WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
MIP TV Exclusive: The global distributor is handling NRK’s drama which won the International Panorama Award at last week’s TV drama festival in Lille.
MIP TV Exclusive: The global distributor is handling NRK’s drama which won the International Panorama Award at last week’s TV drama festival in Lille.
The 8x28’ series created and directed by Øystein Karlsen (Dag, One Night), had its world premiere at Series Mania, where it competed against high-end shows including Movistar/ARTE’s Hierro and BBC’s Les Miserables and Motherfatherson.
Exit is the first drama produced by five-year old Fremantle Norway, which until recently focused on entertainment shows and formats such as Idol, The X-Factor. Fremantle Norway’s CEO and executive producer Petter Testmann-Koch said the Series Mania award is “a fantastic recognition for the company, as “Exit was a huge team effort”. “To win an award at Series Mania with our first original tv drama, is beyond expectations and really inspires us to keep on focusing on unique stories to tell the audience. I'm also extremely proud to show that there's more than Nordic Noir to come from Norway,” he added.
Based on true stories, the dark drama is set in Norway’s high-flying financial world. Four men in their 30s try to escape from the everyday pressure and obligations by using drugs, prostitutes and challenging their own set of moral values. In the title roles are Norwegian actors Pål Sverre Hagen (Valkyrien) Tobias Santelmann (The Last Kingdom), Jon Øigarden (Mammon), Agnes Kittelsen (Happy, Happy), Ine Marie Wilmann (Sonja-the White Swan) and Swedish-born Simon J. Berger (Hidden).
NRK’s executive producer and international Emmy-Award winner Vegard Stenberg Eriksen said to nrk.no: “Exit stands out. The series is provocative and important. It is a series that we believe will create engagement, and discussions around coffee machines. This recognition from such a major festival, even before the series’ premiere on NRK, gives us confidence that we’ve done a good job. We look forward to showing it to the Norwegian audience.”
Exit will premiere on NRK this fall.
Fremantle’s MIPTV slate also comprises two brand new Danish series produced by Miso Film for Viaplay: