Streaming-oriented Swedish Breakable Films unveils ambitions

Breakable Films is among the new Swedish content creators to watch out for.

Backed by H&M heir Tom Persson’s Co_Made, the Stockholm-based company was set up by entrepreneurs Viktor Linnell and Mikael Ljung who know all about how to cut through the noise.

The partners were co-founders of Splay - the first Nordic YouTube MCN and branding entertainment business built around social media and talents, which they sold in 2018 to NENT (now Viaplay) Group, just before setting up Breakable. Then by wooing the former FLX executive Eleonor Sager over a year ago, the duo sealed a match made in heaven.

“From early on, we knew we needed somebody with a strong legacy and know-how in scripted productions which we lacked. We also needed someone forward thinking and willing to challenge how things have been done before, production-wise in the Nordics,” said Linnell and Ljung about Sager, who served as executive producer on FLX’s hit series The Bonus Family, Torpederna, and helped build FLX’s commercials and branded content departments.

Today, Linnell acts as CEO for Breakable, Ljung as Head of Content, responsible for development, while Sager serves as COO, in charge of production. The fourth pillar is in-house talent Lina Åström, co-writer of the 2022 Göteborg opening film So Damn Easy Going by Christoffer Sandler.

“I’ve known Lina a long time,” Ljung explains. “She co-wrote Splay’s first scripted effort Sjukt Oklar, helmed by Sandler, which gained strong viewership and won multiple awards. We felt her style matched our vision so we tied her early to Breakable.”

Expanding on their company’s DNA, Breakable’s co-founders say they feel “at home” in the streaming space. Having learned that you get a couple of seconds to grab the audience’s attention on digital media and no more than 10 minutes for a TV show (according to their TV clients), Breakable’s team say their goal is to deliver mostly in-house original IP, dramedies essentially, with strong returnable and format remake potential.

“We want to make very relatable contemporary stories for the younger generation, premise-driven and often high-concept content able to stand out on the market,” says Sager.

“…And since we speak to platforms that get 500+ pitches every six months, we always keep in mind while developing new ideas, that they need to instantly grab the attention first of the talent, secondly of the clients and thirdly of the audience,” underscores Ljung.

So far three Breakable scripted projects based on Ljung’s original ideas have been greenlit.

After the Art & Bob co-produced LGBT+ series Sleep Around (Ligga) headlining Ulrikke Falch (Skam) and Clara Henry, which premiered last December on Warner Bros Discovery+, Breakable’s first solo production Out of Touch (Handen på hjärtat) was launched on C More November 23.

The 6x22’ romcom is directed and co-written by Åström with Marja Nyberg. Sara Shirpley (UFO Sweden) stars as Ava, a couple’s therapist whose success boils down to her secret supernatural ability to see into the future of people’s love life by putting her hand on their chest. Having seen everything that can go wrong in a couple, Ava has become very cynical about love, until she meets John (Hannes Fohlin), a free spirit with a romantic outlook on love.

The show was on the whole well-received by reviewers (8.5 on IMDB ratings) and according to C More’s Piodor Gustafsson, TV4 Media’s Nordic Director of Scripted Content, it had a decent start on the streamer, slightly hampered by the extremely strong performance of the crime show Riding in Darkness.

“There is a great word of mouth on the series; people say this is just what they need in today’s stressful times. They appreciate the love story and the fact that the narrative also has depth,” Sager told nordicfilmandtvnews.com.

Both Sleep Around and Out of Touch are repped internationally by REinvent who first introduced the shows to global buyers at the last MIPCOM.

Next up is the Netflix original Swedish film One More Time starring Hedda Stiernstedt (The Restaurant, Beforeigners). The comedy is co-written by the hot writing siblings Sofie Forsman and Tove Forsman (Young Royals, The Playlist).

One More Time is about the 40-year-old Amelia, who is unhappy with every aspect of her life. She wishes she could go back to her high school glorious days, when she gets hit by a bus. The accident throws her back in time to her 18^th birthday in 2002, which she gets to relive, over and over and over again, until she learns a lesson in life and about herself.

The directorial debut of Jonatan Etzler is due to launch on the US giant streamer in 2023.

Other projects in different genres are in pre-production, ready to go into production for different streamers in 2023.

Looking ahead, Breakable’s strategy is to ramp up its slate to 4-5 series and 1-2 films a year, widening the premise from a Swedish to a Nordic perspective, and to establish long-term relationships with a large array of Nordic talents.

“But for now, we’re in a growing phase and concentrating on creating the best possible content for our streaming clients,” Sager said.