It has become increasingly popular to write, produce and watch true crime series. True Crime Investigation focuses on the Danish series The Investigation (TV 2, 2020) within this context. The series was written and directed by Tobias Lindholm and based on the so-called ‘submarine case’ - a cruel crime case from 2017. However, the series, and this book, is more about the police investigation than the crime itself.
Readers are given an exclusive possibility for learning - through new interviews with significant actors from the production process - how the conditions for the production have influenced the creative processes, research phases and genre considerations. Readers are moreover offered insights into the impacts and concerns that ensue from working on the shoulders of an actual crime case, and how such conditions can affect the ethical choices that need to be made with a series such as this one.
True Crime Investigation is for everyone who loves series on a professional or private basis. It is, however, extra relevant to screenwriters or those involved in serial productions. It brings out knowledge from the production study on which it is based and formulates that knowledge into suggestions for best practices and concrete exercises. The suggestions are all relevant to serial drama development in general and true crime specifically.
Nathali Herold Solon Pilegaard (b. 1994) is a PhD student at Media Studies, University of Southern Denmark. Her PhD project is a media production study about screenplay development in the Danish television industry. Her focus is especially on screenwriters’ storyworld building (the development of the so-called diegetic world). Her latest publication is an article called “A Method off the Beaten Track: Refining Creative Writing Process through Practice-led Research” published in Qualitative Studies (2023) and written together with Heidi H.K. Philipsen.
Heidi Hilarius-Kalkau Philipsen (b. 1971) is associate professor at Media Studies, University of Southern Denmark, while also being head of the education ‘Screen Play Development’. Her research field has always been production studies on creative storytelling processes. Her scientific heart is beating for talented practitioners who carry out stories through film or series. Besides several publications on media production studies together with Nathali Pilegaard, she has also written e.g. Beyond the Bridge – Contemporary Danish Television Drama with Tobias Hochscherf (2017). Both Heidi and Nathali are also part of a research project called “Sustainable sGreenplay”. This is about sustainability in the Danish media industry and related to the Climate Cluster Centre at University of Southern Denmark.
