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With U.S. co-production money leaving the room, European public broadcasters are banding together to get high-end drama over the line. The drama collectives out there include The Alliance, the Nordic Twelve, and the New8. The latter set out their stall at Seriencamp this week and showed footage of shows in production.

Much of the narrative around premium drama has been dominated by the streamers in recent times in Europe, but as some, such Paramount+, pull back, and others redraw their local programming plans, the spotlight is on the continent’s public broadcasters. They continue to commission, but faced with tighter programming budgets and the rising cost of drama, have joined forces to spread the load.

“It’s not about making profit, we are public broadcasters… it’s also part of our mission to support local ecosystems and I think that’s the biggest difference with us and the streamers,...

The Danish film “The Venus Effect” unfurls within the deceptively tranquil confines of rural Denmark, where the protagonist, Liv, a woman in her twenties, moves through a life pre-plotted with an agreeable boyfriend and the familial rhythms of an apple orchard.

Hers is a world of expected progressions, of seasons turning reliably. Into this carefully cultivated existence arrives Andrea, an agent of vibrant disruption. Characterized by an artistic spirit and a free, somewhat chaotic energy, Andrea is the antithesis of Liv’s measured reality.

Their immediate, almost perplexing, connection forms the film’s magnetic core, signaling not merely a romantic deviation but the inception of a profound journey into self-understanding. The narrative sets its sights on exploring the often-unforeseen paths to realizing one’s desires, charting the subtle and significant transformations that follow such awakenings.

Charting the Tides of New Desire

The dynamic between Liv and Andrea ignites with a palpable chemistry,...

Generations, a new six-part family mystery from Dr Drama and creator Anna Emma Haudal (Doggystyle), is ready for its Danish television launch following its world premiere at the Series Mania festival. The show centers on deeply buried family secrets brought to light by a grim discovery. Here’s the Lowdown: The story begins when a mummified […]

Danish Family Mystery Generations Set for April Debut After Series Mania Premiere...

In Danish series ‘Generations’ created by Anna Emma Haudal, it’s all in the family.

“I’ve always been interested in family dynamics. It drives everything I write,” she tells Variety ahead of the show’s premiere at French Series Mania, Europe’s most important TV festival.

“I was very interested in epigenetics. When I realized I was a part of my grandmother when she was pregnant with my mom, because I was my mom’s egg, it blew my mind. Everything she’s been through during her pregnancy affected me too. I turned into a real nerd, eager to dig into mysterious connections between family members, and that led me to these generations of women.”

Still, it’s not just about similarities between loved ones. During renovation in Copenhagen’s apartment building, a mummified body of a child is discovered. 85-year-old Martha immediately confesses to the crime, but her daughter,...

Dr Sales, the international sales arm of Danish pubcaster Dr, is launching at Mipcom in Cannes Dr Drama’s latest event series “Generations,” mixing crime, mystery and family secrets.

Making her debut in long-form serialised drama is Anna Emma Haudal, behind DR3’s hit youth series “Doggystyle” for which she won a national Robert Award for best short series in 2019. Haudal shares the writing credits with seasoned writer Rune-Schjøtt-Wieth and co-directs with Thomas Daneskov (“Wild Men”) and Ville Gideon Sörman (“I See You”).

Toplining the drama is rising talent Alice Bier who landed the title role in Netflix’s period drama “Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction,” after an appearance in her mother Susanne Bier’s “The Night Manager.” In other main roles are seasoned actresses Ulla Henningsen, Anette Støvelbæk as well as Simon Sears (“Ride Upon the Storm”).

The series opens with the discovery of a mummified infant during a...

The companies are already working together on two forthcoming films.

Danish production company Motor has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Scanbox Entertainment. The pact covers “several years”.

The companies are already working together on two forthcoming films, feminist historical drama As in Heaven by Tea Lindeburg and offbeat romance The Venus Effect by Anna Emma Haudal.

Scanbox will release The Venus Effect later in 2021 and As In Heaven in early 2022. The latter screens in Toronto Discovery and San Sebastian’s main Competition.

Also lined up as a collaboration is Stranger by Mads Hedegaard, a Stone-Age thriller that will shoot...

Danish helmer Janus Metz’s next feature project after Amazon Studios’ “All the Old Knives,” starring Laurence Fischburne and Chris Pine, will be the Danish drama “Bastard Love,” produced by Jesper Morthorst and Lise Orheim Stender for Motor.

“Bastard Love” will be Metz’s sophomore Scandinavian feature film after the multi-awarded ”Borg vs. McEnroe.” The project is co-penned by Metz and Danish author Kamilla Hega Holst from her acclaimed novel “På Træk,” winner of the 2015 Blixen Literary Award.

The intense psychological drama centers on a woman in her late thirties who leaves her failed marriage, ex-husband and two kids, and ends up in Pattaya, Thailand, where her retired grandfather is living with a Thai woman. There, she starts a relationship with a trans prostitute and throws herself into the dark underbelly of the city, where anything is possible, including redefining herself.

The Thai setting is familiar territory for Holst whose grandfather lived in Pattaya,...

Poland’s Opus Film and Scandinavian distributor Scanbox are teaming with fast-rising Danish production house Motor on Mads Hedegaard’s directorial debut “Stranger,” co-penned with Jesper Fink. Tagged by Motor as “‘Apocalypto’ meets ‘The Revenant,’” “Stranger” will be pitched virtually on Feb. 5 by Hedegaard and producer Andreas Hjortdal, at the Discovery section of the Göteborg Film Festival’s Nordic Film Market industry showcase.

The film goes back to pre-historic times, 6,000 years ago, when migrant farmers virtually replaced the hunter-gatherer populations of northern Europe. When 16-year old Aathi and her family -the first farmers ever – arrive from the south in the country now known as Denmark, all except Aathi and her younger brother are killed by local hunters. To survive, the two youngsters are forced to live with the hunters’ tribe in the eerie forest and integrate. But when Aathi becomes pregnant and the child is forcefully adopted by the tribe,...

Projects include period drama ‘The Emigrants’ and ‘Margrete – Queen Of The North’, starring Trine Dyrholm.

Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market has revealed the 13 Nordic films that will be presented as works in progress at its online market.

They include two big-budget historical epics, Charlotte Sieling’s Margrete – Queen Of The North, starring Trine Dyrholm as a powerful ruler in the early 15th century; and Erik Poppe’s The Emigrants, about Swedes moving to America in the 19th century.

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Further features set to be previewed include Bille August’s drama The Pact, about Karen Blixen’s...

In the online era, finding global content that wins over younger audiences, and the advertising dollars they attract, poses one of TV’s biggest challenges. Digital savvy under-35s have more entertainment options than any previous generation. For starters, there are Netflix, Facebook Watch and YouTube. But the right show, smartly promoted and distributed, can still cut through, as the international success of epic drama “Game of Thrones” and formats including “Love Island” and “The Masked Singer” have proved. Commissioning millennial-friendly, high-end fare is one way broadcasters are competing with the tech giants.

“‘Game of Thrones’ is a global phenomenon with youth audience on linear TV,” says Julian Aquilina, a researcher at U.K. media analyst Enders. “Every time it returns, the show gets bigger and bigger. Clearly with the right shows you can still attract young audiences. It’s just that a lot more of those shows are being bought up by Svod services.