EXCLUSIVE: Antony Root, (pictured) EVP of Original Programming and Production, HBO Europe tells us how he sees his company’s expansion into original TV drama in the Nordic region, under the guidance of Hanne Palmquist.

How important is the Nordic region for HBO and why did you decide to hire Hanne Palmquist and create this new position of Commissioning Editor, VP of Original Programming, HBO Nordic?
Antony Root: The Nordic region is one of the two regions where we have subscription services in Europe. In Central Europe historically we’ve had a linear service and HBO Go. In the Nordics we have an OTT service. In Central Europe we started producing fiction in 2010 and we felt it was time to do it in the Nordics. With her experience and relationships around the region, Hanne was the perfect choice to be our Commissioning Editor. 


Who will Hanne report to and how will projects be greenlit?
AR: Hanne will report to me. Technically all productions, from wherever they are, ultimately are greenlit by the CEO of HBO Europe, through recommendations. 

What type of budget will be available for original drama commissioning?
AR: We never ever in any part of the world talk about the money we spend on original TV drama. 

What is your strategy in terms of volume and type of projects you’d like to see coming out of the region? What will HBO Nordic original drama stand for?
AR: We anticipate producing in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We feel that it will become clear after some time spent on development, which shows are right for us to produce. However, unlike commercial or public service broadcasters, we don’t have to make a certain number of shows every year to fit a schedule.

In terms of genre, we are also flexible. Clearly we want to do shows that are unique and reflect the HBO brand that stands for authenticity, point of view, authorial voice.
Also, any new entrant to a market has to be different from people already established there, so I can’t see a strong argument for doing shows that SVT, DR NRK or the commercial broadcasters would themselves commission.

Will crime and Nordic noir be central to HBO Nordic?
AR: . I think it’s a brave broadcaster or producer who just falls into the slipstream of Nordic noir, 7-8 years into its success. I am not saying we would not do crime, but I think one has to be clever now about the genre one chooses because Nordic noir is very well established and some people might say it has peaked.

Are there any particular Nordic writers/creators you’d like to work with?
AR: If I did I certainly wouldn’t say! But obviously there are many talented writers, directors, producers who are successful both locally and internationally and we want to work with the best people on the shows that we feel are most appropriate for our brand. 

Will you produce both in original language and English language?
AR: Certainly in original language. HBO everywhere offers a lot of English language programming from the US, UK and other places. To set original programming apart is to make it in original language, with recognisable locations, situations and characters. We have no plan to produce purely in English at the moment. I can see possibilities for co-productions where the story requires characters to speak more than one language. But I don’t see at the moment why we would produce a story in English where a Swedish husband would speak to his Swedish wife in English. 

Regarding co-productions, how do you see your various branches collaborate?
AR: We are very story-led. If someone comes with a good story that encourages a collaboration with more than one territory where we offer a service, of course we will look at it. But co-productions can be a double edge sword. I don’t think we will look at co-productions for financial reasons and we’re not in the so-called ‘international’ marketplace, making internationally destined products right from the start from our local market, like the English-language Medici, Masters of Florence, produced in Italy. We’re not in that game.

HBO Europe has been very active in acquiring Scandinavian formats for remakes, such as the Norwegian show Mammon for the Czech Republic and Poland, and Finnish show Easy Living for Hungary. Do you have other such remakes in the works?
AR: We are about to do a version of NRK’s show Eyewitness in Romania. It will start shooting on May 9. We are also shooting a second season of the Polish version of Mammon, called Pact. We are also shooting a second season of the Finnish series Easy Living in Hungary. 

As a general observation, in Central Europe, we are moving quickly into producing original shows based on local authors, rather than importing formats.

The formats have been extremely helpful in getting us going in that region and have served as writing schools. There was no heritage in that part of the world of the kind of screenwriting that HBO wanted to do, so we had to bring in a new generation of writers to align with what we think we should be doing there. It’s different of course in Scandinavia as it’s a much more mature market both creatively and commercially.

How do you feel about the competition on the market with so many major players jumping on the bandwagon of original TV drama?
AR: Yes it’s a very competitive marketplace. But we’re fortunate because we are part of a mothership that has frankly led the way for the past 25 years or more. We’re not fearful of competition. But clearly there is a lot of drama being made around the world. I think generally speaking that has driven up the quality and that can only be a good thing. 

Would HBO be interested in acquiring stakes in production companies like Studiocanal or Freemantle/Bertelsmann?
AR: No that’s not our plan. The position Hanne has been hired for is Commissioning Editor. This was carefully chosen because we are going to commission TV drama. We’re not a studio, like Studiocanal or Freemantle. They have different goals. Our goal is to offer existing subscribers and potential new subscribers in the Nordics something that will entice them to stay with us or join us.