{"id":16361,"date":"2022-02-22T09:55:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T14:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/"},"modified":"2022-03-03T16:20:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:20:33","slug":"josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/","title":{"rendered":"Josephine Bornebusch Talks Harmonica"},"content":{"rendered":"

Screened at Berlinale last week, Harmonica<\/em>, Viaplay\u2019s latest Swedish-language original production, tells the tale of a once successful country music duo who set out on a revival tour as they face a marriage at the edge of combusting. Written by and starring Josephine Bornebusch and Jonas Karlsson\u2014who also penned all the music for the show\u2014the five-parter from Warner Bros. International Television Production Sverige is being rolled out by Nordic Entertainment Group\u2019s content-sales arm. Bornebusch spoke to TV Drama<\/em>\u00a0about co-writing the show with Karlsson, directing herself and her widening relationship with Viaplay, which began with her hit series Love Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Tell us why you wanted to tell this story.
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> Jonas [Karlsson] and I have worked together as actors in different productions for many years. He\u2019s also a writer. We started to talk about writing something together. He\u2019s been in a long relationship with his wife; I\u2019ve been in a relationship for 13 years. We said we wanted to create something about old love, not someone falling in love or in the middle of a divorce. Later in the season, we reveal some tragic moments in their relationship. How can you cope with that? And can you connect to each other again, or is it over? But I had so much to do, and he had so much to do. I lived in New York for a year and went to a concert for a Swedish band called First Aid Kit, who play Americana\/country music. I said this is the arena for this project. I went home that night and emailed [Jonas] and said, What if it\u2019s an old country duo, who were big 20 years ago, in their careers and love, and now no one remembers them, and they don\u2019t see<\/em> each other anymore? Visually it\u2019s such a beautiful arena for a show, with cowboy boots and dresses! He came back and said, That\u2019s spot on, let\u2019s do it. That\u2019s how we started.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How was the co-writing process?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> Every time I write something, I write it as I would say it as an actor. When we wrote the scripts, it was one word and dot dot dot. We don\u2019t end a sentence; we end each other\u2019s sentences. And in this project, we were so blessed because we wrote it together, in the same room. We could rehearse the scenes before we wrote them.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How much of the arc did you have mapped at the outset, and how much evolved during the writing process?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> We had a vague arc. We knew that we wanted her brother to be the old manager. They asked him when they were kids, and then all of a sudden, he\u2019s old and clueless, but blood is thicker than water. It was supposed to be six episodes. Covid came, and we had to put it in a drawer for almost a year. During that year, I rewrote the whole show down to five episodes and compressed the story. I woke up in the middle of the night and I emailed Jonas and said, This is the reason they are struggling. He doesn\u2019t want to go back in time [with the reunion tour]. He doesn\u2019t like who he was at that time. She needs to do something. She\u2019s stuck in a small room. Either we try to live up, or we give up and divorce. That\u2019s what this series is all about: Why he doesn\u2019t want to go back, and why she needs to. Then it all fell into place. This is why we wrote the series.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How do you juggle those multiple hats of creator, writer, actor and director?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> It sounds like a lot! To be honest, sometimes it\u2019s easier. I\u2019ve tried to just write or just act or just direct. When you write your own scripts, you can see in front of you what you want. You can see the locations. I\u2019m writing a script right now, and it\u2019s almost like I\u2019m speaking to myself while doing it. It\u2019s so clear in my head, so it\u2019s probably easier to go in and do it yourself than try to explain to someone what I want. I did another show recently that I directed for someone else. Even though I have a vision, she also has a vision. They\u2019re not separate, but they\u2019re different. So it sounds like it\u2019s a lot to juggle. And time-wise, it is a lot. But when it comes to what you want and what you need, it\u2019s sometimes easier.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> You\u2019re in a long-term relationship and you\u2019re famous, writing a show about fame and love. How much of yourself could you pour into this character without revealing too much about your own life?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> I think I always dig where I stand. It\u2019s hard not to put some parts of yourself into a story. When it comes to the dialogue, I can write a fun scene and then realize afterward, oh, I\u2019ve actually said that to my husband! But I\u2019m not writing about my life at all. [With the reunion tour], we were trying to find a contrast to who they are now [versus who they were]. The show must go on. If you\u2019re acting in a play, the audience doesn\u2019t care if you had a divorce yesterday. You still have to give them what they paid for. That contrast is beautiful when you go through so much behind the scenes and then you\u2019re another person [on stage]. It\u2019s not at all about my life. But always, when I write, some parts sneak in there.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Being a writer, actress and director, how do you approach choosing projects now?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know! What\u2019s the next thing? Sometimes I think, if I have time, an idea will just drop into my lap, and I\u2019ll go, This is what I want to write about. For so many years, I\u2019ve had so many projects going on because you never know. You\u2019re developing a few and reading scripts for others and you say yes to everything because you don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll get a green light, or maybe this draft will not be anything in the end. I\u2019m trying to not be too married to every project. In starting different projects, you can realize, that\u2019s not for me. But it is hard. I also have help from agents, my husband and my producer here at Warner Bros. They are trying to guide me. But it\u2019s hard for them as well. They say, You need to do what you want to do.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> You made Love Me<\/em> and Orca<\/em> with Viaplay as well. Tell us about your relationship with the platform.
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> It all started with Love Me<\/em>. I worked on that show for ten years. I pitched it to everyone and everyone said no. I rewrote it for so many years, and I listened to all the notes from all the streamers and the production companies. And then we landed at Viaplay. They said, We love it, let\u2019s do it. I said, OK, what are your notes? And they said, We want you to have the creative freedom, you can do whatever you want. I said, What? I had written things before and directed before, but this was my first show where I wrote all the episodes. It\u2019s my baby. I wasn\u2019t meant to direct and act in it. But they said, You should do it all. Why don\u2019t you? I said, Maybe I should! And then I did. While we were shooting the first season, they came to me and said, We want two more seasons. I said, Wow, I hadn\u2019t thought of that. I thought I had said everything in the first season; I\u2019m not sure I can come up with more seasons. And then I went away for Christmas, and on the plane, I started to think about the second season, and it just came out. It was all there. So I went back and said, of course, We\u2019re going to do a second season. While we were doing that season, I pitched Harmonica<\/em> to Johan [Hedman, head of drama at Warner Bros. International Television Production Sverige]. He said, Let\u2019s do it. So we started to develop it, and it wasn\u2019t even a question of where we should go because Viaplay was there with open arms. We went to them, and they said, Let\u2019s do it. We shot for a week, and then Covid came, and it was a disaster and we had to stop. In the taxi, I came up with a new idea. I called Johan again and said, This sounds crazy, and I know we can\u2019t shoot right now, but I have an idea we could do even though it is Covid. I said, I\u2019m going to write this feature film in three weeks and we\u2019ll shoot it in 11 days. Can you give me the green light? And the next day, he called Viaplay and said this is a new idea, and they said yes.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Do you not like having any downtime? Do you just enjoy being busy all the time?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> [Laughs<\/em>] I kind of love it. Now that I\u2019ve been working back to back and had two or three projects at the same time for almost four years now, I feel a bit tired! I\u2019ve been directing a show in the U.K. for six months, and Harmonica<\/em> is out now, so, what now? I\u2019m not in post, I\u2019m not in prep, I\u2019m not in production; this is so unusual. It\u2019s been a week of, I don\u2019t know what to do with my time. Should I go to the gym? It was really weird. But now I\u2019m back.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Where did all the music in Harmonica<\/em> come from?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> We wrote all the music ourselves. It\u2019s actually a fun story. We decided to write it together and play the leads, and I was directing as well. And Jonas said, If we\u2019re writing a show about music, shouldn\u2019t we also write all the music? I said, Can you write music? I\u2019m not a composer at all. He said, I haven\u2019t tried, but we should, shouldn\u2019t we? Otherwise, you have to buy a lot of music, and it\u2019s going to be complicated. I said, OK, sure. I thought he was crazy! I went to his office and he opened the closet and it was like a Donald Duck sequence; instruments just fell out. He picked one up, and then I realized he could play all of them. We wrote all the music, and he composed all the music, even the background music; he did it all. It was a lot of fun. We wrote the music at the same time we wrote the scripts. I said, We need their essential [hit]; can you write a really cheesy song, one they wrote when they were 19 and would never stand for today? He texted me and said, Give me a sentence that makes you want to vomit. I said, what about, \u201cTake your fur off and turn off the light. We\u2019re dancing the devil\u2019s dance tonight.\u201d He was like, That\u2019s great, I\u2019m putting it in there. It was so much fun!<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Is it more liberating writing a one-off piece like Harmonica<\/em> versus a series that has the potential to return?
\nBORNEBUSCH:<\/strong> It depends on the project. When they asked for two more with Love Me<\/em>, they said it\u2019s such an open ending. And I was like, Is it? I thought it was closed! And then when I thought about it, I knew they were right. It\u2019s actually a three-season series. With Harmonica<\/em> it was, this is a story; it should end here. There\u2019s no way we do a second season. And with Orca<\/em>, the feature film I did, when I came up with the idea, I knew this was a feature film. Writing a miniseries is more contained, so when you\u2019re in the edit, you can watch all the episodes; it\u2019s all there. With ten episodes or eight episodes, it will always be episode per episode, and you\u2019re trying to see the whole series in front of you, but it\u2019s hard. But also, it\u2019s nice to write a longer series because then you can actually stay in the moments and be with the characters and let them develop and take different turns. Both are fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josephine Bornebusch talks about the new Viaplay series Harmonica, which she wrote with co-star Jonas Karlsson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":16362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,70],"tags":[4874,3846,4875,820],"class_list":["post-16361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-harmonica","tag-josephine-bornebusch","tag-nordic-entertainment-group-nent-group","tag-viaplay","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nJosephine Bornebusch Talks Harmonica - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Josephine Bornebusch Talks Harmonica - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Josephine Bornebusch talks about the new Viaplay series Harmonica, which she wrote with co-star Jonas Karlsson.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-22T14:55:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-03T21:20:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/Harmonica-NENT-222.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/\",\"name\":\"Josephine Bornebusch Talks Harmonica - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-22T14:55:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-03T21:20:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/josephine-bornebusch-talks-harmonica\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Josephine Bornebusch Talks Harmonica\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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