Norway

Oslo, Norway’s capital city and home to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, boasts the Munch Museum, Oslo Opera House and the Vigeland Sculpture Park. The city also provides the backdrop for Detective Hole, a high-end TV adaptation of Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo’s novel The Devil’s Star, in which detective Harry Hole hunts a corrupt colleague while grappling with a spiralling personal life.

Working Title’s Eric Fellner, who produces, says the country’s 25% rebate on qualifying expenditure — available to high-end TV as well as features — made shooting more affordable.

“The IP is Norwegian, written by a Norwegian. The locations were Norwegian, and we ultimately ended up shooting it in Norwegian, so it would have been tough not to make it there,” says Fellner. “Between all of us [at Working Title] and Netflix, we decided that cultural specificity would be the best.”

He points out that Netflix produces local language productions all around the world, so it made sense to shoot in Nesbo’s backyard. “Netflix has a strong presence in the Nordics to make local-
language productions, so they chose this to be one of them.”

Detective Hole shot for 120 days, largely in the capital city, which is located on one side of the Oslofjord, with forests to the south and northwest. “The crews are amazing and they have a huge variance of locations,” adds Fellner.

Meanwhile, Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, provided one of the major production locations for Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and Warner Bros’ Superman.

The country is firmly on the map as a place to shoot, with its combination of can-do attitude, a network of film commissions — established and new — and a keen tax incentive.

After Roar Uthaug’s Troll was released in 2022, the Eastern Norway Film Commission was set up to handle future enquiries from international productions. The main financing body is the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI), which offers a variety of funding programmes for the development and production of feature films, TV dramas, documentaries and games. Minority co-production funding is also available and priority is given to projects with a strong artistic potential and/or recognised potential in the Norwegian market.

“Regional funding can also be combined with the film incentive,” adds Norwegian Film Commission chief executive Meghan Beaton. Her commission is an independent foundation based in Bergen, separate from NFI. Norway also has Sørfond, which grants financing for co-production of fiction and documentary films where the main producer is in a development assistance committee country. Applications must be made through a Norwegian minority producer.

Norway also provides VFX for international productions, with recent projects including season two of HBO’s The Last Of Us, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for CBS and Netflix series La Palma.

“It’s a beautiful country full of incredibly friendly, relaxed people.” says Fellner. “There’s a good vibe in Norway.”

Norwegian crews are fluent in English and the country has enough crew for three large projects at any one time. It boasts a mix of purpose-built stages and converted spaces in the largest cities.

The Oslo area offers a quartet of facilities: Krypton, a purpose-built 423 square metre soundstage; Dagslys, a five-stage complex ranging in size from 80 to 500 square metres; FilmParken, with three soundstages ranging from 333 to 450 square metres; and Storyline, with one 89 square metre stage. Bergen’s M12 comprises two converted studios (540 square metres and 720 square metres) while Film Camp in Tromso has one converted studio and a 1,750 square metre backlot. 

There are multiple companies delivering line production services including True North Norway, Living Daylights, Monolith, True West, Bearhug, PolarX and Film In Norway.

Although geographically large, Norway is well connected, with more than 40 domestic and eight international airports. Oslo Gardermoen Airport offers direct connections to 26 domestic and 158 international destinations. Ferries and coastal services reach even the most remote locations, and internal transport costs remain competitive by European standards.

First contact: Meghan Beaton, Norwegian Film Commission @ meghan@norwegianfilm.com