When public service drama travels: The internationalization of Danish television drama and the associated production funding models

Abstract

This article provides a detailed analysis of how the Danish public service broadcaster DR employs external funding for its drama productions. This investigation is carried out in order to discuss the schisms involved when a public service broadcaster – whose traditional obligations arguably pertain to the national sphere – becomes a player in the international market for television content and, as a consequence, becomes partly reliant on international funding. Our article examines five different forms of external funding (i.e. funding from sources other than DR’s licence fee income): (1) co-funding with external partners (most often foreign broadcasters and/or foreign distributors); (2) canned programming sales; (3) pre-sales of canned programming; (4) format/remake sales and (5) international funds, both regional and international as well as pannational funds. All five forms of funding are critically assessed on the basis of existing theory and interviews conducted with significant industry professionals at DR’s Drama Division, DR Sales, German public broadcaster ZDF’s commercial sales arm ZDF Enterprises, and independent Danish production companies Nimbus Film and Miso Film. Specific cases (such as Forbrydelsen/The Killing [2007–2012], Bron/Broen/The Bridge [2011–], Arvingerne/The Legacy [2014–], 1864 [2014] and The Team [2015–]) are employed to illustrate the different funding models and tendencies identified within Danish television drama production. Apart from presenting the proliferation of different cross-national funding models that have been used within the last fifteen years, our empirical data also show significant new patterns in production culture and international market orientation within DR. Interestingly, however, our study demonstrates the distinctive contribution that DR’s public service remit has made to the quality of its drama programming, on one hand, and to the reach of its funding models, on the other – and, hence, to DR’s overall international success.

User innovation in public service broadcasts: creating public value by media entrepreneurship

“…Using his idea, two items namely 'to foster opportunities for growth of citizens' ideas' and 'to provide a space for release of public innovations' can be added to this societal pact. Jensen et al (2016) have recognised five different forms of external funding (funding from sources other than license fee income). These funding sources includes: co-funding with external partners (most often foreign broadcasters and/or foreign distributors); canned programming sales; pre-sales of canned programming; format/remake sales; and international funds, both regional and international as well as pan-national funds.…”

Form, platform and the formation of transnational audiences

“…Up to this point, researchers have approached the quest to understand the recent international appeal of Danish TV drama series with textual research and production studies (Waade, 2011;Redvall, 2013;Waade and Jensen, 2013;Agger, 2015Agger, , 2016Creeber, 2015;Redvall and Bondebjerg, 2015;Nielsen, 2016;Jensen, Nielsen and Waade, 2016 to underline characters' emotional and mental conditions and the 'radical televisual style', which mimics cinematic aesthetics through the 'abiding use of dark colours and dim lighting', 'lurking camera placements' and 'rainy autumn scenes'. Narrative characteristics ascribed as particular to Danish TV drama series include strong female characters (Agger, 2011) and double-or triple-storytelling (Redvall, 2013), aimed at adding social critique and psychological complexity, and skilfully interweaving public, social and cultural issues with private themes.…”

“…Intrinsically tied to these changes in production, several Danish scholars highlight the growing trend for 'producing with an eye to the international market' (Redvall, 2013;Jensen, Nielsen and Waade, 2016) and the notable 'transnationalisation of production' (Agger, 2015, CST 12 : 4 : ESSER : 6 2016; Nielsen, 2016). On the one hand, financial necessity leads Danish producers to coproduce, which implicates an international outlook.…”

“…The Killing and its precursors: Form, platform and audience interaction Prior to January 2011, when The Killing, the commonly acknowledged 'game changer' for Danish TV drama (Jensen, Nielsen, Waade, 2016) was launched, there had been subtitled films on BBC Four on a regular basis. According to Klein (2016), 20-30 films a year were stipulated, but 'no one ever watched them'.…”

From Nordic Noir to Belgian Bright?

“…What the success of Danish drama revealed was the importance of distinct strategies that prioritise screenwriting within the production process, 4 as well as co-production and co-financing partnerships with European distributors and other broadcasters. 5 Strategies like these have been picked up widely, not in the least in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Similar to the Danish case of Forbrydelsen (The Killing, 2007-2012), 6 it was the programming of a crime drama (Salamander, 2012-2018) on BBC Four's Saturday night slot in 2014 that initiated international attention for Belgian drama.…”