The Damned UK producer on how Icelandic tax incentives were pivotal in the financing

The case study this Wednesday on the upcoming horror pic The Damned, written and directed by 2015 Nordic Talents winner Thordur Pálsson, was part of a UK Focus at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films.

Starring Odessa Young (Mothering Sunday), Joe Cole (Gangs of London) and Siobham Finneran (Happy Valley), The Damned is a tense psycho horror, set in Iceland in 19^th century, shot by The Lamb’s award-winning cinematographer Eli Arenson. The four-way co-production reunites the UK’s Elation Pictures, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Pictures, Iceland’s Join Motion Pictures, and Belgium’s Wrong Men.

Norwegian born Hodøl said her friendship and collaboration with her production partner Emilie Jouffroy of Elation Pictures and Pálsson first started on the benches of the UK National Film and Television School. “Late in 2015, Thordur brought us the initial idea for the film and we have been hooked and on board as producers ever since,” she told us.

The three young partners then brought the project to Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s former scheme Nordic Genre Boost in 2016, and shortly after found their Irish writer Jamie Hannigan.

But putting together the creative and financing puzzle for the film was a real challenge, says Hodøl. “In the end it was the increase in tax credit in Iceland [from 25% to 35%] that allowed us to shoot at the very location that inspired the idea. We were actually the very first foreign producers to benefit from the Icelandic tax credit,” Hodøl told the industry crowd, gathered at Haugesund’s splendid Art Nouveau City Hall.

Through the creative contribution of Irish screenwriter Jamie Hannigan, Irish co-producers John Keville and Conor Barry of Wild Atlantic then came on board and brought to the project Screen Ireland, and their existing Belgian production partners Wrong Men who in turn secured funding from Wallimages, and post-production work in Belgium.

Hodøl says their seasoned sales agent Protagonist Pictures introduced them to US-based Ley Line Entertainment (Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Green Knight) “who came on board early during packaging and stuck with the project throughout the financing process.”

The last co-producers to join were Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson and Anton Máni Svansson of Iceland’s Join Motion Pictures (Godland, Beautiful Beings). “We were impressed by their film catalogue and they really understood what we wanted to achieve," said Hodøl.

The final pieces of the puzzle came from BCP in Ireland and the UK Global Screen Fund, which contributed with a solid grant of £250,000.

Looking back at her experience, Hodøl said: “We have been very lucky to find partners who have been great collaborators throughout, and really wanted to see the film made, which therefore made it easier to make the various pieces of finance fit together and work through any cultural differences.”

“I think every indie producer knows it’s best to not put all your eggs in one basket,” she continues. “In general, the European co-production model, both financially and creatively, are not only ideal, but essential for a certain level of independent film to exist. And I think the UK indie scene is really engaging with that. Whilst there are some more hoops to jump through, when moving labour around post-Brexit, so far, my experience has been that it is easily overcome by hurdles that are worth it.”

Commenting on her collaboration with the Nordics, Hodøl added: The Nordic countries have a great legacy of co-productions, and we have found the national institutions and partners are very supportive and flexible in a way that makes it easy to combine with the business affairs structures in the UK, which is great. “

“We have met a lot of great producers, and filmmakers in general through our journey of putting this project together, so we know there are several strong partners to team up with in the region,” says Hodøl.

“There's a lot of exciting talent, both above and below the line. In fact, doing this project has inspired me to reconnect more with my native Norway, so we have just set up Elation Pictures Norway to start a few local projects and I will be based between the UK and Norway moving forward. Which feels very much in line with the UK/Nordic focus of Haugesund this year!”

The UK Focus panel in Haugesund was also attended by Nordisk Film & TV Fond CEO Liselott Forsman and the British Film Institute’s Head of the UK Global Screen Fund Denitsa Yordanova.

It was moderated by Nordic specialist Wendy Mitchell, journalist at Screendaily and festival programmer.​