News

REinvent International Sales has picked up “Fatal Crossing,” a crime series based on Lone Theils’s bestselling debut novel was published in 20 countries.

The eight-episode series is produced by Shuuto Arctic, the banner behind “Outlier” and “Catch and Release,” two popular Nordic crime series. The Scandinavian cast is led by Marie Sandø (“The Marco Effect”), alongside Jesper Paasch (“The Rain”), Anna Stokholm (“The New Nurses”), Siir Tilif (“Those Who Kill”) and Viktor Hjelmsø (“Boys”).

Created and written by Arne Berggren and Kristine Berg, who previously teamed on “Catch and Release” and “Outlier,” “Fatal Crossing” spans two different periods in time, the 1980’s and present time.

The story of “Fatal Crossing” revolves around Nora Sand (Sandø), a journalist working as a foreign correspondent for a Danish newspaper who spends most of her time in London. She’s at the peak of her career when she’s accused of having had an...

Anders Jensen, the sleek and mild-mannered president and CEO of Nent Group, has transformed the company’s Scandinavian streamer, Viaplay, into Netflix’s biggest European competitor since taking its helm in 2018. Jensen, who describes himself as a “content nerd,” is the recipient of Variety’s Vanguard Award, which will be presented at Mipcom in Cannes this year. He is behind the company’s big strategic move into scripted content.

Jensen joined the company in 2014 when it was part of the listed conglomerate Modern Times Group, before it split into two companies and rebranded its entertainment assets into Nent Group. Jensen says having a focused approach is a prerequisite to have a chance to thrive in today’s increasingly concentrated media landscape.

“A lot of companies that end up in conglomerates typically tend to be ‘de-focused,’ but if you want to transform your business, then you need to be laser-focused on...

Fremantle has completed its previously announced acquisition of 12 production labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark from Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent Group).

The Rtl Group-owned “Got Talent” producer will use their new assets — 12 companies in all across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark — to form Fremantle Nordics.

The Scandinavian Nent Group had its unscripted assets on the sales block since early 2020. The companies included are Strong Productions (Denmark); Grillifilms, Moskito Television and Production House (Finland); Monster, Novemberfilm, One Big Happy Family, Playroom, Rakett and Strix TV (Norway); Baluba and Strix Television (Sweden).

The companies join Fremantle’s existing Nordic production outfits, which operate as Fremantle in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as the separate Miso Films, producers of “The Investigation,” “The Rain” and “Those Who Kill,” and Blu, which makes “X Factor.”

The deal, which was announced in July, has now been approved by the region’s regulators.

Viaplay, the ambitious Scandinavian streaming service from Nent Group, is about to grow its footprint in several key markets around the world.

The company, whose recent hit shows include “Porni,” “Those Who Kill” and “Honour,” just unveiled its plan to launch in the U.K. in the second half of 2022, and in Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Austria in 2023. Viaplay is currently available in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland, on top of Scandinavia, and is aiming to be present in 16 markets by the end of 2023.

Anders Jensen, Nent Group president and CEO, spoke to Variety about how the company will capitalize on the fan base for Nordic noir content; position itself in today’s crowded streaming landscape; and navigate fragmented content rights.

Congratulations on announcing a launch in five more markets. I was expecting France to be part of it!

Well, France is definitely within our scope, and there will be more chapters in our journey.

Fremantle has swooped in for Nordic Entertainment Group’s unscripted assets, Variety can reveal.

The Rtl Group-owned “Got Talent” producer will use their new assets — 12 companies in all across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark — to form Fremantle Nordics. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close later this year.

The Scandinavian Nent Group has had its unscripted assets on the sales block since early 2020. The companies included are Strong Productions (Denmark); Grillifilms, Moskito Television and Production House (Finland); Monster, Novemberfilm, One Big Happy Family, Playroom, Rakett and Strix TV (Norway); Baluba and Strix Television (Sweden).

One of the best known formats from Nent’s unscripted roster is “The Farm,” which has aired in 50 territories, and throws a group of men and women on a farm to hack country life.

The companies join Fremantle’s existing Nordic production outfits, which operate as Fremantle in Denmark, Norway,...

Nordic production and distribution powerhouse Sf Studios and sales agency REinvent International Sales have revealed a sneak peek of Charlotte Sieling’s epic period drama “Margrete – Queen of the North,” starring Trine Dyrholm, a Berlin Silver Bear winner for best actress with Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Commune.”

Dyrholm, whose credits also include Susanne Bier’s Oscar winner “In a Better World” and May el-Toukhy’s “Queen of Hearts,” toplines as Margrete the First, who is considered the most powerful ruler in Scandinavian history, as she gathered Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a peace-oriented union.

With a big budget by Scandinavian standards, “Margrete – Queen of the North” marks the first biopic movie about Margrete the First, a woman ahead of her time who sacrificed herself completely for her vision and for her countries. “Margrete -Queen of the North” is one of the titles set to be presented in the work in...

Viaplay, the thriving streaming service owned by the Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent Group), is set to launch in Iceland on April 1.

Viaplay is already a leading streamer in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. With the upcoming roll-out in Iceland, the service will available in all five Nordic countries.

The Viaplay series and movies package will be priced at Isk 599 ($4.27) per month in Iceland. As in other markets, Viaplay will be available in Iceland through direct subscriptions and third-party partnerships.

“Viaplay is a Nordic streaming success story and completing our regional footprint with Iceland is a very natural next step,” said Anders Jensen, Nent Group President and CEO.

The executive said “Viaplay already has 1.6 million subscribers across the Nordic region and is built to scale quickly.”

One of the world’s most connected countries, Iceland boasts 75% of households which have access to fibre networks, and 359,000 mobile broadband subscriptions for a population of 360,000 people.

GÖTEBORG, Sweden — Scandi sales shingle The Yellow Affair has added to its Göteborg lineup the Swedish series “The Chosen Ones” (“Det Utvalda”), currently playing on Swedish pubcaster Svt’s streaming service Svt Play.

The short form sci-fi thriller stars a strong Swedish female cast of model-turned actress Frida Gustavsson (“Swoon”), singer/actress Amy Deasismont, Felice Jankell (“Young Sophie Bell”), Tind Soneby (“Modus”), Segal Mohamed, Isabella Touma Pettersson and Astrid Morberg.

Liza Morberg, Christian Hallman and Stina Hammar direct, from a screenplay by Leif Alexis and Henrik Lilliér. Erik Magnusson produces for top Swedish indie Anagram.

The show kicks off with 12 girls who wake up in a secluded mansion, without knowing how or why they got there. As they realize they are locked in, the situation in the house threatens to escalate. But the mansion also harbors a dark secret. The girls are part of a medical experiment. If they don...

On Sept. 13, the cast and crew of Mediapro’s upcoming dramatic thriller “The Head” gathered at a swanky Santa Cruz de Tenerife hotel to kick off promotional duties for this English-language series, which will wrap shooting later this month.

It was day 50 of production, and the cast had been working late, rushing to get every last shot before heading off to Iceland for one last week. Having only wrapped the previous night’s shoot less than 10 hours prior, all were in high spirits for that morning’s round of junkets with the Spanish, Japanese and English-language press, and for the set visit that then followed.

Variety was on-hand for the day’s events, and can offer the following take-aways from the visit.

Limited Series Appeal

The six-episode limited series took shape when Ran Tellem, creator of the Israeli drama “Prisoners of War” and executive producer of its American remake “Homeland,...

Exclusive: Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak has a new series. Margeaux, an international drama about the Munich Olympic massacre, hails from Scandinavian Svod service Viaplay and Leaving Neverland distributor Kew Media.

The drama is told from the point of view of an Israeli Mossad psychologist as well as the Palestinian co-ordinator behind the attack. The series will be produced in multiple languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, English and German.

Margeaux, which is set to set production this fall, is the latest straight-to-series order for the Netherlands-born, Israeli-raised Hasak. It follows the Jennifer Lopez-fronted cop drama Shades of Blue, which ran for three seasons on NBC, as well as Hasak’s adaptation of Norwegian crime thriller Øyevitne as Eyewitness for USA Network. He is also developing a U.S. remake of German drama The Last Cop with Red Arrow Studios International and Universal Television. Additionally, Hasak has teamed up with Dynamic TV for a U.

Writer-producer Chris Levinson has signed a two-year overall deal with Paramount Television to develop and write series projects for the studio, which is being run by Nicole Clemens.

Levinson started her career writing for Party of Five and has worked on numerous shows, including a stint as co-executive producer on FX drama Tyrant during Clemens’ tenure as Evp Series Development there.

“I first had the pleasure of working with Chris when I was the network executive on Tyrant, and subsequently had the great fortune to develop with her as a producer,” said Clemens, who was named president of Paramount Television last fall after a stint as a producer at Anonymous Content. “She is a supremely talented story teller and I’m thrilled to team up with her again and have her in the family.”

Levinson’s series credits also include Law & Order, the original Charmed, Touch and Those Who Kill.

Circle of Confusion TV Studios, a joint venture between Circle of Confusion and ITV Studios America, has partnered with Amazon Studios to develop Thirteen, an hourlong drama based on Mike Oeming and Dan Berman’s Image Comics graphic novel Six. The project hails from Stefan Jaworski (Those Who Kill), who will write, and Michael Dinner (Justified), who will direct. Circle of Confusion TV Studios will serve as the lead studio.

Thirteen is a sci-fi thriller about a cold-blooded alien agent who comes to Earth to track down and bring back 12 alien defectors. As a result of her actions, she starts to experience the same thing that infected the others – human emotion. Feeling joy, anger, love and hate for the first time in her life, she decides to stay on Earth to find the truth the twelve were seeking, before her own emotional awakening transforms and ultimately destroys her.

Jaworski, Dinner,...

The A&E network is gearing up for the release of Those to Kill and now actress Chloë Sevigny has signed on to help lead the cast. So far, there’s nothing not to like about this upcoming American series.

Those to Kill will be based upon the Danish crime series of the same name. Well, in Danish, it’s called Den som dræber. Don’t forget that adapting a Danish series has worked for A&E already. Their hit, The Killing, ran for two critically applauded seasons in the States and was based on Denmark’s series, Forbrydelsen, which translates more closely to “the crime”.

The Danish Those to Kill show was inspired by the crime novels of Danish author, Elsebeth Egholm. There are at least ten books, so let’s hope our upcoming version of Those to Kill lasts more than just two seasons.

The series tells the story of two people,...

Chloe Sevigny has landed another to-die-for role, signing on to headline the A&E drama pilot Those Who Kill.

The Big Love actress — whose DirecTV murder-for-hire series Hit & Miss will not be returning for a second season — will play Catherine, a detective who possesses a deep understanding of the serial killers she hunts.

X-Files vet Glen Morgan penned the script for the pilot, which is based on the Danish series Den Som Dræber. Morgan will serve as an exec producer alongside Imagine TV’s Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo. The pilot shoots this fall in Pittsburgh under the direction of...

Chloe Sevigny has joined the cast of A&E's Those Who Kill pilot based on the Danish series Den Som Dræber Variety reports that the project from Fox 21 scripted by TV's Glen Morgan (X-Files) tells of Catherine (Sevigny), a police detective as well as forensic profiler who hunt down serial killers. Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, The Grey) directs while Jonas Allen, Peter Bose, Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo and Morgan along are executive producing. The pilot starts shooting in Pittsburgh, Pa this fall. Sevigny of American Horror Story, can be seen next in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Lovelace, alongside Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Juno Temple, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick...

Chloe Sevigny has joined the cast of A&E's Those Who Kill pilot based on the Danish series Den Som Dræber Variety reports that the project from Fox 21 scripted by TV's Glen Morgan (X-Files) tells of Catherine (Sevigny), a police detective as well as forensic profiler who hunt down serial killers. Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, The Grey) directs while Jonas Allen, Peter Bose, Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo and Morgan along are executive producing. The pilot starts shooting in Pittsburgh, Pa this fall. Sevigny of American Horror Story, can be seen next in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Lovelace, alongside Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Juno Temple, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick...