A member of the jury for the International Panorama section at the 9th edition of Series Mania in Lille, Norwegian producer Synnøve Hørsdal, who runs Maipo Film, has a number of hit series to her credit, including State of Happiness (2018), The Fortress [+lee también:
entrevista: John Kare Raake
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crítica
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crítica
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Cineuropa: What are the current trends in the European TV series industry?
Synnøve Hørsdal: Generally speaking, everyone is looking for greater security due to the sector’s decline. Everyone is avoiding taking risks, so more than ever we’re seeing content we’ve seen before, well-known IPs, and series that have already proven their worth. Obviously, this isn’t very conducive to innovation. But as I’m an optimist, I think this is a phase that will eventually turn around.

What about funding in this new landscape?
Everything takes longer. When the sector was booming, everyone needed more content than was available, whereas today there is more content than we need. If you manage to convince an initial broadcaster or streaming platform to back you, the project eventually comes to fruition, but it takes a long time. Coming from the film industry, I’m very used to co-productions and piecing together small elements, and, coming from a small region, this is central to how I approach setting up our projects, but it also takes time. And even public funding takes longer than ever.

When you’re developing your series, do you initially target a local audience and then expand if things go well, or do you have an international audience in mind from the outset?
We aim to appeal to an international audience because the stories we tell are at the top end of the spectrum for Norwegian drama series. As these projects are generally a little more expensive, they need to be able to attract international funding. However, we have never produced ‘Nordic Noir’-style series, which would provide easier access to the German market. Instead, we produce dramas with a touch of action or suspense, which tend to explore certain societal issues. It’s more difficult, but as we’ve been active on the international market for some time, we know how to go about finding the right partners. And for all our TV productions, we’ve made use of international tax shelters.

What changes will the Council of Europe’s brand-new convention on the co-production of series bring (news)?
For some countries, securing public funding is very important, and this will encourage signatory countries to focus on public funding for TV series. At present, we really need productions made by independent producers to avoid falling into a mainstream narrative that offends no one but risks entertaining very few people. If we want to continue exploring our society, as well as the very essence of Europe, we really need independent producers and their productions. In this respect, this convention sends a strong signal.

What is the current status of The Creatives alliance, of which you are a member alongside eight other independent production companies, mainly European?
We got in touch in 2021 to see if we could still remain independent, as everyone else was being taken over by large corporations. We’ve been meeting on Zoom for an hour every Monday for the past five years. We work very well together and will very soon be trying to commit ourselves further by getting involved in each other’s companies, whilst remaining in our respective countries and maintaining separate structures.

This helps us remain independent. Because we firmly believe in the importance of the independent producer. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that independent producers are under threat, but what does the title of “producer” actually mean? In the credits, there are now up to 15 producers listed: everyone gets or claims this title, even broadcasters, even though they are undoubtedly in a completely different line of work to ours. We need to make it clear what the reality is, who it is that actually produces and creates original content. I think producers have gone too far because they needed funding and, in exchange, they handed out the title of producer too readily.

Is support from the Programme MEDIA crucial?
It is essential for us. It would have been very difficult for us to remain independent without this support, particularly when it comes to developing projects. It gives us some breathing space. Because finding the right project and the right way to tell a story with a creative team takes time. And it’s all the more important for us because Norway is a small country. Without this funding, we wouldn’t have been able to produce ambitious series with real production value.

Are you concerned about the future of the Agora EU programme?
Fortunately, I am lucky enough not to be driven by fear. When I was young, I was certain it went without saying that there would be more democracies, more human rights, more gender equality and more equality in general. And yet, all of a sudden, we are witnessing a decline in democracy. And we know just how fragile all this is in Europe, we who thought we were living in a safe Western world. But we belong to a large family that shares the same values, values that are under threat. Independent productions help to foster dialogue and understanding within our society. Europeans cannot simply content themselves with realising that they need a military force. Because what use is an army if there is no culture to defend?

What are Maipo Film’s current projects?
We have a few projects in the development and advanced stages, particularly with the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, but it’s still a bit early to talk about them. One of them will be funded mainly at a local level, but I believe it has strong international potential. It will focus heavily on the current state of the world. I enjoy working on major issues viewed from a modest perspective, as in our series State of Happiness, which shows how Norwegian society and the Western world have changed with the sharp rise in general wealth. With this new project, we are undertaking a similar exploration of crime, its impact on society and the way these phenomena manifest themselves, once again, on a small scale.

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