In the functions of scriptwriter and script editor, Camilla Ahlgren has been involved in several of Sweden’s most successful crime television productions during recent years. As every TV series starts out with the scriptwriting process, usually some two years before it gets to meet its audience, and involves a collective effort from assorted writers and other team members, the script editor is along for most of the ride from early on. Camilla Ahlgren has subsequently served as sounding board on many projects through the years, providing feedback and criticism. As she herself has aptly put it: “I have my fingers all over the place.”
She grew up in the university town of Lund and soon had her mind set on a life as a teacher. She did reach this goal, specializing in Swedish and French, but during a strike in 1990 due to worsened conditions for members of her profession, she was advised to look elsewhere for work, which took her to the Swedish state television, SVT. Here, she worked as a tutor for young actors in order to get them regular schooling during film productions and was bitten by the environment. She took a course in script supervision and landed her first gig on Bert: The Last Virgin (Bert – den siste oskulden, 1994), after which she entered the long-running Swedish soap opera Rederiet (“High Seas” or “The Shipping Company”), first as a script assistant in 1994 and later as a regular script collaborator until the show folded in 2002. By then, she had become the series’ main writer and was also appointed script editor at SVT Drama. Over the years, she has worked on the Millennium trilogy (2009-10), The Sandhamn Murders (Morden i Sandhamn, 2010-20), Arne Dahl (2011-15), Real Humans (Äkta människor, 2012) and Spring Tide (Springfloden, 2016). She currently works as a freelance scriptwriter-editor and resides in Ystad in the south of Sweden. She is married to the Norwegian-born director Martin Asphaug, with whom she has only occasionally but happily worked professionally.
Together, the two wrote a Swedish version of the Dutch series Penoza (2010-17), in Sweden named Mother Goose (Gåsmamman), currently on its fourth successful season. On the hit series The Bridge (Bron, 2011-18), Ahlgren re-connected with her Rederiet workmate Hans Rosenfeldt, and has served as storyline provider, episode writer or head writer throughout the four-season run. In a recent interview, she named series 3 of The Bridge as her personal favourite within her vast cv. She describes the writing process as very social. She prefers to co-write rather than work by herself. “You throw things around and you support each other. I find it hard to work alone, it’s often intense and there’s always a deadline hovering over us. We laugh a lot while we work, otherwise it would be unbearable.”
In 2017, when Netflix announced their first Swedish series, Quicksand (Störst av allt), a crime tale based on the bestselling 2016 novel by Malin Persson Giolito, the task of adapting the screenplay went to the very able Camilla Ahlgren.
Freya Kilander (2018)
(translated by Jan Lumholdt)
Basic info
Main profession: Screenwriter
Born: 1964
Active: 1994-
Filmography
Manus:
Störst av allt (tv-serie, Netflix, 2019)
18 – Clash of Futures (miniserie, 2018)
Marcella (TV-serie, 2018)
Bron (TV-serie, 2013-2018)
Gåsmamman (TV-serie, 2015-2017)
Morden i Sandhamn – i stundens hetta (2015)
Morden i Sandhamn – i natt är du död (2014)
Morden i Sandhamn – i grunden utan skuld (2013)
Morden i Sandhamn – den innersta kretsen (2012)
AK3 (2006)
Belinder auktioner (2003)
Rederiet (TV-serie, 1997-2002)
Idé:
Häxdansen (2008)
Manusbearbetning:
Beck – Den svaga länken (2007)
Pepparrotslandet (2002)
Dramaturg:
Arne Dahl: Misterioso (2011)
Kyss mig (2011)
Lasermannen (2005)
Manusredaktör:
Springfloden (TV-serie, 2016)
Bron (TV-serie, 2011-2018)
Äkta människor (TV-serie, 2012)
Arne Dahl: Ont blod (2012)
Arne Dahl: Upp till toppen av berget (2012)
Arne Dahl – de största vatten (2011)
Arne Dahl – Europa Blues (2011)
Beck – levande begravd (2010)
Beck – i stormens öga (2009)
Morden (TV-serie, 2009)
Beck – i Guds namn (2007)
Beck – skarpt läge (2006)
Scripta:
Bert (1995)
Övrig medarbetare:
Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)
Tack till:
Quinze (2006)