Nordisk Film & TV Fond spoke to Petterson and the new head of theatrical distribution Åge Hoffart about the company's production and distribution strategies, including on a pan-Nordic level.
It's been almost a year since you appointed Gudny Hummelvoll (producer of Mirush) as the head of SF Norge's production department. What is your company's production strategy?Guttorm Petterson: Gudny is indeed very experienced and has a lot of contacts. The idea is to have at least 1-2 films each year as a main producer and 1-2 as co-producer with other Scandinavian companies, SF branches or other co-production partners. Our aim is to produce films for a broad audience, whatever the genre, be it comedies, family films or thrillers, low budget up to €10m films.
We have different deals in place with local production companies. With Monster Film (Gone with the Woman) we own 26% of the company so it's natural for us as well to distribute their films in Norway. We have a first look deal with Cinenord. Our deal with them was on three films and they have delivered two films so far (Trigger and Mars & Venus), and we will sign another deal with them for another 3-4 films. We have a similar three movie deal with Zwart Arbeit (Lange flate ballær). With Filmkameratene, we have a gentleman's agreement. We share the same building and the head of the company John M. Jakobsen used to work for SF so we are closely related. We work on a project by project basis, but most of his films have been with us.
We are also on the verge of signing a deal with Fante Film producers of Cold Prey (Fritt vilt).
How do you collaborate with SF's other Scandinavian offices?Guttorm Petterson: When it's natural, if the stories are based in Sweden, Denmark or Norway, we will co-produce with them. For instance we have a small involvement as co-producer on Arn the Knight Templar. We meet two-three times a year and pitch projects that we think might be interesting for SF's other Scandinavian offices.
You're currently involved in the production of the Varg Veum crime series based on best-selling Norwegian author Gunnar Staalesen's novels about a hard-boiled private eye. What is the production status?
Guttorm Petterson: The series consists of six feature films: two for theatrical release and four for DVD and television. We are currently shooting the fourth one. The third film is in post-production and the first film Bitter Flower directed by Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen will be released in Norway on September 28.
The total production budget is NOK 92m (around €10.2m). The series is produced with Miso Film in Denmark with substantial financial contribution from ARD/Degeto in Germany as well as the major broadcasters in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and TV2 in Norway. Staalesen's novels are very popular all over Europe, including Germany and France. International sales on the project handled by SF International, started in Toronto and will continue at Mipcom in October, but around 10 territories have already acquired Varg Veum as part of the financial packaging.
The Norwegian government wants to increase the market share of Norwegian films to 25%. SF Norge obviously wants to contribute to this ambitious plan?
Guttorm Petterson: Yes, of course. This goal will not be reached this year but hopefully in 2008. In 2006, we had 15-16% of the local market share. This year we should be closer to 20% so we are going in the right direction. SF Norge's biggest successes in 2006 were Cold Prey and Playing Wide (Lange flate ballær) which reached close to 250,000 admissions each.
On the distribution side, what is your market share now?
Guttorm Petterson: As SF Norge alone, we have 10% of the market share so far and 20th Century Fox (whose products are distributed by SF Norge since 2000) has a 15% market share, so in total we control around 25% of the theatrical market. On the DVD side, we have a 30% market share.
With the release this year of Mars & Venus, Elias & the Royal Yacht and Gone with the Woman, we hope to raise SF Norge's market share from 10 to 13%.
What is the share of local films and foreign films in SF Norge's line-up?
Åge Hoffart (head of theatrical distribution): "We usually have around 30 releases each year including four local films. The rest is mostly US pick ups, but we sometimes acquire French, Spanish, Danish or Swedish films. We have a new film almost every week.
On September 21, we are releasing the Danish film The Art of Crying, co-produced with Norway. We're going out with six prints. Norwegian audiences have traditionally been more responsive to Danish and Swedish films, much more than Swedish or Danish audiences with Norwegian films. Since the 60s, almost everyone in Norway is used to watching Swedish television but if you speak to someone in Sweden, they have never watched Norwegian television. So we know much more about their culture than they know about ours.
Do you believe in Pan-Nordic distribution strategies?
Åge Hoffart: Maybe doing something through Nordisk Film & TV Fond's distribution support could be an idea. But I would like their support to be more flexible. For the moment, the grant you get is not to loose money, but it would be nice as well to make money on some Nordic films.
Guttorm Petterson: as a Nordic-based company, we have also appointed one person at SF (Eva Svendenius in Sweden) who is responsible for working very closely with all SF offices on one or two films each year, to put together pan-Nordic releases. Arn is the first film that will probably have a simultaneous release in Sweden and Norway with pretty much day and date releases in December. Finland and Denmark will go out later with the film, probably in February or March.
With the animated film, Elias and the Royal Yacht, SF in other Nordic countries will probably use the same strategy as in Norway which was to make sure the characters are well-known first on television before launching the theatrical release. Then all feature films will have their own dubbed version in the Swedish, Danish and Finnish language.