International venture in TV series development

New cooperation to reach viewers
The selection of television series has completely exploded over the last few years. Audiences largely choose international successes, but domestic and Scandinavian series are also showing good ratings. One example is the current Swedish series Vår tid är nu, which has had 1.5 million viewers per episode, according to MMS.

Competition for viewers is stiff, and for all channels and VOD services it is a question of investing in the right ideas to attract an audience. Here, we are seeing more collaboration between traditional television channels and the new streaming alternatives. Vår tid är nu was first shown on SVT, and could then also be seen on Viaplay. The new version of Hassel, which premièred on Viafree, turned up later on the programme listings for TV3. A third example is Swedish Dicks, which is produced by a Swedish and an American company, and in parallel with distribution in the US was shown first on Viaplay and then on TV3. 

Investment for international success
Developing a television series from idea to finished product is a costly process that often takes years. The work requires access to competence – primarily in the form of relevant scriptwriters – and external financial resources. There is much work still to be done for the industry to sustainably manage developing internationally marketable series projects, but Lindholmen Science Park has come a long way in creating an attractive environment for scriptwriters, creators, and producers. The combination of the Manusfabriken initiative and funding of strong innovative ideas is hard to find in other parts of Scandinavia. 

With funding from the City of Gothenburg and from the Göteborg & Co. Trade & Industry Group, Lindholmen Science Park is now taking the next step in its ambition to create internationally relevant conditions for the industry. Through Manusfabriken, Lindholmen Science Park has established cooperation with TorinoFilmLab, which has acknowledged competence in project development of both full-length films and television series. For example, no less than six of the 92 candidates for the Oscar in Best Foreign Language Film were developed in cooperation with the team from TorinoFilmLab. 

Swedish projects selected for TorinoFilmLab
On the television side, TorinoFilmLab’s SeriesLab is one of Europe’s foremost initiatives for series development. SeriesLab is a five-month intensive course, with workshops in Amsterdam and Gothenburg before the conclusion at Series Mania in Paris. Amid stiff competition, two Swedish projects were among the nine selected to participate in the workshop series: AKA Suzanna by Jessika Jankert and Lovisa Löwhagen, and Cheaters Inc by Soni Jörgensen.

Lindholmen and Manusfabriken’s collaboration with TorinoFilmLab will provide creators and scriptwriters with new inspiration, skills, and contacts, and clearly place Western Sweden on the map as a region of interest for development in film and television.  

More on SeriesLab and TorinoFilmLab 

More on the participating Swedish projects

More about Manusfabriken