Exclusive: REinvent closes major deals with the BBC, ZDFneo and Canal+ on three series

The Canneseries 2022 winner Afterglow was bought by the BBC for the UK, this year’s entry Out of Touch by Germany’s ZDFneo and Sleep Around by France’s Canal+.

Cannes’ MIPTV and Canneseries where successful showcases for the Scandinavian sales, production and packaging outfit, which brought home a double win - Best Series and Best Music for its Norwegian flagship show Power Play and closed significant deals on various titles.

The company’s sales and marketing director Helene Aurø reported a major sale to the UK pubcaster BBC Four on Afterglow (Etterglød) which won the High School Award-Best Series at last years’ Canneseries and a Prix Europa-Best European TV Fiction Series 2022.

“It is a little gem of a series and a true heart-warming show,” said Aurø about the tender, funny and emotional story of a woman suffering from cancer but bringing joy to everyone.

The series was created by Atle Knudsen and Kjetil Indregard, for Monster Scripted and NRK.

(Read our interview - Atle Knudsen on Afterglow and creating joy in sadness).

Two other feelgood series - both produced by Sweden’s streaming-driven Breakable Films, added further buyers to their growing list of global fans.

Out of Touch (Handen på hjärtat) which bowed at Canneseries‘ Short Form competition after its Berlinale Series Market selects presentation, was picked up by Germany’s ZDFneo. An earlier deal was closed with Holland (NPB).

The 6x22’ romantic dramedy created by Breakable Films’ co-founder Mikael Ljung, with director Lina Åström and Marja Nyberg premiered on the Swedish streamer C More last November.

Sleep Around (Ligga) the youth LGBT+ romcom sold earlier to Germany’s RTL Passion, was picked up by French premium pay TV station Canal+. The 8x22’ series, also co-created by Ljung and Åström was ordered by Discovery+.

Aurø and her sales team in Cannes also attracted a lot of attention on a string of upcoming premium shows, such as Evil, the SF Studios event Swedish drama based on Jan Guillou’s best-selling novel, the Finnish crime drama Deception produced by Fire Monkey for C More, and dramedy Hormones, produced by Dionysos Films for Yle.

Commenting on market trends, Aurø said: “After ‘the take it all’ trend from global streamers, we’re back to the windowing puzzle, with multiple sales for the same territory, across different countries. It is more challenging but also offers more opportunities than ever,” said the sales veteran, who is also waiting for the market to settle, referring notably to Warner Bros.Discovery’s drama strategy still to be clarified for its streamer Max.