Finland’s Tekele has announced that a second season of YLE original youth series “The Short Fuse” is in the works.
Directed by Jani Ilomäki, also behind police series “Roba,” it will be written by Pilke Salo, Milla Tuokkola and Janne Vanhanen and shot over June-July 2024, eyeing a 2025 release on YLE Areena.
Starring are Pyry Rautiainen, spotted in Selma Vilhunen’sdrama “Little Wing,” Minttu Halttula and Elsa Lagerstedt.
“International interest has been very wide,” said producer Julia Elomäki, singling out French-speaking territories.
“once again, the show is handling harsh and timely themes with honesty. Given the excellent reception of the first season, it proves there is a point in making ambitious series for younger audiences.”
Directed by Petra Lumioksa, the show’s first outing gained a lot of traction on social media as well.
“Especially on TikTok,” noted Elomäki.
“I have always considered the young audience to be important. We have to produce quality drama for teens and avoid patronizing them. ‘The Short Fuse’ is a brave series and an excellent example of how Tekele Productions works.”
She added: “I think there is true potential in Finnish series – and younger Finnish filmmakers – and we have already seen great examples of that. More is definitely to come. I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but great original stories always have the potential to travel.”
According to writer Pilke Salo, the show“deals with tough topics with a lot of heart.” Including love, sexuality and darker aspects of young adulthood.
“We want to describe the violence and mental malaise of young people boldly and believably, but without forgetting warmth, comedy and comfort. I think the series is both exciting and funny,” she says, admitting the show will now focus on Kristian, played by Rautiainen: a sporty 17-year-old forced to deal with the symptoms of his trauma.
“While writing, we studied boys’ trauma behavior and the emergence of a culture of violence among young men. Now, the show’s ‘ticking bomb’ has to do more with growing anger and mental malaise.”
“If the first season was about making friends, the second is about making a friendship last and things that need to be done in order to preserve it.”
But Helsinki-based Tekele – also behind Series Mania premiere “Transport” – is not giving up on movies just yet, currently developing AleksiSalmenperä’s “Backstage” – recently presented at Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market – and Ulla Heikkilä’s follow-up to feature debut “Eden.” Under the working title“Summer is Short” [“Sommaren är kort”], it’s produced by her longtime collaborator Marja Pihlaja.
“We have this background of professional friendship and we have been working together for years. Ulla is such a visionary filmmaker, with a playful and loving touch,” noted Pihlaja.
“Personally, I think it’s quite something to have these young women, in their 30s, producing their own stuff in an industry which is still very much dominated by males born in the 1960s and 1970s,” observed Tekele’s Miia Haavisto.
“I was born in 1972, but having these young producers overseeing projects they have themselves initiated and developed is key in seeing a change in the industry.”
