Up close and personal with Nordisk Film & TV Fond prize nominees

Tomorrow some of the nominees of the first Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize will take centre stage in Göteborg to discuss the art of TV drama screenwriting. The first Nordic TV Drama Script prize and its SEK 200,000 cash award will be handed out on Thursday. They share their tastes and thoughts with us.

THE BONUS FAMILY (Bonusfamiljen) - Sweden Nominated scriptwriter Jesper Harrie
Jesper Harrie (1967) has worked for the past 20 years as a screenwriter mainly for television and almost always on comedy and children’s programmes. In recent years, he has collaborated with the Swedish production company FLX, bringing to life several hit comedies such as Solsidan, Torpederna and Boy Machine. The comedy series The Bonus Family created by Moa Herngren, Clara Herngren, Felix Herngren and Calle Marthin and produced by FLX just premiered January 30 on SVT. Harrie is currently working on a comedy feature.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
As a writer, I’m drawn to a comic perspective in everything I do. But it’s interesting to mix it with drama and suspense and to try to get the audience to feel a range of different things. As a viewer, I’m a little broader and enjoy all sorts of stories; family dramas, epic adventures, horror, musical and so on... 

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
The most rewarding thing when writing for television is the chance to establish a long-term relationship with a big audience. Potentially you have a greater impact than if you work with film or theatre. The most challenging thing with the medium is perhaps to try to meet the expectations when you write several seasons of a series; to keep the material fresh and relevant.  

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
The top 3 shows I’ve binge-watched recently are Skam (Norway), Fauda (Israel) and River (UK). All brilliant. 

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
I’m not sure I would like to be a fiction character because they have too many problems to deal with (if they are well written).

THE DAY WILL COME (Der kommer en dag) – Denmark Nominated scriptwriter Søren Sveistrup
Søren Sveistrup (1968) is currently writer-creator and Executive Producer at Copenhagen-based SAM Productions, set up with writer Adam Price, producer Meta Louise Foldager, together with Studiocanal.

Sveistrup graduated from the National Film School of Denmark and then joined the Danish public broadcaster DR. He wrote and created several internationally acclaimed TV shows for DR such as the Emmy-award winning Nikolaj & Julie and the cult series The Killing (Forbrydelsen) that opened new markets for foreign language TV drama. The Day Will Come was created as a feature film and mini-series produced by Zentropa. SAM Productions’ first TV drama Below the Surface (Gidseltagningen) created and directed by Kasper Barfoed is based on an idea by Sveistrup and Adam Price. The psycho-thriller will premiere on Kanal5/Discovery in the spring.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
Don’t know yet. I try to stay open-minded and to go with my intuition. When I realise the recipe, it tends to get boring.

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
The same as for writing any drama. The most rewarding is to sit in the editing room and feel that your intentions have been understood and improved in an almost magical way. The most challenging is of course when that doesn’t always happen. 

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
I haven’t binged-watched for ages. Last time was 24, The Office and The Affair, season 1.

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
A happy-go-lucky guy from an Adam Sandler movie. We all need to relax and laugh more than we do.

LOVE AND ORDER (Myrskyn Jälkeen) - Finland Nominated scriptwriters Kaarina Hazard and Leea Klemola 
Kaarina Hazard (1966) is a writer, actress and currently the artistic director of the Tampere Theatre Festival.

Hazard has appeared in more than 16 films and TV dramas. She was nominated for a Jussi Award-Best Actress in 2010 for her performance in Letters for Father Jacob (2009). In 2008, she shared with Leea Klemola a Finnish Emmy or Venla -Best Drama Script and a Best TV Drama award at the 2008 Prix Europa for the mini-series Silver Stars.

Hazard is currently writing a full-length film about Finnish writer/social activist Minna Canth.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
Anything goes, as long as it is emotionally believable. I don't mind if it happens in the space or in the core of the earth if I can recognise it. If a story is well thought and written, genre doesn't matter.

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
It's the hardest job ever, time consuming and deeply frustrating. Rewarding are those brief moments when you feel you got it right. Until you see you didn't. I've always had a co-writer and writing together is a true delight.

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
International: Park Boys (Canada), The Crown (US/USA), A Place to Call Home (Australia). Nordic: Eyewitness (Norway), Trapped (Iceland), The Legacy (Denmark) which I watch again regularly. It's so brilliant!

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
Well, I am a fiction character in our own series Law & Order, so that's enough for now!

Leea Klemola (1965) is a writer for theatre, film, television and an actress. She has worked for film and television on nearly 40 productions. She collected twice a Best Actress Jussi award, first in 1998 for the thriller The Collector, then in 2013 for Open Up to Me, nominated for a Nordic Council Film Prize.

Klemola has also written and directed ten award-winning plays, translated into several languages and performed all over Europe. The mini-series Silver Stars co-written with Kaarina Hazard won a Prix Europa, Best Drama and a Venla award for Best Script in 2008. Her play Kokkola was voted Best Finnish play of the year in 2005. She is also the recipient of the Finland Prize (1995) and the Pro Finlandia medal (2009). She is currently rehearsing as an actress in the play Princess Hamlet from Emilia Karhu, and working as playwright on her new play.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
I prefer storytelling that is not based on genre. I like TV series that get their form from their special content, not from a genre.

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
A TV script must go through several levels of production before it gets made. When you have numerous people having a go at the production, it is challenging to keep its quality high and stop its narrative from becoming average and stereotypical. The most rewarding is the work itself.

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
Skam (Norway), The Crown (UK/US), Planet Earth 2 (UK).

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
I would prefer to be Fury, the black stallion. Why? Well he is gorgeous, strong, intelligent, has great delicate senses and everybody loves him!

NOBEL - Norway Nominated scriptwriters Mette. M. Bølstad and Stephen Uhlander
Mette M. Bølstad (1964) is a writer for film, television, theatre and radio screenwriter.

Her writing credits for the silver screen include The Last Joint Venture, Happy Happy that won the World Cinema Jury Prize in 2011 and King of Devil’s Island. She has co-written three hit Norwegian TV dramas directed by Per-Olav Sørensen: The Half Brother, The Heavy Water War and Nobel.

Her next high-end TV drama State of Happiness (Lykkeland) about the oil boom, will start production in May for Maipo Film and NRK. Bølstad is also working on the feature film Sonja about figure skater Sonja Henie, a screen adaptation of Peer Gynt, a feature film directed by Charlotte Blom (title pending) and a medical TV drama.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
When structure and imagination feed off each other.

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
Creating drama where the characters move the world, not just play out their actions in front of a backdrop. The most rewarding is the moments when we manage to go through the screen, and the drama becomes reality for the audience.

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
I don´t watch a lot of drama. But I was blown away by episode 2 season 3 of The Legacy (Denmark). Great writing!

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
Dr Doug Ross in ER. Love the ethical and professional dilemmas of medicine, and every day after work I would be George Clooney.

Stephen Uhlander (1964) has since 1995 been working as a translator and writer for film and theatre and runs the London-based company DS Fiction. He co-wrote with Mette M. Bølstad the hit Norwegian TV show Nobel. He is currently working on the next feature film by Marius Holst.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
Somewhat predictably I like political thrillers and societal conundrums in the vain of Syriana, Traffic, Show Me A Hero and The Wire, where the main problem is often unsolvable but the storytelling focus in on how different characters are affected by the larger complication, frequently ending in someone having to pay a heavy price. 

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
I like that you can delve into a big and all-encompassing complexity and then have the time and opportunity to go in-depth and live it through several different characters’ perspective, and then hopefully get to more than just one simple truth.

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
I've recently binge watched the Italian societal drama 1992, "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States", and True Detective season1 (for the third time)…I know... 

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
Rustin Cole, a true anti-hero - for his views on the Modern World and Man. Sobering, not pessimistic!

PRISONERS (Fangar) - Iceland Nominated scriptwriters Margrét Örnólfsdóttir and Ragnar Bragason
Margrét Örnólfsdóttir (1967) is a screenwriter, author of books and a musician. From 1988–1992 she was the keyboard-player of the internationally renowned rock band The Sugarcubes.

She has received prestigious awards for her literary works, such as the Icelandic Women‘s Literature Award and the Icelandic IBBY Award, and in 2012 she received the Icelandic Children‘s Literature Award for Með heiminn í vasanum (The World in Your Pocket).

Her screenwriting work includes the musical feature film Regina and the high-end Icelandic TV dramas Court, Pressa and Prisoners. Örnólfsdóttir is currently on the writing team of the crime show Trapped season 2 and head writer of another Icelandic crime series, The Valhalla Murders. In addition, she has a few film scripts in development, a musical animation film called Red Waters and a biopic about Iceland’s former president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
I prefer drama, and sometimes I enjoy comedy when it is truly funny but I’m sceptical towards everything paranormal or supernatural. For me TV series must be character-driven with some urgency and deep human interest.

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
What I like about writing for TV and what is challenging are more or less the same things. TV can reach a much larger and more diverse audience than most films, which is thrilling and a bit worrisome at the same time, it gives you a sense of responsibility. TV drama depends so much upon the writing; it’s complex, a bit like solving a riddle and I find that both exciting and rewarding. I also like the “open end” factor, that there is always the possibility of future seasons and further development of the concept.

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
Night of was gratifying in every way. Another American series that I just discovered and binge-watched was Rectify, a juicy, quirky character drama. The Israeli show Fauda is also very good.

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
Although not desirable (it would be somewhat of a sacrifice) I’m tempted to say Donald Trump, as I don’t believe for one second that he is a real person. It would be interesting to find out what his hidden grief is, to better understand the character.

Ragnar Bragason (1971) is a writer, director and producer. He made his start with video clips, shorts and documentaries, and established himself with his successful feature debut Fiasco (2000). He then directed and co-wrote the critically-award-winning twin films Children and Parents, followed by Mr. Bjarnfreðarson.

His latest film Metalhead (2013) won eight Edda awards. Bragason also worked on the successful Shift TV series (The Night Shift, The Day Shift and The Prison Shift), World’s End and now the drama series Prisoners.

Bragason is currently working on his third play that will premiere at Iceland’s National Theatre in the fall. 

What makes you tick in terms of genre and storytelling?
As a viewer I like most genres, if the material is done in an interesting and passionate way. As a filmmaker my works have mainly been drama, sometimes with light touches of comedy and vice versa. I don’t think one can do without each other. I seek truth, depth and compelling characters. 

What do you find the most rewarding and the most challenging about writing for television?
So far I’ve done five TV series and five feature films. I like both formats but the vast canvas of a TV series gives you the space and time for detail, to dive deeper into the lives of the characters. But the challenge is to keep momentum at the same time as the story needs to move forward.

Cite your top 3 TV shows (Nordic and international) that you’ve binge-watched recently.
The Night Of, The Crown, Stranger Things

If you could be a fictional character, who would that be and why?
I would be a bad ass or a flawed heroine who fights against injustice. Why? Because it would be cool.