading the newspaper, and the shows featuring Barend Servet and Sjef van Oekel. Schippers wrote the sheepdog play Going to the Dogs and has been the voice of Ernie in Sesamstraat for many years.
De ondergang van de OnanDe ondergang van de Onan · 1976
De ondergang van de Onan
10.01976
MovieTV Movie
Dick Bakker convinces Onno Bosman to produce a stage show about the sinking of the cruise ship 'Onan' and hires Fred Haché, Barend Servet, Sjef van Oekel and Ir. Van der Pik to star.
Volk en vaderliefdeVolk en vaderliefde · 1976
Volk en vaderliefde
1976
MovieTV MovieDrama
Otanes is certain that Smerdis, King of Persia is an impostor. He gathers together a group of people to stage a coup, only to face the question of which one of them will be worthy to take the throne.
Het Grote GebeurenHet Grote Gebeuren · 1975
Het Grote Gebeuren
7.01975
MovieFantasyAnimation
Het grote gebeuren (The big happening) is a Dutch movie about the day of judgement in the small village of Rijssen.
Cross NowCross Now · 1977
Cross Now
7.01977
MovieTV Movie
In Cross Now, during a blazing row with his boss, strangely enough architect Michael Ponsford still gets his promotion. However, he does not get much time to enjoy it, because, in the middle of the argument, his boss suffers a heart attack. And he is not the only one to die. Ponsford is haunted by death: the woman with whom he had been flirting for too long, his wife's father, one of his competitors, they all succumb. Finally, Ponsford's young son also dies.

Filmography

Sort
Het is weer zo laatHet is weer zo laat · 1978
Het is weer zo laat
1978
SeriesComedy
Het is weer zo laat!, also known as Waldolala, is a Dutch television show from 1974, written and directed by Wim T. Schippers and co-produced by Schippers, Gied Jaspars, Wim van der Linden en Ellen Jens. It was the last TV show written for Dolf Brouwers, who had played the character Sjef van Oekel in previous shows. The show ran for ten episodes, and featured Brouwers as Waldo van Dungen, formerly a waiter at the night club Waldolala, who had acquired the club after a rich woman fell in love with him and bought the place for him. The show featured other characters from the previous shows Schippers had done for the VPRO, and shared many other characteristics—nudity, vulgarity, linguistic games. The plot line and individual scenes were typically chaotic; in the end, van Dungen dies and it is revealed that the entire series of events was a kind of flashback told by van Dungen's psychiatrist. The show's alternate name, Waldolala, was explained by Waldo van Dungen as a combination between his first name and the phrase "Oh-la-la". It was also part of the title of the theme song, a "megahit" for the girls group Luv', a group formed by producer Hans van Hemert, who had been commissioned to write the show's theme song. Luv' had had two modestly successful singles with ABBA-esque songs, but van Hemert wanted to try a different style of music; Schippers and Jaspars pushed him, and van Hemert agreed to have Luv' sing the tune. They performed "U.O.Me" on the show, and the song became a hit--in hindsight, van Hemert credited the VPRO with the band's commercial success.

Producer

Barend is weer bezigBarend is weer bezig · 1972
Barend is weer bezig
1972
SeriesComedy
The television program was built around the character Barend Servet, played by IJf Blokker, who had first appeared in De Fred Haché Show in 1971. Other characters returning from the Haché Show were Sjef van Oekel (played by Dolf Brouwers) and Fred Haché (played by Harry Touw). In typical Schippers fashion, the program, like its predecessor, derived its comedic effects from crude humor, silly costumes or nudity, chaos, and absurdism; it combined the trivial and banal with controversial content. There were four episodes and a Christmas special, "Waar heb dat nou voor nodig?". For the Christmas special, two songs were written by Wim T. Schippers and Clous van Mechelen for Dolf Brouwers: "Vette jus" and "Juliana onze vorstin".

Producer