You’ve been Head of Drama for TV4 since 2015 and for both TV4 and C More since 2017. How have you experienced the change in the Swedish drama landscape?
Josefine Tengblad: The change has been dramatic. When I started, drama was important. Now it’s a must, a way to survive. TV4 had been delivering very successful TV dramas for more than a decade, in the crime genre (Beck, Wallander, Maria Wern, Johan Falk) and especially with cult comedies such as Solsidan. When I was appointed Head of Drama, I had the opportunity to develop a new slate, away from the 90’ formats and into long running shows, and to build a new team. Modus was the very first long-runner that I commissioned.

How is your drama department structured today?
JT: Last year Bonnier Broadcasting merged its flagship channel TV4 with C More which has become the fastest growing SVOD player in Sweden. All executives within the group work for both brands, including our drama department. I work closely with Ulf Synnerholm [formerly at Filmlance International] senior executive producer who supervises our other execs as soon as we’ve entered a project. Then Elin Kvist, is Development Executive, in charge of intakes. Other TV drama production executives include Lisa Dahlberg and Niva Westlin Dalhl. Suzanne Glansborg is Executive Producer, in charge of Feature Film.

The first C More Original - Colin Nutley’s Missing - was launched in 2017. How do you programme your ‘Originals’ across your platforms?
JT: Our ‘Originals’ premiere first on C More and a couple of months later on TV4, in this case six months. We also have a few projects that will premiere this year on C More and will have a shorter window before airing on TV4. It’s been a good strategy so far.

Typically at what stage do you come in?
JT: We try to jump in really early, but we can come in at any stage. Ideally, we ask creators/producers to come to us with strong ideas, a package that sets the financial frame for the project. We want to be a close and strong partner to the producers and creators, and share responsibilities with them.

Has your drama budget increased significantly in recent years?
JT: Our drama budget has increased by more than 100% since 2015, and for 2020 we have a bigger budget than for 2019, so we continue to invest heavily in film and TV drama.

What is your feature film strategy?
JT: Susanne Glansborg that I hired a year ago is the best film person ever. She has brought to us an amazing range of projects, from wide-audience for TV4 to arthouse films for C More. We invest in the projects that are the most suitable for our brands, with no set number of titles a year.

On average how many TV dramas do you commission each year?
JT: We co-produce a dozen TV dramas a year for TV4 and C More, but the quality is much more important than the quantity. It’s been challenging to go from a handful of projects to a big slate, with stretching budgets, and to keep up with the quality. But so far we’ve been successful and I’m proud of the variety of projects on our slate.

You seem to be moving away from comedy and crime, that were the two pillars for drama on TV4 and C More…
JT: Crime and comedy are still very important and shows such as Beck are long-time favourites. The brand is one of our biggest successes of all time, appealing both to new and existing subscribers. But now, we’re also looking at the uniqueness of a project, and venturing into core drama, documentary, any genre. We are looking for engaging topics that people can relate to. This is why the new version of Beck, with a female twist, brings a fresh breeze to the ‘who dunnit’.

Are you trying to tap into the younger viewers as well?
JT: We’ve commissioned the 8x30’ series Små staden (‘The Small town’), produced by FLX. The comedy stars the popular Swedish Youtubers ‘I JustWantToBeCool’. That was the first time a major Youtube group was entering the linear world and we had a 31.7% share when the show premiered late August. We also had a major success among younger audiences with Syrror [Swedish remake of the Finnish show Nurse], as well as with Modus season 1. But we won’t order C More specific series as we’re looking at shows for the widest possible audience that work both on C More and TV4.

What new collaborations have you initiated with other broadcasters?
JT: The 50/50 collaboration with TV2 Denmark on the thriller series Greyzone was totally new. It was a similar strategy that DR and SVT had with Bron [The Bridge]. It’s been an amazing and successful collaboration. We also had a great success with Gåsmamman, co-produced by Kanal 5. Outside the Nordics, we continue to work closely on TV drama with ZDF, and have initiated new partnerships with Studiocanal, TeleMünchen Gruppe. These are exciting times!

On the feature film side, we have projects where C More collaborates with SVT. We also get a lot of projects from Viaplay who wants a channel partner. We are open to any collaboration as long as it can give us great content.

How do you nurture talent?
JT: This is crucial, both regarding people in front and behind the camera. We’ve been very good as well at finding female director and helping them gain experience. For instance, Lisa Siwe directed a few episodes of Bron and was then concept director on our show Modus. The Norwegian actor Jacob Oftebro hasn’t appeared much in Swedish TV dramas and now he has the title role in our upcoming show Agent Hamilton. We feel confident Jacob will bring added-value to the show. The same goes with Ardalan Esmaili [The Charmer] who has landed a major role in Greyzone.

How do you deal with the increased competition for high end drama?
JT: It is more difficult today as we are nearing peak TV, but the competition makes us all better. That said, we are the biggest Swedish channel regarding our 15-64 target age group, we’re also the only players with an on-demand platform on top of a major linear channel.

What major TV dramas are lined-up for 2018-2019?
JT: Among the new shows, we have The Hunters [Harmonica Films/SF Studios] TV spin-off of the film hit starring Rolf Lassgård, Felix Herngren’s comedy Sjölyckan [FLX], and three premium series based on books: the thriller The Conductor from St Petersburg [Spark Film & TV), the spy thriller Agent Hamilton [Drama Corp], and the financial thriller Blinded [FLX]. We also have new seasons of Beck, Sandhamn Murders [Filmlance] and Maria Wern [Warner Bros].