ICS seals strategic content alliance with WSOY
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Editor
| 22 March 2023
Looking to give impetus to Finnish stories in what it calls a landmark pact, creative hub Ilkkas' Creative Studio (ICS) has entered into an alliance with Finland’s largest publishing group WSOY to rethink the development of local scripted content for international audiences.
2Ilks ICS 2Sep2022
Under the deal, the WSOY group - which includes the Tammi, Readme, Bazar, Docendo, Crime Time, Johnny Kniga, Minerva and Kosmos imprints - will initially work on several key projects with the producer including inviting the authors to have a stake in the development of the stories for screen. This collaborative approach aiming to internationalise and renew development and production methods hand in hand with authors is a move considered to be unique.

The agreement forms part of ICS' goal to renew industry practices and replace the traditionally long, slow and expensive operating methods of the audio-visual industry with agile development methods in a rapidly changing market. ICS is now starting a round of negotiations with international partners on the jointly selected projects.

“The goal of this agreement ultimately is to maximise the success of Finnish stories and take them around the world," said ICS creative director Ilkka Hynninen. “Together with the management of WSOY, instead of optioning individual books, we want to build a strategic view around the current and future works and plan how to conceptualise and squeeze the best possible content out of them.”

"ICS' way of structuring the international market situation with knowledge-based management and its vision of cooperation that extends beyond individual works fits well with WSOY's strategy of generating added value for the writers as a publisher," added Timo Julkunen, CEO of WSOY.

In 2022 ICS launched its ambitions to take inspiring stories to screen and put commercial ideas into action through collaborations with BBC Studios Nordic and David Zucker and Pat Proft for the series Nordic Police Force, a dark comedy spoof currently in production in the spirit of Nordic Noir.