The series directed by Stig Larsson based on Peter Birro's screenplay, was co-financed by NRK in Norway, YLE in Finland with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
"It is a tradition in Sweden to have a costume Drama on television for Christmas, so it is a great pleasure to have August selected this year," said producer Ann-Mari Jartelius who has been working for many years as producer for SVT, including on Lars Molin's Emmy award-winning Den tatuerade änkan in 1998.
"Peter Birro and Stig Larsson had already collaborated on several plays, and I brought in my team, such as production designer John Virke and photographer Rolf Lindström who shot in HD. We made all the artistic decisions ourselves. We had a wonderful cast in Johan Karlsson, Jakob Eklund, Stina Ekblad, and the two Finnish actresses Linda Zilliacus as well as Maria Salomaa, currently working at Stockholm's Statsteater."
"August is Peter Birro's view of Mr Strindberg, although most of the historical elements are based on reality. It is set in the mid-1870s, just after his play Master Olof had been refused by the Royal Theatre. Just afterwards, his famous novel The Red Room gets published. It's a film about love, friendship and the arts in general. Most of the subject matters (father and son relationships, the elderly looking at the youngsters) are fundamental things in life, as topical today as at the time. My hope is that the audience will see that," added Jartelius.