Exclusive - Anagram Sweden starts shooting Thin Blue Line 3 - wraps Disney+’s To Cook a Bear

The Newen-controlled production house boasts one of its strongest drama slates ever from A-list writers including Jens Jonsson, Erik Ahrnbom, Jesper Harrie and Cilla Jackert.

Since the French integrated group Newen Studios took a majority-stake in Anagram, just over a year ago, the Scandinavian production outfit has been sticking to what they are good at - delivering high quality scripted content with an edge. “We’re continuing to do what we’ve been doing - create narratives with different shades of dark, emotions and some laughter,” said Anagram Sweden’s long-time producer Martin Persson who believes being based in southern Sweden - Malmö and Lund, brings a unique point of view, reflected in their content.

“We strive to have a humanistic approach to storytelling, with a humorous undertone,” adds producer and Anagram Sweden managing director Miira Paasilinna.

While the company used to rely on two legs - feature films and series, the tough financing environment for films, especially in Sweden, has made Anagram readjust and bet - for now - entirely on drama series, although even there, the market is extremely volatile. “We are extremely busy and work with everyone - TV4, SVT, Disney+ these days, but we don’t know how tomorrow will look like. Things happen so fast,” notes Paasilinna. “In the meantime, we keep delivering original content and don’t follow trends,” says Persson.

Obviously, being part of Newen and its built-in network of 50 labels, brings in advantages, as underscored by Paasilinna. “Firstly, it’s easy for us to tap into our sister companies for co-production, and we’re currently developing content with some of them. Secondly, we can exchange knowledge and thirdly, it gives us a nice financing cushion, although we already have a solid ownership structure. For instance, we can self-finance and self-develop projects a bit longer than before", explains Paasilinna.

Content-wise, after the heart-warm dramedy Keep it Together (Hålla samman) about a family dealing with the patriarch’s Alzheimer illness, which opened on SVT Play October 27,
the spy-thriller The Doctrine ordered by TV4 (see our story - Newen Connect handles TV4/Anagram Sweden’s spy-thriller The Doctrine), is now in post-production.

“It’s a very topical espionage series based on Magnus Montelius’ novel ‘Eight Months’, about Russia interfering with Swedish politics. And its female skewed storyline [with Josefin Neldén playing an investigative journalist], lighter tone and humour, should make it stand out on the market,” Persson says.

The Doctrine is the first Anagram project picked up for international distribution by Newen Connect.

Meanwhile Disney+’s very first Nordic Original, the six-part period drama To Cook a Bear, based on Mikael Niemi’s award-winning novel, has just locked its shoot, which covered 25 different locations in Northern Sweden and Southern Finland, including remote national parks and museums.

The US streamer just released the first stills from the shoot.

The stellar Scandinavian creative team includes writer Jesper Harrie (The Bonus Family, Solsidan), concept director Trygve Allister Diesen (Wisting, The Third Eye), actors Gustav Skarsgård, Emil Kárlsen, Ane Dahl Torp, Tyra Wingren, Magnus Krepper, Pernilla August, Simon J. Berger and Jonas Karlsson among others.

Anagram Sweden has also just started filming October 30 the third season of SVT’s successful Malmö-set realistic crime drama Thin Blue Line (Tunna Blå Linjen) created by head-writer Cilla Jackert.

Swedish directors Jimmy Olsson, Olof Spaak (Gåsmamman, Heder) and Finland’s Saara Cantell (FAST, Devil’s Bride) will each oversee two episodes.

The three police officers Magnus (Oscar Töringe), Sara (Amanda Jansson) and Jesse (Per Lasson) are back in a new mission to fight drug trafficking, while struggling to balance their demanding jobs with their private lives. The series is co-produced by SVT, Film i Skåne, Helsinki filmi in Finland, in collaboration with NRK, DR, RÚV and Yle. ITV handles global sales.

The first two seasons were both a huge critical and commercial successes, with more than 1 million viewers on SVT, and the show was sold to numerous territories such as Germany, France, Benelux, the UK, and the US, according to in-house producer Erik Magnusson.

Elsewhere, Anagram Sweden is actively involved in several co-productions.

Besides the Spanish series This is Not Sweden, which just won a Prix Europa for best European series, the company has partnered Final Cut for Real on Joshua Oppenheimer’s anticipated musical drama The End starring Tilda Swinton, and the documentary A Silent Story by Anders Skovbjerg Jepsen.