Ronnie Fridthjof: Electronic Sell Through Will Be Game Changer For Producers

You are in the headlines with two films on Danish screens: Kolbøttefabrikken made under a special scheme to support young filmmakers, the documentary The Arms Drop by Andreas Koefoed while the TV series Heartless just finished airing on Kanal5. Are these productions what your company is about: an eclectic mix of genres catering for different audiences?
Ronnie Fridthjof: Yes. We’re driven by curiosity, the desire to try new things and at the same time, we stay focused on the financial side. Heartless for instance has solid financing possibilities and it’s the kind of ambitious project that makes it possible for us to take chances on smaller films like Kolbøttefabrikken and The Arms Drop. 

Fridthjof Film just turned 15 this year, but we have never been in the red. Our strength is our flexibility and ability to adjust to changes. Five years ago we sensed that the market was changing, that there was a need for TV dramas targeting younger audiences, and came up with the idea of Heartless.

So you’ve moved away from documentary that was your core production output with feature film, despite outstanding successes with films such as Armadillo or Mercy, Mercy…
RF: What I’ve experienced over the past few years is that the market is more and more nervous and it’s harder to get basic financing for documentary films or debut feature films. Therefore we’ve decided not to have a fully-fledged documentary department, which doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to make documentaries. In a sense we’ll go back to basics, which is producing different things and keeping a balance between what we feel interesting and what makes sense financially. The balance is essential today to survive.

How is your company structured today and who is the core team of people working with you?
RF: Initially Fridthjof Film was a post-production company but we gradually expanded into other areas of production. Today, we are multiple companies - post-production, production, and an equipment company. We also co-own a sound company, as well as Radiator Film in Århus. In total our full time staff counts around 50 people and when we’re in the middle of production numbers can climb up to 200 people. 

Miriam Nørgaard who produced the documentaries Mercy, Mercy and The Arms Drop is one of our key in-house producers. She is currently working on a feature project based on Christian Jungersen’s best-selling novel Undtagelsen (The Exception). Then our junior producer Riina Spørring Zachariassen is developing a documentary about Björn Borg and John McEnroe, while junior producer Mille Bjørke is producing the next five episodes of Heartless.

Heartless was a real bet for you and the first Danish TV drama backed by SBS Discovery/Kanal5. Are you satisfied with the viewing numbers?
RF: I’m very happy. Kanal5 is a smaller channel in Denmark, and when I compare the numbers of Heartless with other TV dramas for younger audiences on similar size stations like TV2 Zulu and DR2, then Heartless’ commercial share exceed those. If you look at the share for the target age group of 15-25, we have between 20-25% of all viewers which is actually pretty good.

In Norway, NRK premiered it directly online in May. During the first week, Heartless had 100,000 clicks and was the third most viewed show, again, a very good result for a programme launched without major marketing push. These ratings show that we’ve found a niche in the market, the missing link of quality TV drama aimed at the younger group.
Internationally, Heartless was also pre-sold to more than 40 countries. We’re now producing another five episodes which means that we’ll have a full Season one that should be all the more attractive to foreign buyers. 

What projects do you have on the feature film side?
RF: We have received the green-light from the DFI and TV2 for the development of Rasmus Heide’s All for Three, the sequel to his 2011 and 2013 hits. It’s written again by Mick Øgendahl. Then we’re working on a WW1 film written by Ib Kastrup (Hvidsten Gruppen/This Life), based on a true story. It’s about a young man living in the south western part of Denmark that was at the time part of Germany. He is forced to fight for Germany although he has Danish sympathies and doesn’t feel German. When his best friends die alongside him on the battlefield he decides to desert and lives in hiding, protected by his family.

Is it going to be a major European co-production?
RF: No because although we will shoot the first battle, most of the film will be shot in a smaller local town. Just like Life of Others, it will be a major drama filmed in a confined space. We’re in early stage of production and still deciding on the right director.

In its proposal for the new Film Agreement, the DFI says that Danish producers should get greater freedom in the financing phase of their projects to create new business models. What is your vision to help the Danish industry adapt to the changing market?
RF: So far our films have been offered on digital platforms for a low rental price. That makes no sense for us, content creators. However, starting this summer, YouSee, the Danish telco giant is going to introduce Electronic Sell Through (EST). It will be like iTunes movies that you can only buy and not rent when it premieres. I believe this solution will be a game changer as it will enable us to find a business model replacement to DVD.

But until the market stabilizes, we will need support from the state. If in the next Film Agreement politicians do not offer a solution to our problems, then within the next 2-4 years, 20 to 30 per cent of the film companies will have closed or merged and a lot of films will crash or simply won’t be produced.

How do you see Fridthjof Film in five years?
RF: I hope that our change in strategy and focus on fiction films and TV series, drama and comedy will pay off and that we’ll do twice as many productions.