Iceland’s top director Baltasar Kormákur who runs the local film production outfit Blueeyes Productions, has set up a television arm to rival TV dramas from Denmark and Sweden. Magnus Vidar Sigurdsson (pictured 2008 Producer on the Move) initiator of some of the most successful Icelandic series in recent years is managing director of the new company Blueeyes Vision. He details for us his vision for Blueeyes and his first ambitious TV project: the 10 part crime series Trapped based on an idea by Kormákur and writer Sigurjón Kjartansson (The Court).
Since when is Blueeyes Vision operational?
Magnus Vidar Sigurdsson: The Company was formed in May-June 2012 and started operating August 1st 2012. There are four employees, two in production and two writers. Our main goal is to produce Drama series for Iceland, Scandinavia and Europe. We're speaking to Germany as co-producers of our first series.
Your previous employer was Saga Film which has been leader so far in Icelandic TV drama...
MVS: Yes I was Head of Production at Saga Film for seven years and produced 15 series and non-scripted programmes, around 100 hours of TV per year, so I do have a lot of experience. Sigurjón Kjartarsson wrote several series for me such as Black Angels, The Press, The Court, Ástríður, The Girls, The State and Hlemma Videó.
So you're basically heading Saga Film's new competitor on the Icelandic TV market?
MVS: It's just a new company. We don't intend to do non-scripted programmes. We focus only on drama.
How is the current environment in Iceland to produce TV drama?
MVS: Usually when you finance a series you get support from our Film Fund, financing from broadcasters, 20% return from the government and you try to get extra cash from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. When we started seven years ago, we couldn't afford doing more than six episodes when doing 45-minute programmes. Now we're going for ten which means that we have to bring European and Nordic co-financiers on board.
TV drama in general is a fairly new business in Iceland. The first series we produced back in 2006 -The Night Shift and The Press - were among the first ever local TV dramas. Before, there were only sketch shows or sitcoms. At Saga Film, I was main producer on all the series, controlling the financing and writing team. It's been a fantastic journey with Saga. The Shift series has been very successful in Iceland and internationally. We managed to show it on BBC4 and remake rights were bought in the US, Norway, Sweden. More recently The Court series (Réttur) has also been sold for remake rights in the US to Homeland executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Cary.
Is your idea to build your dramas around writers, show-runners like DR?
MVS: Yes having show-runners is our main goal. We look at DR as they have been paving the road for Scandinavian TV drama. They took the best from the US and from Scandinavia. In Iceland a lot of talents go and study in the US so we try to attract them back home. We want writers to have control over the creative process all the way through. It's a great formula. But at the moment there are only two-three good show-runners in Iceland so we try to train more of them.
What shows do you currently have in development?
MVS: The 10 part series Trapped is our main project based on an idea from Baltasar and Sigurjón. Ólafur Egilsson, who wrote White Night Wedding with Baltasar, is also involved, as well as writer Jóhann Ævar Grímsson from The Shift series.
Trapped is a crime series specific to Iceland. Our main goal with Sigurjón is to try to be as local as possible so for the first time the series is not set in Reykjavik but far from the capital, in a small village at the bottom of a fjord in the eastern part of Iceland.
What is the storyline and is it a crime mystery for each episode or a crime investigation evolving through the entire series?
MVS: Basically a murder is committed on a ferry and because of a storm, the travellers - including the murderer - are stuck in the small village for a whole week. The rollercoaster starts there. Ari, a police officer has six days to discover who the killer is. It will be one big story with an exploding ending.
What is the budget, how far are you in the financing and what's your production schedule?
MVS: It will be around 420,000 - 480,000 euros per episode. RUV is co-financing and we've just closed a deal with DR who will co-produce. We are in talks with Sweden, Norway and Germany to come in as well. But the financing is just starting. Our hope is to start production in October 2013 and to premiere the series in the fall 2014.
Do you have other shows in development?
MVS: Yes we're developing a show called Svana. It's about a single mum who is a cop in a remote place in Iceland. She's like a James Bond cop but with an Icelandic storyline. Sigurjón Kjartansson is show-runner as well.
So more crime is in your pipeline - will you explore other genres as well?
MVS: We would like also to export more humour and produce original dramatic series. But it's not in the pipeline right now.