Sixteen international projects were pitched yesterday at Lille’s Series Mania Forum including Fortress from Norway and Ride Out from Finland.

After a full day of pitching to hundreds of delegates at Lille Grand Palais’ conference centre, the jury of the Co-Pro Pitch Award consisting of Meghan Lyvers (CBS Studios), Nathalie Biancolli (France Télévisions), Anna Croneman (SVT), Caroline Torrance (Banijay Rights) and Christian Vesper(Fremantle) handed out the attractive €50,000 development award to the French creators of the drama Purple, set in a 90’s Paris lesbian nightclub.

“While all of the pitches were of very high quality this year, we were impressed with ‘Purple’s’ key themes of empowerment and optimism,” said the jury’ statement.  The Scandi series The Fortress, produced by Maipo Film for Viaplay, and Ride Out produced by Funfar Films for Yle were pitched by their respective producers and creators. 

The 8-part dystopian thriller The Fortress tells of an isolationist Norway, cut from the external world by a wall, and suddenly forced to cooperate with foreign organisations when a deadly epidemic threatens the nation. John Kåre Raake (The Wave) and Linn-Jeanethe Kyed (Home Ground) are writers/creators.  

Ride Out (6x50’) written by Sami Keski-Vähälä is set in the world of motorcycle Grand Prix road racing. The series features a duel between an underdog challenger and an unbeatable champion in the early 70s. 

Series Mania managing director Laurence Herszberg said her selection team was ‘extremely impressed ‘with the quality of the 399 drama projects from 41 countries submitted this year. “We all know how difficult it is to finance the beginning of a project and this is why Series Mania created this €50,000 prize to help the creators finance and develop their ideas,” she said.