Programming Profile

Norwegian content has been in high demand on the international market for over 10 years now, with NRK miniseries 22 July recently winning a Prix Europa and kids drama Zombielars awarded a Rose d’Or. To coincide with C21’s Content Nordics On Demand event this month, the Norwegian Film Institute’s Ståle Stein Berg reveals how the body helps local producers and outlines how Nordic content can stay relevant and address diversity.

Since 1955, the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI), backed by the government to promote the local screen sector, has helped domestic producers get greenlit projects over the line. When a creator reaches an agreement with a broadcaster or streamer to develop a show, the NFI will match its contribution to the development process.

Ståle Stein Berg, film commissioner, feature films and drama series at the NFI, feels this strategy has contributed establishing a high bar for Norwegian content in recent years.

“The producer needs to have an agreement in place, so in that way we guarantee that our funding goes to the highly sought-after projects and that our production rate is high. We only give production support to a few projects each year, selected after assessment of the artistic quality of the project. We allocate between NOK35m and NOK40m [US$4.2m – US$4.8m] to this each year. We contribute less than 20% of any overall budget, and yet we’re still an important financier in the Nordic market,” he says. A show’s money-making potential is important, but Berg is more concerned with promoting high-quality Norwegian content.