Eccho Rights/Yle’s Bucharest Baby among six Finnish 'Series to Watch Out For'

The 6x50’ thriller in development Bucharest Baby, is being produced by Suvi Salokoski for Warner Bros Int’l Television Production (Man in Room 301).

The all-female writing team includes Laura Immonen (The Happy Hour of the Wolf), Hanna Leivonniemi (Syke, Secret Lives), and Vera Ion (One Step Ahead).

During their pitch in Cannes, Suvi Salokoski and Warner Bros ITVP Finland’s Head of Scripted Miira Karhula said the series is loosely based on a true hacking scandal in Finland, whereby a hacker tried to extort money from patients after a data breach of their personal data at a health centre. “The writers of Bucharest Baby started to ask: what if there was another motive, more personal behind the crime?” said the WB ITVP executives.

Set in the cut throat world of technology start-ups, the show centres on the married couple Hanna (38), Jere (40) who find out that their friend Silvio (40) - and Hanna’s former lover - whom they thought was dead in a Romanian prison, is still very much alive. When a cyber-attack is committed against a health application that they’ve created, they become the prime suspects. The trio sets on a mission to find out who the hacker is.

Karhula and Salokoski said they are looking for pre-sales and other financiers “to elevate the production value”. Delivery is set for 2024.

The five other projects in development pitched at Focus in Finland are the following.

• Sunset Grove (8x24’)
  Comedy thriller produced by Severi Koivuslo, Roosa Toivonen, Petri Kemppinen (Aurora Studios) and Roope Lehtinen (Fire Monkey) for Elisa Viihde.
  
  The series pinned as ‘Miss Marple meets The Golden Girls', is written by Mikko Pöllä (White Wall, Black Widows), based on Minna Lindgren’s best-selling ‘Sunset Grove’ trilogy books, sold to more than 10 territories. Three old ladies start to look into strange incidents happening at their Sunset Grove retirement home.

• Guts (8x52’)
  Sports drama thriller produced by Solar Republic’s Samuli Norhomaa and Johanna Tarvainen for Yle, in co-production with Slovenia’s Staragara Production. Co-writers are Jemina Jokisalo, Daniela Hakulinen, Tua Harno and Fanni Mikkonen.
  
  “Set in the world of elite athletes in cross country skiing, the series deals with perseverance, envy, guts and what it takes to be the best”, said creator/head-writer Jokisalo, head of drama at Solar Republic.
  
  An eternal underdog in cross-country skiing, Anna gets a chance to become a world champion. She is willing to do almost anything to win and to beat her nemesis-the natural born skiing sensation Maria.
• Tipping Point (6x50’)
  Eco-thriller produced by Finland’s ReelMedia and Norway’s Maipo Film.
  Third Nordic drama penned by seasoned northern-Irish Brendan Foley after Cold Courage and The Man Who Died.
  
  The ‘Casablanca on Ice’ set in Svalbard, combines climate change, espionage, military subversion as a backdrop to a family drama,” said Foley.
  
  The young eco-activist Anna is at war with her oil executive father, until he is murdered and she discovers he wasn’t the man she thought. She gathers his few friends to Svalbard, the Arctic Cold War and climate change hotspot, chasing an elusive piece of stolen software that could heal or destroy the world.
• The Wolfpack (6x60’)
  True crime, action drama produced by Solar Republic’s Samuli Norhomaa and Johanna Tarvainen for Elisa Viihde.
  
  The show co-written by Antti Pesonen (Bordertown, Bullets) and Samuel Korkhope is described as ‘Snabba Cash meets Ocean's Eleven. It is inspired by the true story of a group of young Finnish criminals in the early 90s, who formed one of Scandinavia’s most notorious heist crews.
  
  When his criminal father dies, Matti who lives in a rough neighbourhood connects with a group of gangsters - the Wolf Pack. Together they go from petty crimes to spectacular cash in transit (CIT) robberies and become notorious for their heists across Europe. But can Matti break the cycle of crime, drugs and hard partying, or is he doomed to end up like his father?
• Flip, Flap and Zip, animation series (52x7’)
  Produced by Nick Dorra for Finland’s Haruworks, in association with BBC-Kids & Family, handling sales.
  
  The series created by Maija Arponen tells of three friends who go on adventures by uncovering their world, one flap at a time. They can unzip a tree, enter and meet an owl, lift a flap in a field of wheat and find a sleep hedgehog. Haruworks CEO Dorra is looking for co-producers and broadcasters.