21/03/2024 - The scheme aims to “boost” promising scripted TV series that are based on “impactful, true events”

Michael Noer, the director of the Danish project Deadline (© Vera de Kok)

On 20 March, the European Writers Club (EWC) unveiled the six projects selected for its Boosting Impact programme. The announcement was made at Lille’s Series Mania.

The Boosting Impact programme aims to accelerate and “boost” scripted TV series that are based on impactful, true events. It is co-financed by the European Union, and is supported by key partners, including AGADIC/Xunta de Galicia, the Estonian Film Institute, Screen Ireland/NTA, SGAE, Vision Denmark, Den Danske Filmskole and MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, with additional backing from the Danish Film Institute, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Danish Producers Rights Fund, the Danish Producers Association, the Copenhagen Film Fund, Dynamic Television, Lumière Benelux, Filmax, the Danish Writers Guild and Focal.

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“We are thrilled with the high quality, importance, diversity and variety of projects selected for Boosting Impact as well as the potential impact on our European ways of life that each project has. This initiative highlights our belief in the transformative power of stories based on real events. We look forward to the creative journey ahead, accelerating collaboration and being in on bringing these captivating stories to life,” commented Thomas Gammeltoft, EWC CEO and head.

In detail, the six selected teams will “embark on a collective journey, guided by a creative framework designed to maximise collaboration between writers, producers, broadcasters and sales executives. […] Through three camps, facilitated by Le Groupe Ouest and its tailor-made methodology, the teams will practically explore and further develop their stories, utilising insights into world building and cognitive sciences, while involving the original source material in the process,” the official press release continues. The teams are made up of writers, producers and “content providers” – usually researchers, directors, documentarians, scientists or other experts.

The first project, titled Deadline (Denmark), unfolds in the world of football. It is a thriller about organised crime in sports, with a young female sports journalist as the investigating heroine. It is set during the real-life Euro 2020 in Copenhagen. The team is made up of writer Jesper Fink, producer Sille Sterll, of Nordisk Film, and director Michael Noer, who is also attached as content provider.

The second project is White Gold (France), billed as “an international thriller series set against the backdrop of glass-eel trafficking.” It is penned by Mehdi Ouahab and produced by Jean-François Le Corre for Vivement Lundi !, with journalist, writer and photographer Nicolas Legendre serving as content provider.

Coming up next is The Cloud (Germany), set in the very near future. In it, a father is trying to upload his daughter’s pain, a couple is deleting their memories to forget their grief, and a young man is hosting other people’s emotions – all using the Emopod, a device for uploading, storing or outsourcing one’s feelings, physical sensations or memories. The team is made up of writer Sophie Linnenbaum, and producers Britta Strampe, of Bandenfilm, and Jochen Laube, of Sommerhaus Serien, with Italian researcher Michele Farisco attached as content provider.

The fourth project is Norway’s Strictly Confidential. It zooms in on events unfolding in 2011, when the international community was preparing to kick Libya’s dictator out of power. Back then, a secret team from Norway was racing against time to mediate between rebels and the regime. The project is co-written by Anna Bache-Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliassen, and staged by Rebecca Mathisen for Paradox Film. The content provider is academic, politician and diplomat Henrik Thune.

The fifth project is Spanish and is titled The Last Flight of the Condor. Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998 and accused by a Spanish judge of crimes against humanity. Valentina, a victim of the dictator’s regime, infiltrates his inner circle for the 503 days that the trial for extradition to Spain lasts, in order to exact her revenge. The project is penned by Rodrigo Martín Antoranz and produced by Alberto Rull for Vertice360. Journalist Mario Amorós is the team’s content provider.

The last project, Gold, comes from Switzerland. This neutral country is a central hub for the illegal international gold trade: two-thirds of global gold is secretly refined in the heart of Europe, and then sold on the world market with the label of being clean “Swiss gold”. The series follows the bloody path of this dangerous trade. The team includes writers Christian Wehrlin and Pascal Glatz, producer Stefan Eichenberger, of Contrast Film, and researcher Muriel Côte serving as content provider.

Each team will host an emerging writer carefully picked by La Cité Européenne des Scénaristes (CES). The six selected writers are Miriam Suad Buehler (Germany), Jessica Mackie Hunter (Czech Republic), Kensley Jules (France), Petteri Lassila (Finland), Tania Notaro (Ireland) and Eve Tisler (Estonia).

In addition to following a team of established creatives, the six writers will take part in courses and workshops to hone their skills, while developing their own TV-series project in pairs. The three pairs will pitch their projects in front of their peers and industry professionals during the final two-day pitch conference, set to unspool in Copenhagen in September.

Here is the full list of selected projects:

Deadline (Denmark)
Director/content provider: Michael Noer
Writer: Jesper Fink
Producer: Sille Sterll (Nordisk Film)

White Gold (France)
Writer: Mehdi Ouahab
Producer: Jean-François Le Corre (Vivement Lundi !)
Content provider: Nicolas Legendre

The Cloud (Germany)
Writer: Sophie Linnenbaum
Producers: Britta Strampe (Bandenfilm), Jochen Laube (Sommerhaus Serien)
Content provider: Michele Farisco

Strictly Confidential (Norway)
Writers: Anna Bache-Wiig, Siv Rajendram Eliassen
Producer: Rebecca Mathisen (Paradox Film)
Content provider: Henrik Thune

The Last Flight of the Condor (Spain)
Writer: Rodrigo Martín Antoranz
Producer: Alberto Rull (Vertice360)
Content provider: Mario Amorós

Gold (Switzerland)
Writers: Christian Wehrlin, Pascal Glatz
Producer: Stefan Eichenberger (Contrast Film)
Content provider: Muriel Côte