Yle Dramas Jarmo Lampela on his international drama -lei

10 years after taking the helm of the Yle Drama department and it contributes considerably to the rise in the Finnish drama in quality and international reach, Jarmo Lampela continues to broaden his network of international partners. Italy and Canada are the newest countries that are conquered by the Visionary Finn who attends Lille’s series Mania Confab with various projects.

“Torna a Surriento” will be Yle’s first co -production with the Italian Pubcaster Rai. The four-part romantic drama, in pre-production, is partly written by Guglielmo Fininzzer, Dario Carraturo, Jens Martin Mienna and Aleksi Puranen. The story runs on a Napolitan Hustler who inherits an external legacy in the Finnish Lapland. What he sees as a fast payment day turns into a tumultuous two-month stay while crashing with the local Sámi community and falls for a fierce reindeer shepherd. Finland’s Anygroup produces with the Italian Viola films, the Rein films of Norway and the Iceland’s Glassriver.

‘Together with Michele Zatta [RAI Fiction commissioning editor] We have been discussing for a while if we could build an Italian-finish co-production. After a few ideas, RAI presented ‘Torna a Surriento’, a story in the Sámi community in Lapland, Finland, which also resonated at YLE, and quite quickly we were able to build a team around the project, ‘says Lampela says Variety. The series will be thrown in Series Mania’s Coming Follow from Sweden and Finland’s Showcase March 25.

From Canada is ‘Dorst’, produced by Trio Orange (‘Empathy’) an environmental sci-fi thriller in the development of the author of the ‘Themis files’ trilogy Sylvain Neuvel.

The six-part series was launched during the Mania Copro Pitching session series last year and follows Gaelle (44), a biology expert who investigates the cause of contaminated water in a lake in the north of Quebec. “One of the characters is Finnish, so we got on board at an early stage and would like to add a Finnish talent to the writers room,” says Lampela about the show, described as a cross between “Before the Flood” and “The Walking Dead”.

The two projects reflect the early involvement of Yle Drama in international projects, to try to bring Finnish talents to the writing table. “We are storytelling,” Lampela notes. “In the past our series was Finnish, but now we are open to all constellations, as long as the story is strong and recognizable to our audience, regardless of the age group.”

Lampela quotes the Finnish-Chilaan-Coproduction “Invisible Heroes” and the uninhibited Finnish political thriller “Peacemaker” as a groundbreaking series that opened Finnish stories, as well as “freight”, about international human trafficking and the Finnish/Belgian “transport”.

Media -partners

In recent years, Lampela, who says that Yle is flexible out of the window, has developed what he calls ‘media partner models’. In Spain, his partnership with the MediaPro Studio gave birth to three seasons of crime thriller ‘paradise. The TV director is in a discussion with the Catalan makers of the ‘This is not Sweden’ Aina Clotet, Valentina Viso and Dani González, for a possible season 2. ‘ It is a number of stories’ season with European partners RTVE, 3CAT (the first broadcaster on board), SVT and NDR.

Another flagship series at an early stage with international partners is the espionage thriller “learning to fly”, produced by the German Odeon fiction, in co-production with the dramanation of Sweden, Spain Studio60 and Yle. “Earlier this month we did a workshop in Helsinki with our partners to discuss production plans,” says Lampela, who confirmed that a large part of the shoot will roll in Finland, giving the series potential access to 25% tax stimuli from Business Finland.

Elsewhere, alliances with broadcasters in the Nordics (N12) or Europe (New8) are now crucial in shaping the annual output of Yle Drama that consists of four international co -productions, in addition to two to three domestic shows.

The first Finnish series Greenlit by New8 Partners, “Queen of Fucking Everything”, has been a hit for Yle, with nearly 8.3 million views about Yle’s Streamer Areena in January, an absolute record for a country of 5.6 million. In Lille’s Mania series this week, the new Tour of New8 projects will be announced on 26 March by the partners, including Lampela.

Another yle series that needs to be exhibited in Lille are the Finnish ‘Afterhave’, a dazzling dive in Helsinki’s underground nightlife from the 90s from ‘Queen of the Fucking Everything’ producers rabbit films. The show, in development, is drawn up for the arrival of Sweden and Finland Showcase. In the meantime, the Icelandic crime “Fusion” is bought in advance by Yle, prior to the new buyers in advance. The ACT4 series starring Ólafur Darri ólaafsson is sold by the MediaPro Studio Distribution and Erik. Barmack’s wild sheep content.

At Series Mania, which runs up to and including 28 March, Lampela is also looking for partners for two Finnish shows near Greenlight.

“Plan Flat Naked” (10 × 30 ‘), produced by Lucy Loves Drama, is an atypical love story between two young adults in southern Ostrobothnia, also known as the Texas of Finland. “It is an ode to ordinary people who still live and love small cities,” says Lampela. Inari Niemi directs from a script by Juuli Niemi (“Light Light Light”).

“Good Sport” (6×30 ‘), produced by new outfit Pool girl, is a drama about abuse of power, in the high pressure world of figure skating.

“The subject of relationships between coaches and athletes is very sensitive and also extremely fascinating,” says Lampela. “When the founder of Poolgirl, Maker producer Ronja Haikka, threw the project to us, she told us that she had taken inspiration through her own experience, because she had witnessed similar abuse situations when she played tennis at a competitive level. We thought she had an intimate knowledge of her subject and immediately came on board.

The following shows set up for this spring on the Finnish Pubcaster include the cozy procedural “66 North Precinct” season 2, produced by Yellow Film & TV, the Dramedy “Hormones” season 2 produced by Dionysos Films, and the Finnish/Icelandic Romantic drama “loves horses”, everyone.