Finnish producer Whatever Pictures announced the international sales agreement for its eight-part comedy drama, commissioned by YLE, at Mipcom. The company has also partnered with Norway’s Rein Film to develop the scripted crime series Silent Herd.
Finnish production company Whatever Pictures announced at Mipcom 2026 that it has signed a global sales deal with ORF-Enterprise, which has acquired international distribution rights for the comedy drama Crème de la Crème (8×30’). Whatever Pictures has completed production on the series, which was commissioned domestically by Finnish broadcaster YLE.
Featured on its scripted slate for Mipcom, the company also announced a coproduction partnership with Norwegian production company Rein Film for the new scripted crime series Silent Herd (6×50’), currently in development.
Written and directed by showrunner Jukka Vidgrén, Topi Koljonen, Henna Rinnekangas, Juuso Laatio and Anna Heinämaa, Crème de la Crème is an eight-part comedy-drama series set in Finland, following Joonas, a young farmer who lives on his childhood dairy farm and takes pride in the rural lifestyle.
He enjoys the work, but the farm is on the brink of collapse, with no clear future in sight. Things take an unexpected turn when money is tight, and Joonas has to either give up the farm or get creative.
Soon, a new venture called Crème de la Crème is born, operating from an old dairy building. With the help of their friends, the boys start a booming sperm bank business. Money rolls in, and their ambitions grow. But success draws attention. The stakes rise fast, and what began as a bizarre side hustle soon spirals into something much bigger and riskier than they ever imagined.
The series is produced by Whatever Pictures’ Antti Kaarlela and Jukka Vidgrén and will be distributed worldwide by ORF-Enterprise.
Silent Herd, meanwhile, is a murder mystery set among the indigenous Sami people in the northernmost parts of Norway and Finland.
The series follows an investigator who is forced to return to the village they fled in their youth, after a traumatic childhood marked by bullying and exclusion.
When suspicious deaths begin to expose old wounds inside a powerful reindeer-herding family, the investigation becomes both a murder mystery and a personal reckoning.
Silent Herd is written by Jens Martin Mienna, Jörgen Hjerdt and Aleksi Puranen. The production companies are currently in discussions with broadcasters for the project.
Whatever Pictures’ scripted slate for Mipcom also includes Three Fires, a tense border thriller set in North Karelia, and Ice House, an international assassin thriller co-written by Marteinn Thorisson and Aleksi Puranen.
“We’re looking forward to bringing these unique projects to Mipcom this year, and to be working alongside ORF-Enterprise for Crème de la Crème, and our production partners Rein Film on Silent Herd. Both these stories have strong themes and captivating characters and plots, which is why they have the potential to connect with audiences internationally and reflect the type of content Whatever Pictures strives to bring to the world,” said Antti Kaarlela, CEO of Whatever Pictures.
“We’re proud to be working with partners who share that ambition, and look forward to introducing these projects to the international market,” he added.
“Crème de la Crème has the originality and confidence to stand out in today’s international market. It is bold, contemporary and unmistakably rooted in its Finnish setting, yet highly accessible to audiences beyond its home market,” said Armin Luttenberger, Head of Content Sales International at ORF-Enterprise.
“We are very pleased to add such a distinctive series to our scripted portfolio and to bring it to international buyers together with Whatever Pictures,” he added.
