‘Quicksand’ Exec Producer, Former FLX CEO Pontus Edgren Launches Ivy Prodco With Ulf Kvensler, Eleonor Sager (EXCLUSIVE)

In one of the most exciting new ventures coming out of Scandinavia, the former FLX CEO Pontus Edgren, Breakable Films’ VP Eleonor Sager (Netflix’s “One More Time”), writer and best-selling novelist Ulf Kvensler (“Solsidan,” “The Restaurant,” “Hostage”) have joined forces to deliver prime scripted content for streamers and cinemas, Variety has learned exclusively.

With storytelling at its core, Stockholm-based Ivy Prodco will develop and produce scripted series and films for the Nordic and global markets, tapping into the founding partners’ own materials and the best ideas and content from up-and-coming talents.

All three partners boast impressive track records in film and TV.

As CEO for Jarowskij (2009-2012) and then CEO/managing partner for SF Studios’ banner FLX (2013-2023), Edgren has more than 40 productions to his credit, including the mega comedy hits “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared,” “Solsidan,” “The Bonus Family” and Netflix originals “Quicksand” and “Love & Anarchy.”

Screenwriter Kvensler delivered the successful “Solsidan” and “The Restaurant” franchises, both sold by Banijay Rights. Wild Bunch TV repped “Riders in Darkness” before kicking off a successful career as a novelist with the thrillers “Sarek” and “My Father’s House,” which were sold to more than 20 territories each, including the US.

A former FLX executive, Sager joined the streaming-driven Breakable Films in 2021, where she produced the Canneseries-selected romcom “Out of Touch” (sold by REinvent) and Netflix original movie “One More Time” while writing a string of feel-good novels.

“I’m thrilled to start this new chapter with Ulf and Pontus, and ever since we started discussing ideas and plans for Ivy, it was clear that our mindsets were very similar but also complementary as our respective favorite genres range from comedy, feelgood, dramedy to domestic thrillers and ensemble dramas,” Sager said.

“In addition to developing new series and films in the coming years, I’ve wanted to build a hub where up-and-coming as well as experienced creatives and creators can thrive, grow and have fun,” added Kvensler. “I have worked as a freelance writer for a number of years now, and for me, this is a perfect next step. It’s fun to be part of a context and a team with a common purpose. A freelance writer’s world is very rewarding but sometimes a bit lonely!”

Edgren said: “”Ulf has a business degree and was a management consultant, and Eleonor is a journalist major who has worked as a senior manager, novelist and producer. So what’s kind of cool is that all three of us have the not-so-common combination of both business and creative backgrounds, said  Edgren who plans to partner global streamers as well as local commercial and public broadcasters.

Three titles headlining Ivy’s first slate in development are penned by Kvensler.

The six-art “The Plan” is a political conspiracy thriller in the vein of “The Firm,” co-created by Kvensler and Per Schlingmann, an influential strategist and former Swedish Moderate Party State Secretary. The story revolves around a young spin doctor and a journalist who team up to reveal a conspiracy to abolish democracy in Sweden. “It’s fast-paced, thrilling, and chillingly close to real-world events today,” said Kvensler.

The psycho-thriller “My Father’s House (“Brandmannen” in Swedish) will be based on Kvensler’s eponymous best-selling novel. “It’s about a son who is contacted by his father after twenty years of silence. His father has a terminal illness and wants to make amends before he dies. Or so he says. The son and his girlfriend are pulled into a psychological game that erases the line between reality and nightmare,” Kvensler explained.

Meanwhile, the period dramedy “The Dance Hall” (working title), in the spirit of SVT’s hit TV show “The Restaurant,” will be set in Northern Sweden in 1958. “Every Saturday, a band of old guys plays at the local open dance hall. But the teenagers and twenty-somethings have started listening to Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Ray Charles. Some of them form a rock’n’roll band, and nothing is ever the same in the town again.”

Ivy’s founding partners will pitch their projects to Swedish commissioners this fall while initiating discussions with potential financiers and co-producers.

While admitting that the golden age of scripted content “is probably behind us,” Edgren said he still feels confident as “people demand so much more content today than seven to ten years ago. The market will always be there for the best stories, even though we realize that it may take more work and more patience in 2025 to greenlight a series or film compared to, say, 2018,” he noted.

“On the upside,” he added, “it may be an advantage to be a small, fast-moving and flexible start-up with limited overhead costs. We don’t have to turn over SEK 300 million [$29 million] per year to break even,” said the maverick producer for whom “focus and momentum are key success factors in addition to innovation and quality when developing content.”

Sager added: “The name Ivy associates to evergreen, timeless quality and something that grows steadily but at the right pace. It keeps moving up and lasts, and these are our plans with Ivy.”