DR Drama Launches new strategy

Since he took over the helm of DR Drama in February 2018, Rank has had to tackle challenges both internally with 20% overall cuts at DR, and externally with changing drama consuming habits and a boom in scandi and international drama series.

During his Friday speech where he announced his strategy and vision to 300+ film and TV drama professionals, Rank said his goal is to ‘deliver original and relevant stories to the whole of Denmark”.

DR Drama’s future output will focus on two areas:

• Event prime time quality series like Borgen, Ride Upon the Storm, Follow the Money, that will tell engaging, relevant, emotional, original and daring stories. Two major TV dramas a year will be produced for DR’s existing Sunday 20.00 DR1 slot and the online platform DRTV. 
• Lower budget more specialised dramas aimed at children and youth. The goal is to produce 4-5 series for young people as well as 4-5 series for kids aged 9-14, and for DR’s youth drama output to drive the online viewership on DR’s streaming platform. The youth series Doggystyle created for DR3 has already set a record on dr.tv as the biggest streamed local series ever. Going ahead, all youth drama which used to be produced separately for the channels DR3 (15-39 years old) and DR Ultra (7-12 years old) will now be regrouped under the DR Drama umbrella.

Rank said: “At a time of enormous supply of TV series from large, international players, it is more important for us than ever before, that DR manages to deliver original, local quality drama that stands out from the rest of the offering.”
“DR drama series must, in an entertaining way, tell relevant stories and treat themes related to our Danish society, democracy and culture. This ambition applies both to our large Sunday series, but also to the smaller and more specialised formats, which we also believe are important to ensure continuous development and renewal of both form and content.” 

Next to DR’s own series, DR Drama will prioritise Nordics quality shows. “In addition to DR’s own drama series, there is a common ambition among the Nordic public service broadcasters to find large, common, Nordic stories that can hit an audience throughout Scandinavia,” said DR’s top executive, referring to the Nordic 12 initiative launched by DR, SVT, NRK, Yle, RÚV a year ago.

DR drama’s 2019-2020 slate includes three premium dramas: 

• Deliver Us (Fred til lands) Fall 2019 premiere.  The 8x60’ psycho thriller is created by Rita’s co-writers Christian Torpe and Marie Østerbye for Motor. Louise Friedberg directs. The series follows a group of people in a small Danish town who agree to plan the perfect murder of the local psycho, only to realise that once you start playing God, there are devilish ramifications. Dynamic Television handles world distribution. 
  
  
• When the Dust Settles (Når støvet har lagt sig) January 2020 premiere The 10x58’ multi-plot drama is written by Ida Maria Rydén and Dorte Høgh for DR Drama. Milad Alami directs. The drama portrays the lives of eight Copenhagen citizens, the day before and after a tragic terrorist attack shocks the city. DR Sales handles world distribution.
  
  
• A Family Matter (En familiesag) The 8x45’ series is written by Maja Jul Larsen (The Legacy) for DR Drama. Acclaimed director Pernille Fischer Christensen makes her TV drama debut. The story focuses on a family, torn apart by allegations of domestic violence from the 14-year old daughter. Filming starts in May.

Upcoming youth-oriented series include Doggystyle season 2 and BaseBoys season 3.