Lasse Hallberg on Udda veckor and crossing borders with comedies

Tailored-made for actress Christine Meltzer, the divorce comedy drama Udda veckor (Supermom) which premiered on discovery+ April 2, has brought a new twist to Nordic collaborations. The 7x30’ series was ordered by a major platform-Discovery Networks Sweden/Kanal5 to a Norwegian production house, to cater for a Swedish audience.

“Basically Kanal 5/Discovery Sweden who have had great successes with Swedish remakes of our Norwegian formats Helt Perfekt [ITV Studios], Neste Sommer (aka Sommaren med släkten, produced by Art & Bob) and Hvite Gutter (Pappas pojkar produced by Nexiko) approached us and asked if we could write a TV show for Christine Meltzer who stars in Sommaren med släkten,” explained Lasse Hallberg, CEO at Feelgood and its mother company Monday Norway, Norwegian outpost of Monday Media in Denmark.

Feelgood’s co-writers and co-creators Kari-Anne Henriksen and Mia Hundvin (both former handball champions) took on the challenge and developed the original idea for the divorce comedy, based on their own experience and inspirations from the US show Better Things. “We put together a presentation, went back to Stockholm, pitched it to Kanal 5/Discovery Networks Sweden as well as Christine, and they all loved it,” said Hallberg.

Feelgood then turned to Sweden’s foremost comedy creators FLX to act as co-producers. “FLX has an amazing track record in high quality comedy films & TV dramas, which was crucial to attract the top Swedish actors,” continues Hallberg. Next to Meltzer are Linus Wahlgren, Gustav Hammarsten, Charlie Gustafsson, Vanna Rosenberg and singer-turned actress Jill Johnson.

FLX’s seasoned director Emma Bucht (Bonus Family, Solsidan) came on board as concept director, as well as writer Adrian Boberg (Bert) who helped tweak the Norwegian screenplay for a Swedish audience. Producer Kith Hansen who was hired to run the show in Sweden, contributed to translating Henriksen and Hundvin’ screenplay.

“Naturally Norwegians and Swedes have a lot in common, but there are still specific cultural differences such as political correctness that is more rigid in Sweden than in Norway, especially regarding topics such as sex and drugs,” noted the Swedish born Hallberg who served as executive producer on Lilyhammer, and brought the reality show Big Brother to Norway.

For him, producing comedy shows is all about delivering relevant, authentic and tailor-made content for a local audience, with the best local talents behind and in front of the camera. And turning to remakes - directly or in close collaboration with local producers - is often the best option to attract the largest possible audience, even for a show that was a domestic hit. Hallberg for instance is tempted to create a Norwegian version of Udda veckor to give the format an even bigger Norwegian audience. “We would skip the political correctness, make the show more edgy, in Norwegian language, with local actors that the audience relates to,” said the TV executive who controls distribution rights.

For the moment, the Swedish show is set to continue its run on the discovery+ Nordic platform, which has just confirmed the launch of another season of seven episodes. After its premiere weekend, Udda veckor was the most watched format on discovery +, according to a statement.

Meanwhile Feelgood’s other scripted format Hvite Gutter (White Boys) which has been a recurrent hit on TVNorge, is attracting a lot of interest, notably from the Netherlands and a Danish version is in the making.

Feelgood has also an on-going partnership in the US with Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment for potential US remakes or English original IPs, and is planning to tap into global streamers’ appetite for faster to turn-around adaptations of local hits.

Hallberg who keeps a tight control over distribution of scripted format rights said he is “in dialogue” with Amazon and keeping track of other US players’ editorial moves in the comedy space. “We have proved that comedy does travel if you do it the right way-the way we’ve done it in Sweden. We’re working slowly but safely, and I firmly believe that in the Nordics, we have to protect our quality original comedy IPs and just keep on making our smaller budgets work as far as possible,” he said.

Udda veckor was produced with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.