Finland’s Yellow Film & TV hires MTV’s head of drama as chief content officer

First Responders

First Responders and Arctic Circle producer Yellow Film & TV has hired the head of drama & development at Finnish channel MTV as its chief content officer.

Jani Hartikainen will oversee domestic and Nordic content, working out of Yellow’s Helsinki office and reporting to CEO Olli Haikka.

Jani Hartikainen

Hartikainen has been behind shows such as Estonia and Reindeer Mafia for MTV and is also credited as co-creator of drama series Rantabaari, which has gone on to run for six seasons.

Prior to that, he acquired Finnish rights to Masked Singer and Taskmaster for MTV3, having previously held roles at Telia and Nelonen, where he was responsible for recommissioning Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and ordering Temptation Island.

He started his career in film distribution in 1998 at Nordisk Film and also worked also at Twentieth Century Fox International and Svensk Film.

Hartikainen’s arrival is aimed at enabling Haikka to focus on the company’s international growth and its English-language initiatives with its team in Ireland, which is led by Jackie Larkin.

The company has also hired development producer Eveliina Mauno, who was most recently production manager for HBO documentary series Viisi valittua (The Chosen Five), and promoted Janne Lähteenmäki to junior producer. He has been producing the second season of Precinct 66 and reports to head of drama, Lotta Westerberg.

Haikka said: “Jani and the other new hires will introduce a fresh perspective to the company. By merging the expertise of Yellow’s experienced members of the team with new innovative thinking, we will fortify the company and maintain its strong standing as Finland’s leading studio.

“Jani’s proficiency in content packaging and his Nordic connections immediately provide us with invaluable insights, benefiting both Yellow and our partners.”