From Iceland, with Laughs

Ben Silverman, the founder and chairman of Electus, and Kjartan Thor Thordarson, the chairman of Sagafilm, discuss the dramedy World’s End, based on an Icelandic series.

Bored to Death showrunner Jonathan Ames is adapting the Icelandic dramedy World’s End (Heimsendir) for the U.S. premium cable network Showtime. The show is about a high school English teacher who has a breakdown and winds up in a mental institution. There, he begins to feel “sane” and eventually becomes the leader of an inmate revolt.

Showtime is developing the pilot as a half-hour version based on the hour-long Icelandic original, which is from Sagafilm. Originally titled Heimsendir, the show debuted in Iceland in 2011 as a nine-part miniseries that was set in 1992. It aired on Channel 2, scoring a peak share of 67 percent, and was nominated for four Edda Awards, which are Iceland’s version of the Emmys. Heimsendir also aired on Yle in Finland.

Ames is penning the script and executive producing alongside Ben Silverman, the chairman and founder of Electus, and Bored to Death EP/manager Stephanie Davis. Eli Shibley, the senior VP of Electus International, and Silverman played an integral role in bringing the show to the U.S.
 
“Based on the overview of the story, a glaring need in the U.S. market for a humanistic approach to mental illness, and a trust and belief in the steady creative hand of our partner in Sagafilm and their ability to execute on the highest level, we partnered on World’s End before a full English-language script was ever even available,” says Silverman. “This is not typical of our process, but from story to script to the sizzle reel, and eventually to the Icelandic episodes, the project just continued to get better.”

Even though the story originated from Iceland, Silverman believes that it is universally relatable, given that it’s about a community of people learning to live with themselves and each other through adversity. “It’s warmhearted and extremely funny, and anyone who has ever been in a workplace or a school or on a sports team can relate to the dynamic and will find more truths about themselves and their lives than they might expect to find in a show where the majority of the characters suffer from mental illness,” says Silverman.

He continues, “The original series was set in the past, so our focus with Jonathan Ames, our incredible partner and writer on the project with Showtime, was to update the story and characters to reflect the subtleties of a modern American context and deliver a script with a level of humor that sat comfortably alongside what Showtime is already succeeding with in the half-hour space.”

Kjartan Thor Thordarson, the chairman of Sagafilm, echoes the sentiment that the series has universal appeal regardless of its origin. “The larger themes explored within the story revolve around such diverse issues as health care, privatization and democracy, which are not only hot-button topics but literally touch upon the lives of every citizen, whether they [like it] or not,” says Thordarson. “And since revolution is a huge part of the story and the motivations of the characters, it should be a great fit for the U.S., a country born out of revolution with a constitution that is a cornerstone in the democratization of Europe.”

Thordarson says that the American version will stay faithful to the original but with a few tweaks. “Since the asylum is a [microcosm] and a metaphor for the outside world, there is a lot of leeway to stay faithful to the setting,” he says. “But more local characteristics will be adjusted to reflect characters that might seem more familiar to U.S. audiences. Jonathan Ames has the perfect touch needed to adapt this in the best possible manner and I have perfect faith in him doing the series justice.”

World’s End may just be the first in a wave of new projects to come out of Iceland, a market that both Silverman and Thordarson believe the international community should keep a close eye on. “Iceland is a country with a rich and varied cultural heritage, ranging from a long history of Viking sagas and mythology to a voracious appetite for modernity,” says Thordarson. “Situated in the middle of the Atlantic, it has influences from both sides of the pond, which makes for a fertile, creative atmosphere. Icelanders are storytellers at heart; our only entertainment throughout the centuries, ever since Iceland was populated, was telling stories by the fire that kept us warm during the harsh winter. Storytelling is in our DNA.”

Silverman adds, “Compared to other countries throughout Europe and its sister countries in the Nordics, Iceland is a relatively young country in terms of creating original series. The rules are now being written, which provides an incredibly fertile creative landscape, and Sagafilm is at the forefront of defining this industry. Creatives are taking chances; they are redefining rules and experimenting with new themes and new ideas. This is all while maintaining the same sensibilities as their neighboring countries that are well known for creating scripted formats that have traveled the world over, such as The Killing. Iceland is breaking through at a time when the world is hungry for the next great global franchise, and the team at Sagafilm is poised to deliver this hit to the world!”