SVT names Wikander replacement

Swedish pubcaster SVT has named Avanti Films & TV exec Anna Croneman as its new head of drama and film.

She replaces Christian Wikander, who exited in August to become director of coproduction at UK-based producer Pinewood Television.

Croneman’s credits include producing Kronprinsessan (The Crown Princess), Drottningoffret (Queen Sacrifice) and Min Bror Kollokungen (My Brother King Kollo) for SVT, which is Sweden’s biggest investor in TV drama.

Besides working at Avanti, Croneman (pictured) has worked as vice chairman of the Swedish Film Institutes (Svenska Filminstitutets) board of directors and president of Swedish Film and Television Producers’ (Sveriges Film och TV-Producenters) film division.

Croneman’s experience in film will be useful as new Swedish cultural policy requires SVT to invest more in features.

“It is an exciting time for television drama – a time of great challenges for both channels, creators and production companies, but also a time of great opportunities for development and renewal,” she said. “SVT’s role as a producer in the future media landscape has perhaps never been more important.”

Andreas Bedinger, director of SVT Stockolm, said Croneman was “a skolled an experienced producer” who had “demonstrated the clarity, courage and conviction in both the management of creative processes… and leadership”.

Croneman – who has worked at Avanti, Bleck Film & TV, Svensk Filmindustri and Bob Film Sweden in the past – begins at SVT in February 2017.

SVT has this year broadcasted series such as Midnight Sun, Miss Friman’s War, Spring Tide, Thicker Than Water and 30 Degrees in February, and has Delhi’s Most Beautiful Hands, The Bonus Family and Before We Die on the slate.