European writers and producers create 10 new exciting TV projects via The Creative Connection

From thriller to political satire, 10 new TV drama projects from The Creative Connection highlight the rich rewards in bringing writers and producers together.

The Creative Connection initiative, co-funded by the European Commission and international production alliance The Creatives, aims to provide a nurturing space in which European writers and producers can explore innovative ways of working together on high-end TV projects.

The latest projects emerged from three workshops that took place in Belgium, Portugal and Spain between January and June this year. The 10 writers, who have all have some TV experience, are Tamara Bos, Friederike Jehn, Erez Kav-El, Alexander Lindh, Marta Savina, Tiffany Tavernier, Stephen Uhlander, Michal Vinik, Nessa Wrafter and Valérie Zenatti.

The Creatives is a group of nine top independent production companies who share a long history of creative collaboration and co-production. They comprise Haut Et Court (France), Lemming Film (Netherlands), Maipo Film (Norway), Razor Film (Germany), Spiro (Israel), Unité (France), Good Chaos (UK), Masha (US) and Komplizen Film (Germany).

The Creatives alliance is now evolving into an independent production group with a shared ownership structure in a bid to create a “collective solution to an increasingly centralised industry,” says the Creatives’ CEO, Romain Bessi.

For this second series of projects they are joined by Belgium’s Versus Production, also a long-time collaborator.

The writers all came to the programme with a basic idea. Each was teamed with one of the producers to develop the project into a working document in either series bible, pilot script or pitch document form.

The partners are now developing their projects independently of the programme in what is likely to grow into long-term future collaborations.

As in the first edition in 2023, this year’s programme was divided into three innovative pre-writing workshops focusing on different creative areas. The first looked at themes and saw the writers and producers exploring their ideas via a combination of exercises, group discussions, presentations from guests and teamwork.

The second explored character in which the writers developed the ideas from the first workshop and brought them together with character and plot.

The third and final workshop focused on narrative and comprised a writers’ residence where producers and writers took a deep dive into how to tell their story, from form to plotted direction.

Within the workshops, the writers were split into further groups and then into pairs to discuss their ideas and then circled back with the producers to receive feedback.

“Half of the producers in The Creatives are members of Europe’s ACE Producers’ network so they have experience in working collaboratively. The idea was to spread this way of working to writers,” says head of programme Laura Gragg. “It was fascinating to see how the projects evolved. Those smaller groups also allowed the writers to get to know each other better.”

This programme took a different spin on the traditional writers’ room, adds Gragg: “What makes this programme unique is the manner in which we bring producers and writers together at the very beginning, at the concept stage, in incredibly creative exercises. Some writers came with an idea and it completely changed by the end of the programme and that was the point.”

Gragg brought in script consultant and producer Stephen Cleary to help design and structure the workshops. “We had 16 writers last year but this year, there were of 10 so we could focus more on the writers,” says Gragg. “The writers and producers were in touch with each other before meeting in person at the first workshop so they could focus completely on the work rather than on getting to know each other.

“It was always about providing time for producers and writers to be together,” she continues. “In the real world, they’re all very busy and when they’re in development, that frustrates both the writer and the producer. We wanted to bring in a cross-pollination of minds to inspire them this year. For the first workshop we invited experts in psychology, history and criminology to give talks.”

The ambition is to generate stories that showcase European writers offering a new perspective. “These 10 projects cover a range of genres from coming of age to murder mystery to personal drama,” says Gragg. “It was fun to watch how the writers approached the humour or the drama of their stories differently depending on their nationality. 

“The European Commission, which co-funds the programme, really wanted to investigate the notion of a European voice and how to strengthen it in the face of the increasingly dominant US streamers post-pandemic.”

Contact: info@thecreatives.org