Goteborg TV Drama Vision: the Finnish romantic drama set to start filming in the spring, is the first scripted commission for Banijay Group’s Finnish label.

Announced on Wednesday by Banijay’s Head of Scripted Lars Blomgren at Göteborg’s TV Drama Vision, Dance Brothers is created and produced by rising production talent Max Malka (Aurora, Nerd: Dragonslayer 666), who joined Endemol Shine Finland in 2019 as their new Head of Scripted.

“Max Malka is an amazing young producer,” said Blomgren on stage at Göteborg’s Stora Teatern. “The Finnish industry has a long tradition of storytelling, but lacking in resources. I’m so happy about this new project, co-produced by Yle and Netflix,” he said.

The 10-part series is directed by Taito Kawata from a script by Reeta Ruotsalainen (Arctic Circle).

“I’ve always been a fan of dance as an art form and as a film genre” told Max Malka to nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “We spotted a gap in the market for a dance drama series, with a story that isn’t the typical Romeo and Juliet romance or set in a school or academy. Instead, we created a show which uses the fun and touching dance genre to tell a modern sibling story. Also, in a time of social distancing and remote working, I would like to see people dancing and being physically close and I think audiences out there will too!”

Yle’s Head of Drama Jarmo Lampela said as a minority Yle co-production, Dance Brothers is due to premiere on the Finnish pubcaster after the global launch on Netflix. “We simply fell in love with the concept and had to get involved. As public service, we support Finnish talent and content that have the opportunity to go wider internationally,” he underlined.

Malka said Endemol Shine Finland’s ambition is “to become the production company of choice” for its financing, distributing partners. “And of course, we are set to expand our scripted offering by fearlessly creating stories that the audience will find and want to stay with. We have high standards and goals for ourselves regarding social and ecological sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and the overall quality of scripted drama. Those will be the goals for this and coming years,” she added.

Endemol Shine Finland is part of Banijay’s production force of 50+ scripted labels in the world. In his keynote on Wednesday, Banijay’s esteemed Swedish TV executive Blomgren underscored the Nordic region’s unique position as a mature market, with a strong sub-titling and storytelling tradition. He said the key to sustain the industry and keep the best talent is to nurture quality and build good karma. We need to treat each other well,” he pointed out.