Five Nordic film school graduates will get their first series fully-financed by Viaplay, through the streamer’s new initiative to promote Nordic storytelling and talents.

Still in its pilot phase, the Viaplay Original Talent Awards will allow each year, selected projects from Nordic film school graduates, to reach global viewers via the fast-expanding Nordic streaming service.

The pan-Scandinavian initiative is run by Nent Group executive producers Isabelle Hulten in Sweden, Anne Borggaard Sørensen in Denmark and Kari Moen Kristiansen in Norway, together with project managers in each of the three Nordic countries.

Nordic film schools associated to the initiative include the National Film School of Denmark and Super16 film school in Denmark, Westerdals film school in Norway, and the Stockholm University of the Arts and Göteborg’s HDK Valand in Sweden.

One of the initiators of the Talent Awards, Nent Group’s executive producer Isabelle Hulten explained to nordicfilmandtvnews.com how the programme came about: “The idea was born a year and a half ago, but we started to reach out to the film schools a year ago, asking them for their input. We agreed that the best was to give the students in their final year, a specific brief. They had a full summer to send their pitch at the end of August, then we had a selection process. Many of the excellent projects that we received were invited to a pitch session where the talents presented their projects to us and their local production company, then one winner was picked from each country.”

According to Hulten, the criteria to submit a project are the following, but they might evolve as the project is in a pilot stage:

  • Only talents - essentially writers and directors - from the partner film schools can apply, with a fiction film project or series project.
  • Rising talents must not have previously released a project to a wide audience, outside their works at their respective film schools.
  • Projects can be in any genre, with lengths ranging from 15 to 60 minutes.

For the moment, only talents from Denmark, Sweden and Norway can participate, but the scheme might extend to the rest of the Nordics, and even to Viaplay’s other territories. “This is the first step; we will see how we go and we’ll eventually widen to other countries,” said Hulten.

Only one round of application is organised each year, and the projects are then selected by a committee consisting of Viaplay’s executive producers in charge of the programme, local production companies and Viaplay Equality and Diversity representatives.

    Once selected, the projects immediately enter development stage as Viaplay Originals and get full financial support from the Nordic streaming group.

    “We offer talents a unique opportunity to work with the best production companies in the Nordics, as well as access to some of the most established writers, directors, producers, who can provide all the support that they need. Talents also get their names published and there is a financial compensation, in line with what is expected,” said Hulten.

    For her, the goal is not only to get ahead of the game and snap up the best Nordics talents as early as possible, but also to give a chance to new voices, importantly also from diversity backgrounds. “It is tough nowadays to find good talent, across the whole industry, but at the same time, it’s hard for newcomers to break through the noise and be taken seriously. Basically, we will help them help us. The aim is to find stories that otherwise wouldn’t have been made. We try to support diverse stories from the Nordics, across genres, based on great Nordic storytelling,” she adds.

    The following three projects were the first winners of the Viaplay Original Talent Awards:

    • One of the Boys (En af drengene) - Denmark
      Romantic drama by Super16 film graduates Teys Schucany and Frederik Rye Nielsen. Apple Tree Production’s Rikke Rolver Elk and Mathias Bruunshøj Jakobsen are producing, with Piv Bernth serving as executive producer.

      Logline: the series takes place in a small town where boys traditionally go on a ‘men’s trip’ before starting high school. Socially awkward Lau must prove he’s a real man, while struggling with his attraction to another boy.
    • Crowded (Trengsel) - Norway
      Black comedy series, created by Westerdals’ graduates Kristian Kilde and Nora Landsrød. Nordisk Film Production Norway’s Caroline Hitland and Øyvind Eriksen are producing; Sveinung Golimo is executive producer.

      Logline: Set in a not-too-distant future, Crowded follows a group of young people attempting to navigate Oslo’s overheated housing market.
    • No Angel (Ingen ängel) - Sweden
      Satirical horror series, created by Stockholm University of the Arts graduate EliSophie Andrée, with Isabelle Mreno as creative lead. The project is produced by the Nordic Talents Pitch Prize co-winner 2021 Hawa Sanneh for Viaplay Studios, with Alexander Tanno serving as executive producer.

      Logline: Angelica parties, smokes and sleeps around like many 17-year-olds. There’s just one difference: she’s also a serial killer.