HBO Nordic hires Christopher Haug, readies HBO Max rollout

At Wednesday's TV Drama Vision event in Göteborg, Christian Wikander, HBO Nordic Commissioning Editor and VP Original Programming and Antony Root, HBO’s EVP Original Programming and Production Europe unveiled their commissioning strategy, as HBO Max readies its rollout in the Nordic region this summer.

One of Wikander’s first moves since joining HBO Europe in September has been to recruit two drama executives in Norway to extend the US streaming service’s presence across the Nordics.

Christopher Haug, will be joining HBO in April from his current position as Head of Drama at TV2 Norway. His new title at HBO Nordic is Head of Drama Series, Development. Haug who will be based in Oslo said: “After running TV 2's drama department for 10 years, it is of course sad to leave my good and talented colleagues. It has been a wonderful time working on great drama. New challenges now lie ahead, to take part in the development of HBO's original productions in the Nordic region. I feel that I have joined the world's best supplier of TV series and approach the task with humility and pride.”

Hege Skjerven Clausen, producer of NRK’s successful show Exit and the comedy Aldri Voksen among others, will take on the position of in-house producer, Original Programming at HBO Nordic, starting in March from her Oslo base.

Wikander said: “It is fantastic that Christopher Haug and Hege Skjerven Clausen are joining us. It is a natural step for HBO Nordic to widen its footprint in the region. I’m convinced that the more we spread our competence and presence, the better it is for the content that we develop. “

Explaining HBO Nordic’s overall commissioning strategy to TV Drama Vision’s delegates on Wednesday, Wikander said his plan is to order 4-5 scripted series a year, whatever the genre, as long is the projects have “a new take, a unique artistic perspective”. “As always, we’re open to all genres for our curated service and looking at our current slate, I would say that there is also room for crime and suspense,” he stressed.

Wikander also announced that as part of HBO’s upgrading of its existing direct to consumer services and ramping up of programming with HBO Max, he will be looking for non-scripted-mostly documentaries and reality shows, next to scripted.

“HBO Max will not be an identikit to HBO. It is meant to be a broader service,” said Root, mentioning as well the platform’s ambition to expand into 190 countries, offering local originals a chance to reach an even larger worldwide audience.

In Scandinavia, HBO Nordic offers a premium SVOD service to consumers and through operator partners in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

So far, original Nordic series that have premiered include Sweden’s Gösta, Beartown and Norway’s Beforeigners. A second season of the hit sci-fi/fantasy produced by Rubicon TV, is currently filming in Norway, with new cast members including Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones), Ann Akin (I May Destroy You), Billy Postlethwaite (1917), Philip Rosch (The Alienist), Hedda Stiernstedt (The Restaurant), joining the two leads Nicolai Cleve Broch and Krista Kosonen.

Upcoming shows include Denmark’s Kamikaze, produced by Profile Pictures, and Welcome to Utmark (Paradox) for which writer Kim Fupz Aakeson was nominated for this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize-Best Nordic TV Drama Screenplay.