WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
Mipcom - On Monday industry delegates at the Focus on Finland were enthused by the pitching of six engaging new series and prolongation of the Finnish filming incentives in 2024.
The news was announced on stage by moderator and Nordisk Film head of international financing and co-production Marike Muselaers.
The Finnish audiovisual industry had feared that the popular 25% cash rebate for production spend in Finland available to local and international productions would be scrapped by the Finnish right-wing government in its 2024 budget.
But on October 16, Business Finland which administers the funds issued the following statement: “Finland’s audiovisual production incentive for 2024 has been confirmed within the framework of the state budget proposal by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The production incentive’s budget is approximatively €10 million, and the online funding service will be opening January 2, 2024.”
“This is fantastic news,” said Laura Kuulasmaa, executive director of Audiovisual Producers Finland (APFI), who explained that the full AV incentive funding for 2024 will be estimated at approximately €20 million. The sum will comprise €10 million of reallocated internal funds already confirmed by Business Finland, and the proposed €10 million from the government as part of its additional budget for 2024. "This will bring the AV incentive pot for 2024 very much on par with the 2022 funding. Now we hope that there will be increased knowledge among decision makers, so that the budget for incentives won’t stay as a funding allocated each year, but a rolling funding allowing producers better predictability in the financing of their projects," said Kuulasmaa.
According to Business Finland, the €20m of AV incentives allocated in 2022 to 29 productions created domestic investments worth €80 million, most of it from foreign coin.
Among the upcoming six Finnish series showcased at Monday’s Focus on Finland, Fire Monkey’s suspense thriller Seconds had already secured funding from Finland’s 25% cash rebates, and other shows looked like solid contenders considering their promising narratives, talents attached and strong international potential.
The Crashing pitched in Cannes by Bufo’s producer and head of content development Minna Panjanen had already garnered interest at the last Finnish Film Affair showcase in September - see our story - Exclusive: Yle boards Bufo’s The Crashing, one of five series to be pitched at Finnish Film Affair.
The 6x50 drama with crime elements written and directed by rising talent Anna ÄÄrelä has been ordered by Yle. Bufo’s reps said their goal is to raise €4m for the show and to go into production in 2025.
Hildur (6x45’) pitched by Take Two Studios producer Eero Hietala is pinned as a Nordic blue crime drama, adapted for the screen by Matti Laine (The Paradise, Bordertown) from the best-selling eponymous novel from author Satu Rämö.
In the series set in the north-west of Iceland, we follow surfing detective Hildur Runarsdóttir who fights against time to confront a serial killer while unravelling the mystery of her long-lost sisters. She teams up with a Finnish trainee officer who is looking for a fresh start in Iceland.
The series budgeted at €1m per episode, has been commissioned by Nelonen Media as a Ruutu Original. Iceland’s Sagafilm and Germany’s Story House are co-producing. The estimated delivery is set for the fall 2024.
True North (6x45’) is a drama thriller set in Marbella, produced by Jamedia Production for Yle, in co-production with Spain’s The Aurora Project. The writers’ room comprises Anna Blom, Kajsa Törnroth, Antonio Moreno and Kaisa el Ramly. Blom is due to direct alongside Chuz Gutiérrez and Horacio Alcalá.
The former Nordic Talents winner Kaisa el Ramly told us: True North is a fiction aiming to stay true to the horrors taking place between the refugees fleeing into Europe, and the rich living in a dream bubble and managing to turn a blind eye to reality. But mainly it is a story about three women ending up together due to a tragic accident: Two Finnish-Swedes, the sisters Isabelle and Amanda, who struggle with their catering business and personal lives, and Layla, an Egyptian woman who by fleeing Egypt ends up in a nightmare whilst pursuing her dream of a better life for herself and her daughter.”
The series in development is scheduled for delivery in 2026.
Isolated (Utö) is a 8x45’ survival mystery thriller set in the remote island of Utö. Lassi Vierikko, Petja Lähde have written the show with script doctor Tatjana Elf. Teppo Airaksinen (Cannes special distinction short film winner with The Ceiling) is directing with Rane Tiukkanen and Johannes Salonen.
A mysterious island is cut off from the world, and it’s only a matter of time before primal urges take over and the local community starts to fall apart. The show produced by Lucy Loves Drama is commissioned by Nelonen Media. Germany’s OneGate Media handles sales.
The estimated delivery is early 2024.
In a totally different tone, the feel-good comedy Lay Low and Don’t Be Fabulous (10x30’) was pinned by seasoned producer Hanna Hemilä (Le Havre) as ‘Legally Blonde meets Emily in Paris’. Writer/producer Beata Harju who studied screenwriting at L.A.’s American Film Institute and lived in New York, said she drew from her experience of coming back to Helsinki after a few years abroad.
The fish-out-of-water comedy follows Finnish New Yorker and dancer Vera Kivi (24) who moves back to Finland after an injury that forces her to change her lifestyle and projects. She hopes to win back her ex-boyfriend while feeling an outsider in her homeland.
The joyful comedy in development is produced by Hemilä and Harju for Handle Productions.
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