By Variety | Created at 2025-01-24 12:08:37 | Updated at 2025-01-24 19:36:58
8 hours ago
“The School of Housewives,” a popular Icelandic drama that debuted last year on public broadcaster RÚV, is a major contender for this year’s Göteborg Nordic Series Script Award, the biggest prize for TV screenwriting in Scandinavia.
The series turns Hekla, who, after being in and out of rehab since she was a teenager, enrolls in The School of Housewives – a real facility based in Reykjavik – in order to get her daughter back from foster care. But she, and several characters, can’t help but wonder, is learning to knit, bake and clean going to make any of them more fit mothers?
Through their shared struggles, these women find strength in one another, forming a community that empowers them all.
“The School of Housewives” is directed by Arnór Pálmi Arnarson, who co-wrote with Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir. It’s produced by Arnbjörg Hafliðadóttir at Glassriver, the company behind the Icelandic standout Berlinale Series player “Black Sands.”
Pálmi Arnarson and Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir spoke with Variety ahead of this year’s festival about their show, its real-life influences,
There was a well-received documentary about the School of Housewives a few years ago. Did you work with the facility in any way for this series? And did the documentary serve as an influence for your show?
We watched the documentary about the school some years ago, and it offered an insightful glimpse into its history. The school was founded in 1942 and initially taught young women homemaking skills—cooking, cleaning and knitting—while men pursued careers in a male-dominated workforce. The fact that the school is still active today fascinated us, and we saw it as a compelling setting to explore how societal roles have shifted and whether such an institution remains relevant.
To create an authentic narrative, we visited the school during the writing process to understand its daily life, structure and unique atmosphere. These visits inspired the series’ setting, and we even filmed on location, allowing us to write scenes with specific spaces in mind.
How did you divide responsibilities when you were developing and then making the show?
Once we chose the school as our setting, we began exploring themes that excited us—feminism, gender roles and the relevance of such a school in today’s world. From there, we focused on creating a rich cast of characters and developing detailed backstories for both students and staff.
We worked collaboratively throughout the process. Together, we wrote the treatments and deliberately took our time, ensuring every element in the story felt solid before moving on to scriptwriting. Tackling a 30-minute drama format was a unique challenge—balancing multiple characters and subplots while keeping the story tight and impactful.
When it came to scripting, we divided responsibilities and constantly exchanged drafts, providing each other with feedback and refining the episodes as we went along. This iterative process allowed us to strengthen both the individual episodes and the series as a whole. By the end, the collaborative effort ensured the final product felt cohesive, engaging and true to the vision we set out to create.
Can you talk briefly about the local TV scene in Iceland? Can a series be a success if it is only a hit in Iceland? Or does it need to be broadcast in other territories as well?
The Icelandic TV scene has evolved rapidly over the past 15 years. Previously, only one or two series were produced annually, many of them sketch comedies. Filmmaking in Iceland was traditionally focused on feature films, with numerous acclaimed movies created over the years.
The landscape began to shift significantly after the success of “Trapped” in 2017, which garnered international attention and sparked greater interest in Icelandic TV. Today, Iceland produces 3–5 major series a year, many of which are co-produced or financed with international partners. This collaboration has allowed Icelandic stories to reach a broader audience while maintaining high production values.
“The School of Housewives,” however, is not a large-budget series. The broadcaster, RÚV, specifically wanted a locally focused show that didn’t rely on foreign financing or grants. This gave us the freedom to tell an authentic, intimate story rooted in Icelandic culture.
What was the response to the show after it debuted early last year?
The series has been incredibly well received in Iceland, resonating with local audiences through its relatable themes and characters. While international success would be a bonus and is always welcome, we’re proud that the series stands strong as a purely Icelandic story. For a series to be considered successful here, it doesn’t necessarily need to reach global audiences, but connecting with viewers in other territories is an added reward that can elevate its impact and reach.
