Exclusive: The distribution deal with Writers Room Productions’ Mette Heeno and Maja Dyekjær covers at least 5 films, including Territories written by Kamikaze’s Johanne Algren.

Under the new pact announced today, the Scandinavian Group Scanbox Entertainment will co-finance the development and production of Writers Room Productions’ upcoming films, while securing all rights for the Nordics.

Writers Room Productions was set up a few months ago by seasoned writer and executive producer Mette Heeno (Snow Angels, Splitting Up Together, All Inclusive) and producer Maja Dyekjær (The Great Bird Race, People Get Eaten).

“We share the same interest in creating stories about relations, modern society, characters larger than life, and the absurdity of being a human. We have a mutual curiosity of finding smarter ways to develop projects and making business”, said the production partners who intend to use selectively, development methods borrowed from the TV drama world.

“We believe that quite a few writers work on their own for way too long, with the risk of getting stuck in their writing,” said Heeno and Dyekjær to nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “We work with a handful of writers who have known each other for a long time and work on the same TV shows. On that foundation, we have created an environment where ideas are shared generously and feedback is given on crucial points boosting the writing process.”

Commenting on their deal with the Scandinavian distribution group, Heeno and Dyekjær said: “We look forward to our close collaboration with Scanbox that has both the experience and the commitment that is a prerequisite for us to be able to deliver strong and entertaining stories to the cinema audience.”

Merete Christensen, Head of Theatrical Distribution at Scanbox Entertainment added: “Maja Dyekjær and Mette Heeno are two talented people, and we think their creative set-up with a focus on the script is super interesting. In addition, they have a number of promising and commercial projects in the pipeline, which we are very much looking forward to launching.”

The first feature projects part of the deal are the following:

  • Territories (Territorier), by seasoned documentary filmmaker Frida Bakfors (Pervert Park, Death of a Child, Raising a School Shooter). The film in development is written by Johanne Algren, co-writer of the Sundance selected feature Holiday and writer of HBO Max’s Kamikaze. The story follows a young girl who wants to break free from her criminal environment.
  • I Run (Jeg løber) based on the autobiographical novel by Danish journalist Anders Legarth Schmidt. The story deals with coping with grief and losing a child. Playwright and screenwriter Line Mørkeby will handle the screen adaptation.
  • Weekly Report (Ugens Rapport) will be adapted by seasoned writer Andreas Garfield (Riders Upon the Storm, Equinox, Carmen Curlers) from his own eponymous stage play.
  • To Know the Difference (At kende forskellen) is a feel-good comedy by first time director Louise Clausen.

Headed by CEO Thor Sigurjonsson, Scanbox has several distribution deals with Nordic production companies including Motor in Denmark, and majority-owned Icelandic outfit Zik Zak Filmworks.

The Copenhagen-based distribution group with branches in Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki, has also started to produce its own content earlier this year, such as the Norwegian comedy Full Dekning, by Arild Andresen, fourth biggest Norwegian film of the year.

In Denmark, current hits include Anders Refn’s WW2 drama Out of Darkness (106,388 total admissions) last week’s second most popular film after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Scanbox is also the distributor of the Danish/Icelandic film Godland, selected at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.