Bruneau who has worked for the company since 2013 has just transferred her duties as COO to Yellow Film & TV’s Paajanen, former HR and Production Director, while her duties as international sales and production executive will be transferred to a new person in September when she leaves the company to focus on her political activities and Finland’s upcoming Parliamentary elections. She will continue as Yellow Film & TV’s member of the Board and shareholder. 

Yellow Film & TV’s CEO Olli Haikka said: "Everything has its time and place. Milla is very influential in politics and right now she has the momentum to run for Parliament. Yellow is in a fast-growing phase and most of our growth comes from international business. We are going to strengthen our international sales and financing with a recruit from outside Finland. The recruitment process is already in progress.”

The bustling production company has recently upped its international ambitions, with the production of the €6m German-Finnish crime/medical thriller Arctic Circle, selected at the MIPDrama Summit 2018. The 10x50’ series produced for Elisa Viihde was the first co-production with Germany’s Bavaria Fiction, sold internationally by France’s Lagardère Studios. Executive producer Bruneau said the series is part of Yellow Film & TV’s international strategy to ‘create 1-2 compelling stories for the global market each year, next to its local content.

“The core of our activities remains local series such as Nurses, but if you want to double or triple your business, you need to create higher-end drama and partner with credible international co-producers,” said Bruneau. Arctic Circle will be available on the Finnish streaming service Elisa Viihde at Christmas 2018 and later on YLE.

Meanwhile Yellow Film & TV’s hit medical drama Nurses has been reconfirmed for a fifth season by Nelonen/Channel 4 who takes over the commissioning from Yle. Remake rights have been sold to Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and most recently to Slovakia and Slovenia who are going into production with the series.

Nelonen/Channel 4 is currently airing the crime drama King Liar (10x42’) based on the true police corruption case, which saw the chief of the Helsinki drug squad Jari Aarnio run a sophisticated drug smuggling operation for more than a decade before being arrested. The show directed by JP Siili (Tellus) stars Kari Hietalahti (Roba, Downshifters) as Jari Aarnio. The series premiered on Channel 4 April 14 and had a solid 24,4% average viewing share.

Yellow Film & TV’s next local show set to premiere on Elisa Viihde on May 18 is the comedy drama Sipoon Herttua-Duke of the Suburbs, directed by Teppo Airaksinen, 2017 Palme d’or nominee with his short film The Ceiling. The corruption comedy based on a script by Atte Järvinen and John Lundsten stars Pekka Strang (Tom of Finland), Kari Hietalahti and Juho Milonoff (The Unknown Soldier).