Head Writer Explains Themes Behind Follow The Money

In an interview with Nordisk Film & TV Fund, creator and head writer of Follow The Money (Bedrag), Jeppe Gjervig Gram (Borgen), explains the themes that drive the series and reveals that season two is already in production:

“The main theme is greed. The premise is that everybody is greedy. As I see it, it’s a basic human condition and after the financial crisis, a lot of people were quick to blame the bankers on Wall Street. But we were all greedy and partly responsible for the unsustainable rise in house value, excessive borrowing and risky investments that eventually led to the financial crisis.”

“We have three intertwined stories. One arena is that of a giant energy company Energreen doing dubious business. We follow a young ambitious female lawyer who gets the opportunity to work with the charismatic CEO of the company, a kind of Steve Jobs.”

“The second arena is that of a policeman who investigates a crime and stumbles upon information linked to Energreen’s shabby business practices. The third arena is represented by a young car mechanic who used to steal cars and by coincidence finds something that belongs to the Energreen organization. The three arenas correspond to three layers of society, the upper class, middle class and working class.”

“Season 2 is in production and we are currently writing episode 17 and 18, i.e. episode 7 and 8 of Season 2. I can’t say much beside the fact that the three parallel story-lines will continue.”

A US version has already been commissioned with True Detective’s Richard Brown to produce. He said: “The possibilities to explore economic crime and its consequences in the form of an investigative thriller are extremely rich and compelling.”