Eleven Nordic screenwriters developing nine projects, two producers and a story editor have been selected for the Fund’s second NORDIC SCRIPT lab, dedicated to writing for feature films and mini-series.

The 14 participants will attend three hands-on screenwriting workshops, under the tutorship of writers/story mentors Maria Clauss (Top Dog 2, Vinterviken, Charter) and Margrete Soug Kåset (Mammon 2, Himmelblå) from Nordic Script 2022 - 2023. Adam August (Follow the Money 3, Cry Wolf) has recently got several big commissions as a writer, and will be excused this round. He is now replaced by Anton Breum (Off the Record, No Way Back).

The three residential workshops will be held at the following partner showcases and locations:

  • Oslo Seriedagene September 25-29, 2023
  • Göteborg Film Festival late January/early February 2024
  • City of Helsinki mid-June 2024

Participants will also be offered access to a masterclass in Aarhus, Denmark, during THIS Aarhus Festival in November, as part of a new partnership with the media event.

More than 60 applications from Nordic writing professionals with experience in film and limited serialized drama were submitted, of which around 65% were female writers, story editors or producers. The applications were from all the Nordic countries, with the highest number of applicants from Sweden.

Nordisk Film & TV Fond CEO Liselott Forsman, initiator of the Nordic screenwriting lab said:

    “The overwhelmingly positive feedback we have had for the first edition of Nordic Script is a good motivation for the second round. The high number of professional applicants shows that creatives within film and limited series also want to collaborate with and learn from Nordic peers. It is my great pleasure to welcome to NORDIC SCRIPT 2023-24 such a skilful and exciting group of participants from all Nordic countries.”

    2023-24 NORDIC SCRIPT selected story editor and producers

    • Karen Kristensen, Danish producer, New Tales.

      Graduated as producer from The National Film School of Denmark in 2017. The following two years Kristensen has worked at Creative Alliance with development and financing on a list of international projects and co-produced the feature The Day We Died. With a desire to turn towards emerging talents and TV-series Kristensen began working at Drive Studios in Sep. 2019 producing TV-Series with close collaboration with the writers and broadcaster. Also developing Feature films with writing directors with a one vision approach. From feb 2022 Kristensen joined New Tales to build up and develop both TV-series and Feature Films.

    • Kaia Foss, Norwegian producer, The Oslo Company.
      Foss has been serving as a producer for the established The Oslo Company since 2017. Prior to that, she was based in New York where she worked notably for Picture Farm as producer of commercials and for the photo agency Serlin Associates. Her production credits include the Netflix hit series Home for Christmas and the Discovery+’ youth drama Everything You Love which won Best Short Series and the Student Award at Canneseries 2022.
    • Nayeem Mahbub, Swedish script consultant, editor, writer, director.
      Bangladesh-born Mahbud has a background as film editor for animated works and documentaries. In 2023 he edited the documentary About Grief by Emilie Löfgren which won best new doc at Tempo Fest in Sweden. He serves as script consultant for various European training schemes such as EAVE and European Short Pitch.


    2023-24 NORDIC SCRIPT Selected screenwriters and projects:

    • 50% (Norway)
      Written by Miriam Sunde and Badrudin Ga’ur
      Mini-series
      Genre: comedy drama
      Logline: A pair of Norwegian twins in their 40s are about to inherit a large sum of money from a Moroccan father they never knew they had. When they find out then men inherit 50% more than woman, they must navigate their own greed while on a journey of self-discovery and family reconciliation. Everything changes when they travel to Morocco and the twin brother starts believing that he is indeed superior to his sister.

      Miriam Sunde is a Norwegian/Moroccan actress, writer and director. She has worked in the Norwegian film industry in various capacities since 2020 and graduated from the Westerdals film and media department at Kristiana University College in 2022. In the last year she has been associated to various series produced by the genre label Shuuto for Altibox, such as the TV movie Eventyr-Nøkken, and upcoming short series Tilt that she directed, wrote and produced. Tilt was co-written by Badrudin Ga’ur and Shuuto founder Arne Berggren.

      Badrudin Ga’ur is a Mogadishu-born screenwriter, who moved to Norway in 2013. He pursued his dream of telling his own stories on screen by completing a BA in directing at Kristiana University College’s Westerdals film and media department. He has co-written the short TV series Tilt with Sunde.
    • DELTA (Norway)
      Written and directed by Mats Grorud, co-written by Øyvind Rune Stålen (with Omotunde Akidoe)
      Feature film
      Genre: Eco-thriller, mixing animation and puppetry
      Logline: When Tromsø-based Nigerian biologist Eki (28), learns that her father has died in a fire at an illegal oil refinery, and that her brother is the prime suspect for the arson, she heads back to the Niger Delta to search for the truth.

      Mads Grorud is a Norwegian writer/director, specialised in animation and documentary films. He was educated in Norway, Denmark, Tanzania, Lebanon and China, and attended the bachelor degree course in animation from the Volda University College in Norway. His film credits include the short film Santa Klaus, winner of an audience award at Fredrikstad Animation Festival 2020, and his breakthrough feature length debut The Tower which screened at around 200 international film festivals since 2018 and won numerous awards such as the First Prize at the Seoul Int’l Animation Film Festival.
    • Øyvind Rune Stålen is a seasoned Norwegian screenwriter and teacher since 2001. His writing credits include films and series in the popular Elias animated franchise, the multi-awarded series The Heavy Water War by Per-Olav Sørensen, and most recently the Netflix series Post-Mortem.
    • HOLY ROLLER (Sweden)
      Written by Theodor Österberg
      Feature film or three-part mini-series
      Genre: dramedy/biopic
      Logline: 1964. A Roma Pentecostal evangelist with a criminal past tries to lead the Swedish people to salvation. His method is combining Christianity with rock 'n' roll, even though he is opposed by the church, show business and the police. This is the true but unlikely story of Målle Lindberg, known as the "gypsy preacher" or "God's little rocker".

      Theodor Österberg is a freelance screenwriter, script editor and script reader with expertise in story structure. He graduated in screenwriting from Stockholm University of the Arts in June 2021. He wrote the screenplays for the short film A Swedish Defence (2018), winner of the best foreign film at the British Short Film Awards and co-wrote Dance My Doll, Guldbagge nominated for best short film in 2023.
    • FOX 37 (Denmark)
      Written and directed by Kristian Håskjold
      Feature film
      Genre: Dramedy
      Logline: When a young and opportunistic Danish street fundraiser gets wasted and oversleeps, it complicates his trip to visit his girlfriend in New York City. On his journey, he encounters interesting people that make him reflect on both his relationship and life.

      Kristian Håskjold is an award-winning Danish/Norwegian writer/director who studied directing at the independent Danish film school Super 16. His international break-through title was the short form series Chemo Brain, selected for Sundance 2020 and recipient of a Special Jury Recognition for Drama at the SXSW Film Festival. His short Forever Now received the Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2017, and his short A Worthy Man was shortlisted at the European Film Awards 2019. Her was chosen for the EFP’s ‘Future Frames’ 2020.
    • PEARLS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (Finland)
      Written by Jenny Dahlström
      Mini-series (3x45’)
      Genre: drama and biopic
      Logline: Pearls from the Bottom of the Sea is a drama series set in the Turku archipelago in the 1920s. It tells a story of a pianist who has to abandon her career due to an injury but finds a new direction for her life as she starts collecting old folk songs and preserving the Scandinavian song tradition.

      Jenny Dahlström       is a Finnish screenwriter with more than ten years of work in film and TV. She began her career as an actress in a Finnish drama series and studied screenwriting at the Aalto University. She holds a Master´s degree in screenwriting and her writing credits include the crime series "Hooked", "The Paradise" and the children's feature film "The Hullaballoos!".
    • THE ART OF ENJOYMENT (Sweden)
      Written and directed by SaraKlara Hellström
      Feature film
      Genre: expressionist horror-comedy
      Logline: When Börje is compelled to go on a luxury couple's retreat with his wife Yvonne, he discovers that the animals in the area have large black boils on their bodies. As a result, he becomes more interested in saving the animals than in salvaging his relationship.

      SaraKlara Hellström is an up-and-coming writer/director, from the north of Sweden, Skellefteå. With a background in casting and scriptwriting, she started to work with her own films. Her 2020 short film Cleanse won the audience award at the Upsala Int’l Film Festival and 2022 Bromance the prestigious Dragon Award-best short film at the Göteborg Film Festival. She attended a writing course at the esteemed Ama Löv Script Academy.
    • THE CREATURE (Finland)
      Written by Anna Ruohonen
      Feature film combining live action and animation
      Genre: magic-realistic drama
      Logline: What if one day Death moves to your sofa as an unwanted guest, and refuses to leave?

      Anna Ruohonen is a Finnish freelance writer and story editor, specialising in comedy. She has also written and directed several short films and audio plays. After graduating from Aalto University in 2015, she has been working on nearly 20 films and series. Those include the HBO Max series True Story (2023), Downshifters S3 (2020) and the feature Laughing Matters (2021).
    • THE WAY HOME (Norway)
      Screenwriter Tone Andersen
      Feature film
      Genre: drama
      Logline: On their way to spend the winter in their holiday home in Spain, Salma (68) and Hans (70) get stuck in a refugee camp in the middle of nowhere, setting forces in action that puts both their relationship and their world-views at risk.

      Tone Andersen is a writer/director, based in Stockholm. She holds a Master's degree in film & TV production from Helsinki ELO film school. Andersen has been working in the Nordic film and TV industry since 2002, as a documentary cinematographer and director, focusing on social issues and stories from all over the world. She is also teaching film and is an alumna of TorinoFilmLab’s Serieslab.
    • TWO STARS (Iceland)
      Written by Helgi Jóhannsson
      Feature film
      Genre: Drama, doomed romance
      Logline: True story about love in the shadow of mental illness. Through battles with the healthcare system, societal prejudice and suicide attempts, we follow a seven-year love story of a young couple who are both each other’s salvation and downfall.

      Helgi Jóhannson is an Icelandic writer/director who has been working in film, TV and commercials for 15 years. He began his career as an editor on Iceland's premier investigative journalism show, where he developed a passion for sharing genuine stories of real people. He has directed around 30 music videos for top artists including the legendary band Joy Division. He recently co-created a TV series shot in Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

    For press release: CLICK HERE.

    For further information please contact
    Nordic Script Project Manager Mathias K Ferre: mathias@nftvfond.com
    Nordisk Film & TV Fond CEO Liselott Forsman: liselott@nftvfond.com
    Or check our website: NORDIC SCRIPT 2023-2024