Three Nordic series compete for C21 Best Drama Pitch

A total of 21 international TV drama projects selected from 100 submissions, will take part in the second Drama Pitch session, part of London’s TV drama networking event (November 26-29). Only eight of them will be pitched live on Tuesday November 27 and will compete for Best Drama Pitch.

With two projects vying for the prize, Finland proves once more its surge on the international drama market and ability to compete among the best shows in the world. Bad Apples (8x45’) is produced by Fire Monkey for Finland’s leading streaming service Elisa Viihde. Fire Monkey’s co-founders, writer Mikko Pöllä and producer Roope Lehtinen, credited with some of Finland’s most successful shows (Black Widows, Easy Living, Hooked), are co-creators, together with Mia Ylönen (Moscow Noir), who also acts as head writer. The writing team also consists of Mikko Myllylahti (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki) and newcomer Ulla Heikkilä.

Bad Apples is inspired by the Finnish island of Seili, which was used as a mental asylum for women until 1962. The series will ask the question whether these women were really mentally ill or sent to the island to be silenced.

Set in 1973, the series features a young, female student activist, who is sent to a mental institute in the Helsinki archipelago against her will. The authorities – and even her husband – paint Onerva as an aggressive troublemaker, but she sees herself as an idealist, fighting for justice. While trying to maintain her sanity, Onerva investigates the reality behind the controversial treatment practices at the asylum. The show is expected to start production in the fall 2019. Fire Monkey will be looking for pre-sales and co-production opportunities at C21 Content London.

The Happy Hour of the Wolf (8x50’) is produced by Warner Bros Finland for Yle, with co-financing from the Finnish Film Foundation. The dramedy is co-created by WB Finland’s executive producer Seija-Liisa Eskola, together with Laura Immonen (Secret Lives). Juha Lankinen directs.  Couples counsellor Heta believes in love and relationships that are built on communication and knowing your partner inside and out. Divorce counsellor Tony believes in life after separation and that no one can truly know their partner. It is an illusion and a major cause of divorces ad consequent heartbreak. 

The series in final stage of production, is scheduled to air on the Finnish public broadcaster Yle on April 19, 2019. 

Snow Angels (6x58’) is a Danish/Swedish series, produced by Copenhagen-based Happy Ending Film & TV for Swedish broadcaster SVT. The creative duo behind Splitting Up Together and Park Road (Lærkevej), writer Mette Heeno and producer Mie Andreasen, co-founders of Happy Ending, are behind the character-driven crime drama.

Set in Stockholm, during a cold and snowy winter, the story focuses on three female characters, all involved or connected to the mysterious death of an infant, Lukas, found frozen in his stroller in a cemetery. Snow Angels will be shot mainly in Swedish, with some Danish-language. Production is set to start in the fall/winter 2019, with the premiere on SVT planned for the fall 2010.

The other five International drama series to be pitched on stage are After Life (NL Film, The Netherlands), Blackout (Lagardère Studios, France), Pot Luck (Kindle Entertainment, UK), The Emerald Eye (Clipper Media, UK), and Unarmed (Both Worlds, South Africa). 

The Drama Pitch winner, to be announced on Wednesday November 28, will receive a marketing package through C21Media worth £30,000 to support the series’ development and pre-sales promotion. 

Four other Nordic drama projects to be pitched online through C21 Media.net, will attend a networking event at Content London. Those are: 

• 506 Grams of Ural produced by Aito Media, Finland 
• A Family Matter, produced by DR Drama, Denmark 
• Awake, produced by Zentropa Sweden, sold internationally by REinvent Studios 
• Blinded, produced by Sweden’s FLX for TV4/C More, sold internationally by All3Media. 

More than 200 high profile speakers are expected to inspired the global drama community at C21’s four-day International Drama Summit, such as keynote speakers Jon Wax, YouTube Originals’ Head of Drama Series and Films, Erik Barmack, Netflix’s VP International Originals, and Georgia Brown, Amazon Studios’ Director of European Originals.  For further information, check: www.c21media.net.