Prime Video Nordics Plans “More Feminine Point Of View” In Originals

Prime Video‘s push into Danish originals began this year with Pilou Asbæk-starring Snake Killer, which is now serving as a milestone in a charge across the Scandinavian region, according to Amazon MGM Studios Nordics originals chief Emilia Widstrand.

“We’re really trying to build on that psychological thriller and crime vibe, doing it with strong creators and within established Nordic genres,” she told Deadline in an interview. Looking further ahead, Widstrand will be seeking to more directly target women and younger viewers too, as the service expands.

Snake Killer launched in January, with the four-parter followings a notorious Copenhagen narcotics police unit, Uropatruljen, a heavy-handed force that operated with relative autonomy between 1965 and 2001. The story sees Brian “Smiley” Petersen (Asbæk) leading his unit in a desperate war against a brutal heroin baron. Anders Ølholm is the writer and director.

Over in Norway, drama series Rinnan, about the infamous Norwegian traitor and Gestapo agent Henry Rinnan, is also set to launch. A co-production with Norwegian broadcaster TV2, the Miso Film show points to how Amazon is willing to share rights and window originals to bolster budgets.

Both series appeal to men, who have formed the backbone of viewing on Prime Video in the Nordics, but recent successes with unscripted shows will see the content mix changing in the future.

“Moving forward, we’ll have a more feminine point of view,” said Widstrand. “When we started out, we had a very broad audience, and we’ve really seen the appeal of female-led stories through global hits like The Idea of You and Pretty Little Liars, as well as unscripted shows like LOL: Last One Laughing. We’re really building on that, alongside our crime audience.”

As such, new original out of Denmark, Murder in the Dark, a four-part series from SAM Productions and Amazon MGM Studio based upon influential Danish literary icon Dan Turèll’s book series, is designed to appeal to a broad audience. It follows a retired and hard-bitten “nameless journalist” played by Michael Falch and his daughter Sophie (Katinka Lærke Petersen), who is an ambitious police detective.

Widstrand became Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Head of Nordic Originals in August last year, as we revealed at the time, to replace Karin Lindström, who later joined HBO Max. The two are credited internally with building Prime Video’s local originals team from scratch, making her the natural choice for the top post when it came available.

In May, this year, she added acquisitions duties following a restructure that saw the departure of Prime Video Nordics head Andreas Hjertø, and recently ordered a Swedish original, Sarek, a four-part psychological thriller based Ulf Kvensler’s debut novel about a group of friends on a hiking tripe that takes a dangerous turn.

That, Widstrand said, talks to a desire to age down the audience, with a cast led by Felix Sandman, Kitt Walker Johansson, Alva Bratt and Nora Rios, and to focus on well-known IP. “It really speaks to that strategy,” she added.

We sat down with Widstrand to pick her brains on the future for Prime Video Nordics and its originals slate.

DEADLINE: Emilia, you spoke at the Copenhagen TV Festival in August. What was your message to producers and the industry about what Amazon needs and is looking for from the Nordics?

Emilia Widstrand: We’ve been expanding our drama slate. It takes a long time to develop, and we wanted to take that time. Our first Danish original was Snake Killer, which was very successful, so we’re really trying to build on that psychological thriller and crime vibe, doing it with strong creators and within established Nordic genres.

Moving forward, we’ll have a more feminine point of view. When we started out, we had a very broad audience, and we’ve really seen the appeal of female-led stories through global hits like The Idea of You and Pretty Little Liars, as well as unscripted shows like LOL: Last One Laughing. We’re building on that, alongside our crime audience.

DEADLINE: Can you give us an example?

EW: We have Murder in the Dark, which is based on 1980s cult movies and books that we’re bringing back for Christmas Day. That has a much more female point of view than previous drama series. We’re leaning into both the female young-adult genre, looking for local versions of the kinds of stories that have found an audience globally, as well as Nordic crime, suspense and psychological thrillers. We’re trying to find strong local IP. Sometimes, we do co-productions where we sell international rights, but the focus is very much local right now.

DEADLINE: What kinds of international co-productions are you looking at and how flexible can you be?

EW: We’re very flexible. It’s a case-by-case decision about how we can get something done, but IP is important. We’re building on existing IP or true stories, which also helps us connect locally. Obviously you work with the best local talent, and the Nordics is such an amazing place to do that – It’s really special.

DEADLINE: Sarek is based on IP and with big producers. That feels like an example of what you’re talking about.

EW: Definitely, it really speaks to that strategy. I was just back on set on the show. It’s spectacular because it’s so Nordic. We’re shooting it up in Kiruna, and the environment is really a character in the story. There, we also decided to go a bit younger with the cast.

DEADLINE: In terms of your own role, Emilia, you’ve added some responsibilities, taking on unscripted along with scripted. How has that changed what you’re doing and has it impacted the overall shape of Prime Video Nordics?

EW: Strategy and programming are still separate, but I took on the overall responsibility for our Nordic local originals. I’ve found looking after the unscripted slate, which I wasn’t familiar with before, very intriguing. We work with very talented people across both unscripted and scripted, so we can really see synergies in both the talent and the content. It’s a big responsibility, but you get a fantastic overview.

DEADLINE: What would you say you’ve learned so far? It’s been a few months since you’ve taken on the expanded role.

EW: There are differences between the territories, both in Norway and Denmark, and there are different focuses in scripted and unscripted. Denmark, for example, is very strong in comedy, and it’s very easy to find strong unscripted comedy formats there.

Norway has really surprised me with the amount of great talent. We’ve found so many strong and interesting projects that we’re developing with local talent. That’s been overwhelming in a good way, with some really good projects coming out of Norway.

DEADLINE: With that in mind, what’s a realistic number of shows that will make it onto the screen?

EW: We have a slate of around 20 to 25 local originals per year, scripted and unscripted. It’s big, but we’re still trying to grow sustainably and not take on too much, while making sure we compensate the audience for the production.

DEADLINE: When we’re looking at LOL, which has been popular in the Nordics and pretty popular all over the place, is there any difference in how it’s received across the territories you’re overseeing?

EW: LOL works really well across territories. It’s a format that’s worked in so many countries across the world, huge in Mexico and Germany. It kind of works everywhere. The local versions are very different. We have local creatives on each project, because comedy is so local – it’s very hard for someone from another territory to develop it. We have other examples of programs that work better in one territory than another, but LOL is really delivering across the region, which I’m happy to see.

DEADLINE: When you’re looking at the Nordic region at the moment, what’s the biggest challenge for you as a commissioner? Obviously, you have the Amazon machine behind you, which means there is money, but it’s not an endless pot. Is it a case of funding, or talent identification?

EW: I would say both. Talent has had a few tough years, and I think it’s hard for talent to navigate what commissioners want to commission and what their creative vision is. I’m really interested in working with creators who have a strong vision and fight for that – they don’t just deliver everything you ask for. I really value creators who want to tell you something, because that delivers the best projects.

The other thing is, of course, funding. Budgets have been kind of the same, even though there’s been inflation, so it’s really hard to adapt to that. It’s also been a challenge with the tax rebates locally, and a lot of production is shooting abroad.

DEADLINE: Where are people shooting?

EW: Eastern Europe. It’s tougher to finance locally. That’s why we try to be open. If we’re going to get something big made, we need to be collaborative with local broadcasters and find synergies.

We’ve had a fantastic collaboration with TV2 in Norway with Rinnan, a project we’re launching this fall. It’s a World War II series we’re doing with Kenneth Karlstad, and it is a fantastic example of what we can do with a local broadcaster.

They benefit from their deep understanding of the local audience, while we bring the Amazon package and the premium feeling of doing high-end drama. We do it together. We’re in the room together and we’re reacting together.

DEADLINE: It comes to you first and then TV2?

EW: Yes.

DEADLINE: Is that always the case when you do those partnership shows? I see this in lots of different territories – it tends to be the streamer goes first with an exclusive window, and then the broadcaster takes it however many months later.

EW: Yes, that’s always how we do it, because we’re also much smaller than a TV2, so it makes sense for us to go first.

DEADLINE: Broadcasters and distributors have become more and more open to these types of collaborations. That probably wasn’t the case a few years ago.

Amelia: I think we’re moving into a much more collaborative space with financing.