Grande finale for NFTVF’s Nordic Script as new lab for commissioners awaits

Last week, the 2024/2025 round of Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s (NFTVF) script lab Nordic Script had its third and final edition in Helsinki. During three packed days, hosted by the City of Helsinki, the participants had the opportunity to refine their projects, take part in a hands-on workshop led by Beau Willimon (House of Cards, Andor) as well as participate in the Finnish Writers Guild’s industry event Script Summit.

The days in Helsinki also marked the grande finale of Nordic Script's three-year history. At least so far, according to NFTVF’s CEO Liselott Forsman. The three year-long residential workshops of four days each have been organised by Nordisk Film & TV Fond in collaboration with Jan Strande Ødegårdstuen / NRK and Oslo Seriedagene, Cia Edström / Göteborg Film Festival, and Taina Seitsara / The City of Helsinki.

“We are really happy about this collaboration and the outcome of Nordic Script. The response from all feedback surveys and discussions has always been overwhelmingly positive. It has been extremly rewarding to each year follow how fast writers from the five Nordic countries have formed pan-Nordic communites, and to hear how inspiring and useful the mentoring and dialogues have been. We have also got good inspiration for our upcoming initiative.” Forsman says.

In the fall of 2025, Nordisk Film & TV Fond will introduce a new initiative targeting Nordic commissioners. But before looking too far ahead, let’s reflect on Nordic Script.

Launched in 2022, Nordic Script was created to strengthen screenwriting talent across the Nordic region with guidance from the programme’s mentors: Maria Clauss (Sweden), Margrete Soug Kåset (Norway), Adam August and Anton Breum (Denmark).

The opportunity to connect with writers from across the Nordics is something Senior Mentor Margrete Soug Kåset says has been highly appreciated among the participants.

“All three years and in all three groups, everybody was so happy to have this group of people from other countries. It was important in the way that they wouldn't arrive biased about anyone, since they probably hadn’t heard about each other before. When we got together and talked about ourselves and our stories, it became a really safe space.”

Danish filmmaker Puk Grasten has been one of this year’s participants, selected for her period drama WILL. She is a graduate of The International Film School of Paris and NYU Tisch Grad Film, and her latest feature There’s No Place Like Home (Den, Der Lever Stille, 2023) has been showcased at various international film festivals. Grasten, who’s always looked for international settings, says she really “fed” on the pan-Nordic environment in Nordic Script.

“It’s limiting to get feedback only from someone with the same background as you, because your ideas and notes are mostly based on the same references and culture. If I had developed my script WILL only in Denmark, I wouldn’t have come this far with it.”

She adds: “We are so alike in the Nordic countries, but so different at the same time. It’s interesting – we live close to each other and could learn so much from one another, but we don’t take advantage of that enough.”

The Swedish producer Carla Mantilla participated in this year’s Nordic Script as a story editor. She highlights two clear benefits of working in a pan-Nordic group when developing scripts.

“We bring different points of views, even though we're all from the Nordics. Some things are obvious to some of us and not to others. This diversity pushes us to ask questions that expand the perspective – which is fantastic! Another great aspect is that we're not colleagues from the same market or country. That changes the dynamic – there’s less competition, and less urge to impress one another. It creates a space without prestige, where it's okay to make mistakes. The writer’s room became very open and free because of that.”

Posing questions instead of solutions is one of the learnings she’s applying in her work at home.

“I took notes on the lessons from each session, and when I got back home, I started trying them out in the writers’ rooms. For example, I began asking questions instead of offering ideas, focused on creating a comfortable environment where the creative head thrives, and made an effort to evaluate material based on its current stage rather than getting caught up in the details too early. But it’s easier said than done, hehe,” Mantilla says.

The Finnish writer-director Ilja Rautsi, one of the first Nordic Script participants in 2022/2023, recalls the unusual level of openness and vulnerability in the writing room.

“Usually you get to know people slowly and in stages. First superficially, and then you go deep. Nordic Script is the total opposite of it. It’s like ‘Here is the darkest shame of my life, but okay, now let's chat’. It feels like you're meeting someone for the first time, and you're naked and covered in shit, and you're asking them to scrape the shit off you to see if there's something worthwhile underneath.”

Best known for his work in the horror genre, having both written and directed the short film Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre (2018) and penned the script for Hatching (Pahanhautoja, 2022), Ilja Rautsi says Nordic Script introduced him to series development. He’s currently developing a psychological thriller series, while his feature Red Snow heads into pre-production this fall. He has also co-written the animated film Fleak, which premieres this week in Annecy.

For Rautsi, the idea of Nordic collaboration started to make sense after working closely with people from across the region.

“If you have a good experience of script development, then you want to apply it to other scripts. The idea of cross-Nordic collaboration is also kind of vague until you meet the right people.”

Puk Grasten, reflecting further on her experience, says Nordic Script not only taught her how to work in a writers' room – but also to dare challenge creative boundaries.

“I like this whole writers’ room concept. I think it’s good to be more open with your project and to let people in. If I could do it again, I would! But I’ll take the spirit with me – the ideas and the mindset we created in the writers’ room: The sky’s the limit! Don’t box yourself in by thinking ‘Oh, there’s only this way of telling a story, and this kind of genre’. Look in other directions, look differently! Hold on to that imaginary ‘what if?’, and push the story to the ultimate extreme!”

CLICK HERE to read about all the Nordic Script projects and participants. The page will be updated as the projects develop.