Kjartan Þór Þórðarson forstjóri Sagafilm Nordic ræddi nýlega við Drama Quarterly um þá ákvörðun fyrirtækisins að setja upp starfsstöð í Stokkhólmi, stöðuna í norrænu sjónvarpsefni og verkefnin framundan hjá fyrirtækinu.
Kjartan Þór segir meðal annars um nýju starfsstöðina:
“Our goal is to up the game by accessing different markets from Stockholm where we will develop more ambitious projects with international partners and handle our remakes around the world.”
Now, just a few months on, Thordarson says Sagafilm’s new international strategy is already beginning to pay off, with the company’s flagship new drama Case [Réttur 3] being prepared to hit screens later this year.
He tells DQ: “It has changed everything. I’m closer to the Scandinavian buyers, which is very important if we’re to expand. I have seen quite a difference – a lot of people come to visit Stockholm to meet producers and channels, which you don’t see in Iceland. All the US channels seem to be looking at Scandinavia in a big way, and I profit from that. It makes sense being close to the market. It has done dramatic things for us.
“We hit it at the right time. The appetite for Scandinavian content is not losing ground – it’s still growing. What we’re seeing this year is there are so many more channels interested in buying this type of content and also getting in earlier, which is great for producers.”
Og um breyttar aðstæður í framleiðslu sjónvarpsefnis segir hann meðal annars:
“We used to look at Iceland as our primary market, but now we look at Europe as our primary market,” he says. “We’re financing our series completely differently now. In the past we financed 90% in Iceland and perhaps brought one Scandinavian channel on board. Now we’re looking at projects where we’re financing half out of Iceland and the rest internationally. It’s a completely different way of approaching things.
“The projects have changed as well; they’ve become more international. We look for stories we know will work in more than one country. We are even looking to commission things that are set in Iceland, but are not commissioned for Icelandic channels. Maybe we will sell it to an Icelandic channel. So we’re definitely doing things differently and looking for things that are global and fit into this coproduction model with characters from more than one country.”
Viðtalið í heild má lesa hér: The Saga continues | Drama Quarterly
