Twice selected for Variety’s index of the 500 most influential business leaders in the global media industry, Rikke Ennis, CEO of Copenhagen-based REinvent Studios, is one of the Nordic region’s most market- intuitive and forward-thinking heavyweights.
At Göteborg’s TV Drama Vision and Nordic Film Market, she and her sales team will showcase high profile series including “Pressure Point” starring David Dencik, the Erik Poppe-helmed “Quisling,” “Heajastallan – A Sámi’s Wedding,” the competed features “Stranger” and “Second Victims,” and works in progress “The Dance Club” by “Love & Anarchy”’s Lisa Langseth, Danish/Korean “Hana Korea” and quirky Finnish debut “The Squirrel.”
Proof of REinvent’s A-festival pulling power, is its recent film sales bet “Beginnings” by “Wildland’’s Jeanette Nordahl starring Dencik and Trine Dyrholm, which will world premiere at Berlin’s Panorama section, while the premium shows “Heajastallan-a Sámi Wedding” and “Vigdís” will bow at the Berlinale Series Market Select.
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Ahead of Göteborg, Ennis shared with Variety her take on the state of the Nordic film and TV industry and her vision on how to stay afloat as a true and rare independent.
Since you launched REinvent Studios in 2018, we’ve gone from peak to post-peak TV and the theatrical market for movies hasn’t quite recovered from COVID. How has REinvent adapted to the drastic changes on the market?
Rikke Ennis: When we started in 2018, our dream was to be an independent mini-studio, relying on three legs: sales of Nordic film and TV series, production, and financing. Everything was fine until COVID. That was a huge shock. But our luck was that we had just signed with SF Studios [an exclusive representation deal on their films and series] which enabled us to work on a larger catalogue.
After COVID, the market opened up, the streamers and broadcasters were extremely hungry and everything was possible, both production and acquisition-wise. We could sell easily-first-second windows. We were riding on the wave. Then, post-peak TV hit. Fortunately, we’re like a small speed boat in a stormy water. We’re able to change directions very fast.
Now, production has been hit hard, so we produce less ourselves. We’re focusing more on partnerships, co-productions, and what we’re good at: developing great ideas, putting together the financing structure with broadcasters, streamers, and then finding the money internationally. Our know-how means that we don’t waste precious time to build a financing plan for years, if we know for instance that a project won’t be greenlit. Time is money.
On the sales side, of course things have changed a lot. We used to invest big MGs on series and we took a lot of risk. Our strategy MG-wise has adapted, and is now leaning more towards crime, thriller, the genres that can go on prime-time slots when it comes to series. We still take other genres, but without MG. On the film side, it depends on the director and package.
This is quite a major shift…
Yes, but we have to be cautious. What we see on the market is that financing is lacking. What used to be fully financed by streamers and almost fully-financed by broadcasters is not anymore. That means we have projects lying on our table with 60-70% financing only, and it’s very difficult to go out on the market to get that kind of money.
Heajastallan – A Sami Wedding
Credit: Heajastallan Produksjon
Do you feel producers aren’t realistic about their titles’ actual value on the global market?
It’s an issue with producers, but also with some commissioners who push for certain types of content to be developed.The problem is that sometimes, you only start discussing the financing 1-2 years into development. That’s when you as a producer are married to your commissioner and can’t go with anyone else. Only then do you start talking about the framework for the financing, the fees you can ask for etc. There has to be more transparency early on about budget-levels and financing terms.
Are production costs still much too high?
Totally. First of all, story-wise, you need to know where you’re heading. But, there is also inflation, war, sustainability and thinking green, which we all should do but comes with a cost. Then what has hit people hard is bridge financing. Basically, money is very expensive these days. What used to cost 4-5% before, costs nearly 20% now. If you forget that in a budget, then you’re in big trouble. Very few financiers can offer a big scale of bridge financing.
Is this where producers within integrated groups are in a competitive advantage?
Absolutely. I believe that the business will continue to consolidate, smaller production outfits will be bought or will not survive. The problem is that the market is getting streamlined. If only bigger groups are doing business, diversity, risk-taking will suffer. On the film side, one of the only major Nordic producers still successful balancing smaller auteur films with big commercial fare is Zentropa, but they are backed by Nordisk Film.
But you’ve had a safety net via your deal with the European Investment Fund signed in 2021 which gave you a €26 million ($26.7 million) guarantee loan from the E.U. Could you cite some projects that benefitted from this, and has this deal been renewed?
We have renewed and are very happy about it. This is why we’ve been able to bet on certain projects, such as NRK’s “Power Play,” TV2 Denmark’s “Oxen” or C More/TV4’s “Evil.” We now have around €27 million ($27.7 million). They cover up to 70% of a loss and are key for us to take risks. But we can’t use it on our own productions and co-productions. It needs to be arms’ length; it’s not cash but a guarantee. Therefore, everything we invest in is out of our own pocket.
Of course, having cool cash, would be ideal. In the future, it would be great to see the E.U. provide a credit line to the production sector. This is where a lot of projects are failing.
Do you feel more should be done to protect indie producers?
Definitely. Good producers are rare species. The industry should take care of them and treat them as talent, like directors and scriptwriters. They should be paid a reasonable amount during development as well. No one can survive if you can’t pay your bills.
On the film side, you’ve picked up a few arthouse titles to complement your SF Studios slate. Is this partly to compensate for SF Studios’ on-going deal with Netflix?
Our partnership with SF Studios is great and I’m sure it will last. But SF cannot only take projects because we want them. It has to make sense for them, for their Nordic and domestic market. Therefore, next to licensing some of their films, we’ve widened our slate to be more attractive to buyers. Next to the genre films that everyone is looking for, we’ve added festival films and titles from newcomers.
With “Stranger” for instance, we immediately loved it and committed at a very early stage. We loved its daring storyline and setting in pre-historic Scandinavia. “Hana Korea” is another great example of original quality arthouse drama. When I read the script, about a young North Korean defector trying to adapt to her life in South Korea and finding love, I cried. Then “The Squirrel” is another kind of love story. Imagine a world without real animals, and suddenly a guy develops a friendship with a real squirrel. It’s beautiful and fresh. The three films are also produced by top Nordic production houses.
What is your mid-term strategy? Would you consider expanding into English-language?
It’s clear that there are more takers with English-language content, therefore looking ahead, we will continue to focus on the Nordics, while expanding into English-language, for instance from Ireland or Scotland, as we share many cultural similarities – such as the noir feel, unique landscapes. We’re looking into exciting projects from there which will hopefully be announced soon.
Could you cite some of your flagship series in your 2025 slate?
We will launch five big titles this year: TV2 Norway’s “Quisling”, nominated for the Nordic Series Script Award, the drama thriller “Escaping Bolivia” based on a true story, and “Reykjavik 112,”, adapting Yrsa Sigurdadóttir’s best-selling novel. Both have wrapped filming. Then I can mention our Danish event series “Oxen Season 2,” now in pre-production.