MIPCOM: upbeat mood as global barriers fall and Nordic quality branding prevails

Nordic brand stands out in a sellers market where the proliferation of platforms have broken all format, language, cultural barriers.

On day 1 of MIPCOM, Monday morning, the packed room of international delegates invited by the Norwegian Film Institute and Norwegian Producers’ Association to take a peek at what’s coming from the region, confirmed the rising interest in Norwegian drama. Addressing the audience, Mia Lindrup from the NFI stressed the continued support from the Institute that earmarks each year around €4.1m or 10% of its budget towards drama series.

The world premiere of episode 1 of the Swedish thriller The Lawyer introduced by Studiocanal, SF Studios and Viaplay was equally crowded and received very positive feedback.

At the World premiere TV Screenings, two event shows starring Nordic talent: Sony Pictures Entertainment’s thriller Counterpart directed and exec produced by Morten Tyldum, starring Ulrich Thomsen, and Sky Atlantic/Amazon US’s historical fantasy Britannia starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, reflected the move towards an internationalisation of projects and the teaming up of global co-production partners on highly ambitious series. For instance leading producers and broadcasters from China, France, Germany and Australia announced a cooperation on the sweeping historical series Farewell Shanghai with award-winning Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu at the helm. At the conference ‘Beyond Co-production-Making Global Creative Connections’, Studiocanal’s Rola Bauer, Lionsgate’s Steve November and Banijay’s Takis Candalis concurred in saying that co-productions today bring together talent and a mix of traditional and OTT financing not widely available a few years ago.

On a distribution standpoint, major US players confirmed their increased interest in cross Atlantic collaborations and in locally commissioned premium drama for the global market. A+ E Networks’ Patrick Vien said at the panel ‘Power Shifts: Who Will Take the Throne of Drama’, that he was discussing co-productions with European partners. “We no longer limit our ambitions to big US companies for projects that may or may not find a home in the US,’ he said.

Meanwhile Facebook’s Head of Global Creative Strategy Ricky van Veen announced on Wednesday that he had just partnered with the UK’s celebrity manager Simon Fuller on the English-language version of NRK’s cult teen series Skam. “When I first heard about Skam, it felt like I was seeing the future of storytelling," he acknowledged. Julie Andem, Norwegian creator of the show, will be showrunner on the English-langue remake set to roll out on Facebook’s new Watch platform.

In her closing statement, Reed Midem’s Laurine Garaude said: “MIPCOM has confirmed that barriers are tumbling throughout the TV and digital industry. New partnerships are being formed between established television companies and digital platforms. Major groups are embracing change and taking a long-term approach by investing heavily in new content destined for all devices. And there is an increasing acceptance that great content, tailored for different audiences, will be a key to success in the future.” 

Here under is a list of deals and feedback from sellers of Nordic content at MIPCOM:

APC About Premium Content launched two high end Nordic crime series: the Finnish show Deadwind produced by Dionysos for YLE, and Swedish Alex produced by SF Studios for Viaplay, both picked up for co-pro distribution at an early stage.

The Paris-based boutique sales company had the biggest visibility among Nordic sales agents at MIPCOM, with an outdoor billboard in front of the Majestic Hotel, a full column in the Palais and trade advertising. “We try to spend as little as possible but with the best value for money and biggest visibility’ said joint CEO Laurent Boissel whose strategy is to apply tailor-made solutions for his selected clients. The French executive said it was too early to report any sale, but buyers reacted very positively, both to Alex and Deadwind. “Alex is a unique proposition from the Nordics,” said Boissel. “It’s dark, gritty but more action-driven and fast-paced thriller than many other Nordic shows and the bad cop character (played by Dragomir Mrsic) is some kind of a rarity in the Nordics.” The crime show Deadwind is tagged by Boissel as “the best show coming out of Finland in years and the proof that Finland is ‘taking off’ creatively.

DR SALES Helene Aurø, Marketing & Sales Director reported a new sale to Benelux (Lumiere) on the Danish crime show Norskov Season 2, currently airing on TV2. The new Norwegian drama Homeground (NRK) attracted interest from countries such as France, Germany, Benelux, Australia and Israel. “The show about a woman coach trying to make it in a man’s world is very timely and its premiere around the world cup will be a great hook for broadcasters’, noted Aurø.

Contrary to some producers who claim that Nordic noir is dead, the sales executive said that the genre still has strong appeal and facilitates pre-buys. Although unable at press time to confirm specific deals, Aurø said she had signed several Letters of Commitment on the Icelandic crime show The Vallhalla Murders. Other deals were closed on older titles, such as The Killing, sold to France (Canal+), Borgen sold to Canada and Cyprus, Follow the Money 2 sold to Iran and the Czech Republic, while Portugal’s RTP acquired a package of 8 titles including Legacy 3, Better Times, Norskov and Nikolaj & Julie. The Danish comedy series Splitting Up Together and Ditte & Louise were popular as formats as well as the factual series ‘The Story of…' created by DR and Generation XL about overweight children.

Nordic World
The company’s CEO Espen Huseby enjoyed the huge interest on the Norwegian cross between Game of Thrones and Monthy Python, the series Norsemen Season 2 produced by Viafilm. “Season 1 is available now on Netflix and has received rave reviews in The Guardian and The New York Times, “ said Huseby. Season 2 commissioned again by NRK will be available in 2018 and a third season will follow.  Other comedies on Nordic World’s line up were the Swedish shows Small Town Love and Summer with the In-Laws (Bob Film).

TrustNordisk
The leading Nordic sales company was back in the Palais with its own stand for the first time in three years, a clear sign of the company’s new commitment to drama series. The Norwegian thriller Twin starring Kristoffer Hivju, attracted a lot of interested and received pre-buy offers from major territories, according to TV Sales Manager Peter Ahlén who wanted to wait until AFM to finalise the deals. The show produced by Nordisk Film Norway will be delivered in 2019.

Two quality Danish period mini-series were pitched for the first time in Cannes A Fortunate Man by Bille August (formerly Lucky Per) produced by Nordisk Film Production, and Finding Home produced by Zentropa. Ahlén said he expected to launch the period shows in Berlin.

•  YLE Sales 
  Maria Kivinen reported strong interest on the Finnish teen series Nerd: DragonSlayer666, notably from ARD/ZDF’s youth service Funk which had acquired earlier the youth comedy Lovemilla produced as well by Dionysos. The comedy Blind Donna (Production House), about a blind woman on a dating spree and Morbid Stories (Solar Films) were other hot titles, praised for their originality.