London calling - Nordic/UK creatives and producers ride on content boom

London is hosting two major international audiovisual events, attended by Nordic professionals: the ‘Content London’ TV drama showcase (November 29-December 2), and ‘Focus London’ (December 7-8), where creative industries will be discussing filming solutions and partnerships from pre to post-production.

Never before have exchanges between the Nordic region and the UK been as vibrant, with streamers spurring production partnerships in various shapes, and UK public funds being adjusted to back indie producers post-Brexit.

In the footsteps of seasoned directors Lone Scherfig (An Education, The Shift), Baltasar Kormákur (Everest, Trapped) or writer Hans Rosenfeldt (Marcella, The Bridge) who have close ties with the UK, several top Nordic directors have English-language films lined up for 2022-23, made in partnership with UK coin and talents.

Those include Sweden’s Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness), Finland’s Jalmari Helander (Immortal), Taneli Mustonen (Twin), Iceland’s Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (Northern Comfort), while TV projects combining Nordic/UK talents are bursting.

One of the latest prominent Danish writer/directors turning to English-language is Tobias Lindholm (The Investigation, A War), set to develop and produce a string of scripted series for UK/US production outfit Sister (Chernobyl), starting with The Best of Us starring Jeremy Strong.

For Scandinavia’s major Nent Group, which is aggressively investing in English-language content, next to local fare, the UK offers numerous advantages. “The UK has a long-standing position as a global creative centre, and remains a hub for many of the world’s leading talents,” told Filippa Wallestam, NENT Group Chief Content Officer to nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “Screen storytelling in the UK is constantly reinventing itself, and I think the industry is making positive steps to support new voices. We want to be part of this and to contribute in turn. Alongside the appetite of UK viewers for Nordic drama, this is one of the main reasons why we chose the country as one of our next Viaplay markets,” she noted.

Wallestam also emphasizes that Nent Group has been able to build on its existing UK presence, to churn out content for its fast-expanding streamer Viaplay. “Creating local Viaplay Originals in partnership with talented creatives is a priority for us in all our markets. The UK will be no exception when we launch Viaplay in the second half of 2022,” continues Nent Group’s executive. “What makes the UK a little different from our other expansion markets is that we already have a strong local presence and are producing shows there today. We intend to make full use of this infrastructure to bring even more unique local stories to viewers in the UK that will also be available on Viaplay in all our markets,” said Wallestam.

Current English-language Viaplay Originals with a UK connection include the psychological suspense drama Close to Me starring Connie Nielsen and Christopher Eccleston, running on Channel 4 and All4. Nent Group has also partnered with ITV on the limited series Litvinenko, starring David Tennant, planned to premiere in 2022.

Wallestam said she is also proud to have secured top UK talents like Lily Cole in Lasse Hallström’s Hilma, first project in Nent Group’s commitment to launch two major English-language Nordic films every year. “And as always with our company, there’s even more to come!” quipped Wallenstam.

Scandinavia’s other mega group SF Studios which opened a London office in 2017, has a slate of projects in various stages of development and production.

Fredrik Wikström Nicastro, SVP International Production who oversees the UK’s output with VP of Development Kate Myers, said two reasons motivated their decision to establish a London base: the prospect of combining Nordic and Anglo-Saxon talent, notably on the writing side, and the ability to tap into the high-quality UK production facilities and crew, on top of tax incentives.

The company’s first English language mega-project Horizon Line directed by Sweden’s Mikael Marcimain, was produced in 2020, mainly out of the UK, using local VFX specialists and Pinewood Studios, while Erik Poppe’s anticipated The Emigrants was coproduced by SF Studios UK, with post work done in the UK.

Kate Myers says her job is really about matchmaking, introducing Nordic filmmakers to English-speaking writers, and putting projects together. “Coming from the UK, I try to figure out how to mine the Nordic talent that everyone is aware of,” she explains. “It’s always interesting as well to find new talent, some not always in the Nordics. Some filmmakers have come through the UK and are looking for opportunities,” she notes.

Myers underlines SF Studios’ insightful strategy of building a foundation, which is already bearing fruit. Growing people and projects has been a stimulating process, says the former UK indie producer, who confirms that several high-profile international projects will soon be unveiled, notably from Margrete-Queen of the North director Charlotte Sieling.

Previously announced upcoming English-language features include I am Victor by Baltasar Kormákur, a remake of A Man Called Ove, and a UK or US reboot of the Snabba Cash Universe, a project delayed by the making of two Netflix Snabba Cash seasons, also produced by SF Studios.

UK GOOD CHAOS
From a UK perspective, long-time Nordic fan Mike Goodridge, former CEO of Protagonist Pictures and managing director since 2019 of production outfit Good Chaos, is actively building bridges between London and the Nordics. As minority co-producer of Öslund’s hotly anticipated Triangle of Sadness, he brought in BBC Films and funding from the British Film Institute (BFI).

Goodridge is also executive producer of Immortal, sophomore English-language feature by Finnish genre specialist Jalmari Helander (Big Game). “Jalmari is a smart fellow. He understands how to hit certain beats in a story and has a unique voice. Immortal has an amazing script, which convinced Sony Pictures [via its label Stage 6 Films] to pre-buy it for the world, outside the Nordics handled by Nordisk Film,” said Goodridge who brought in some post work and UK actor Jack Doolan.

The WW2 action thriller starring Jorma Tommila and Aksel Hennie is produced by Petri Jokiranta and Helander for Finland’s Subzero Film Entertainment with backing from the Finnish Film Foundation, Business Finland’s Audiovisual Production Incentive and C More/MTV3. The film in post-production is due to be delivered next summer.

Goodridge’s latest Nordic feature project as minority-co-producer, is Northern Comfort by Iceland’ acclaimed writer/director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (Under the Tree, Either Way), produced by Netop Films' Grímar Jónsson (Rams, Under the Tree).

Co-penned by Sigurðsson, Halldór Laxness Halldórsson and Tobias Munthe, the story centres on Sarah, a London-based career woman in her forties, who suffers from an uncontrollable fear of flying. To save her newly-established relationship, she must overcome her phobia and learn to let go, even if this means enduring an unexpected and wildly unpredictable flight to Iceland.

“It’s a dry, sometimes dark, sometimes hilarious comedy about the fear of flying, and a beautiful metaphor for the loss of control we have in our world,” said Goodridge.

The film will be partly shot in the UK in 2022, with a UK/Nordic cast. “It’s a perfect organic collaboration and my second official co-production [with Triangle of Sadness],” said the EU-centric producer who secured development support from Film4.

“The UK has an awful lot to offer. It’s just a matter of finding out how the financial structure will work,” he said.

CO-PRODUCTIONS POST-BREXIT
Agnieska Moody, Head of International and Industry Policy at the BFI, cites the various public funding schemes available for co-production. “We have funding for co-production from several courses: the BFI (via the BFI Film Fund and the UK Global Screen Fund) and the national screen agencies,” she says. “Screen Scotland has developed relationships with Nordic partners for some time, and can be an attractive destination for UK/Nordic co-production stories. Plus the UK has tax reliefs. We should add that the UK Global Screen Fund [UKGSF] is focused on UK-minority co-productions and through this, we are keen to support projects [feature films as well as animation and doc TV series] led by producers in other countries in any language,” she underscores.

Widely viewed as a scheme set up earlier this year by the BFI and the UK Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to partially compensate for the UK’s exit from Creative Europe’s MEDIA funding post-Brexit, the UKGSF has so far supported two unofficial co-productions: the Israel/UK feature My Happy Ending starring Andie McDowell, and the UK/China/France animated TV series The Coop Troop.

“Like Northern Comfort, there are a lot of organic co-productions in English-language with the Nordics, not originated in the UK, that would benefit from that scheme,” said Goodridge.
According to Screendaily, the £7m one-year pilot scheme is now due to run another three years.

Asked whether Brexit had impacted co-production rules with the Nordics, Moody said: “Fortunately, the Council of Europe’s Convention [on Cinematographic Co-production] to which the UK is a signatory, is unaffected by the UK’s exit from the EU, so we can co-produce with the Nordic countries as we did before,” she said. “We were the first to sign and ratify the revised Convention, ahead of any of the other larger European countries, and as of October this year, it has now come into force. This means that we can co-produce with other countries which have also ratified, on the new terms, which allow for a lower minimum of 5% financial contribution on multilateral co-pros and 10% on bilateral co-pros. The opportunities for co-production are even greater now,” she said.