MIPTV: APC inks new sales on Man in Room 301, introduces Blackport

A regular distributor of Scandinavian shows, Paris-based About Premium Content (APC) has announced fresh sales on the Elisa Viihde Original Finnish thriller Man in Room 301, launched last fall at Canneseries. On top of earlier deals concluded with the BBC (UK), ARTE (France and Germany), MHZ (USA), NPO (Netherlands), AMC (Spain) RTBF (Belgium) and WOWOW (Japan), new sales have been concluded with SBS (Australia), Rialto (New Zealand), Proximus (Belgium), RTP (Portugal), Canal+ (Poland), and RTS (Switzerland).

Man in Room 301 was co-produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production Finland, Wall to Wall Media in the UK and Inkas Films in Greece.

After APC’s other fruitful collaboration with Elisa Viihde on the spy thriller Shadow Lines, picked up by a string of top platforms including AMC Networks’ Sundance Now for the UK/North America, a second season of 8 episodes is being pitched to global buyers.

Described by APC as “gripping, witty and glamorous spy thriller, the show is co-written by the mother and daughter team Kirsti Manninen and Katri Manninen for Zodiak Finland, with AJ Annila and Alli Haapasalo serving as directors.

Also new on APC’s spring catalogue is the latest Nordic pick up Blackport from Iceland, produced by Vesturport for RÚV.

APC co-founders Laurent Boissel and Emmanuelle Guilbart said they were “immediately hooked by the originality of the series - the rise of a fishing empire set in a small Icelandic village, themes of greed, jealousy and family rivalries. The series definitely offers a fresh look at Iceland, like you’ve never seen it before,” they said.

The anticipated drama was sneak-peeked at the last Göteborg TV Drama Vision by actor Gísli Örn Garðarsson (Ragnarok, Vultures), who co-created the show with Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Trapped, Fortitude) and Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir (The Valhalla Murders, Prisoners), founding members of Vesturport. The series was co-produced by Arte France, with co-financing from DR, NRK, SVT, Yle, Lumiere Group in the Benelux and support among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

APC’s other MIPTV scripted highlights comprise the MIPDrama showcased Lucky Day (8x45’) commissioned by French language Swiss pubcaster RTS and political thriller Pandore (10x52’) set to air later this year on RTBF, as well as the limited Australian show The Unusual Suspects (SBS), French hit Gloria (TF1) and spy thriller Algiers Confidential (Arte/ZDF).

Commenting on market trends, Boissel told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “The market seems to be progressively coming back to normal after a year of massive Covid-driven destabilisation in 2020. Underlying trends are not fundamentally different from pre-Covid, but it’s still a difficult market for distributors. Buyers in the linear space are increasingly selective and picky, and they are generally handling reduced budgets, while global SVOD buyers are still very much focused on their own production originals,” noted Boissel who also welcomed the ”growing space on the market” of niche SVOD players.

APC’s slate was also impacted by Covid-19 as both banner series Algiers Confidential and Keeping Faith Season 3 initially set to shoot in the spring 2020 were delayed by several months. "As a result, we are launching more series than planned in 2021,” said Boissel.