Nordic media major Svensk Filmindustri has signed a first look deal with the Danish-Swedish production outfit Early Bird Films.

Svensk Filmindustri will have first look on distribution and possible co-production opportunities on every new Early Bird project aimed at the Nordic market. Early Bird Films operates out of Copenhagen and Stockholm and is made up of Denmark's Ole Sondberg and Lars Sund Duus as well as Sweden's Malte Forssell.

Sondberg and Duus were executive producers on the two TV series Beck and Beck2, which had four successful feature spin-offs released theatrically in Sweden. They were both with now-defunct Victoria Film before heading Zentropa Internationale for a year and a half years, after which they established Early Bird a year ago.

They have since been in development with a number of literary adaptations both as features and TV series.

"We need innovative partners to contribute to the projects from the very beginning, the sooner the better," says Ole Sondberg. "Enhancing the co-operation between the production and distribution is the key to the valuation. I believe Early Bird Films will make good use of Scandinavia's best distributor to create a string of successful releases." Svensk Filmindustri's Kerstin Bonnier adds: "We are very pleased to embark on this co-operation."