Think Tank & Writing Room

Writing European

 The War Room Content project

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The resilience of the European project has been tested by the COVID crisis and by the Russian occupational war in Ukraine. Polarization, fake news and the societal fallout from climate change, is going to test Europe as a civilizing power even more, thus its anchor in human rights, dignity and freedom needs to be strengthened.
 

We imagined War Room Content (WRC) as a tool to diversify and enrich European talent that will develop content, which enhances the civilizing power of the European project. We have travelled, studied, worked and married in countries different from where we were born, thanks to open borders and support from programs like ERASMUS. We have all written screenplays and articles, produced TV-shows and theatre plays, and directed fiction and documentaries treating different facets of European identity and the human condition.
 

WRC is a think tank and a writers room; a European hub of writers and show runners, experts, scientists, artists and civil society actors. Its aim is to create innovative European TV series with a strong local anchor and international appeal tied to the fostering of European core values. Boosted by legal, financial and packaging support, it provides talent with cutting edge specialists on topics like climate change, organized crime, disinformation, migration or social justice, but also a structure and tools to form transnational teams to create innovative European TV series with a strong local anchor and international potential.
 

WRC will organize debates about European identity at forums across Europe, while pitching the stories developed by the writing teams to broadcasters and partners. WRC supports European projects and creates a virtuous cycle of creativity that develops diverse European voices.

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WRC is set up by Dark Riviera AB, in partnership with Pavla Holcova (ICJK / OCCRP) nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2023, with Jan Lauwers (NeedCompany), with the collaboration of Reporters without Borders and Serial Killer.

 

Our mission:

 

We create content that revolves around four main areas that we believe are crucial to focus on in order to ensure the continuation of European integration and cooperation and develop the soft power capacities of the Union:

 

• Human Security (e.g. war, peace, rule of law, organized crime, corruption, securitization of migration, arms races, distrust, health and diseases, poverty, soft power, social and human rights, terrorism)

• Humans and technology (e.g. disinformation, artificial intelligence, impacts of social media, media literacy across Europe, mental health)

• Humans and their impact on the environment (e.g. climate change, destruction, pollution, ecological security and diversity)

• Unity through diversity (e.g. European values, migration, the role of borders, demographics, education, sexuality & genre relationship, ethnic and cultural identities, language)

 

Identifying a target audience is at the core of this project. By identifying the target audience, it enables us to easily adapt the medium, whether that be a documentary or a drama series, sitcom, talk show, short story series, videogames or a tik tok channel etc. By building a bridge between writers, scientists and civil society actors the aim is to create meaningful content with aspirational narratives, reaching those in most dire need or sharing the stories of the forgotten.  The European Union faces a multitude of problems on both a local and global scale and we believe that it is necessary to critically examine the reality of Europe today and to provide constructive solutions to contemporary problems.

 

Through storytelling and various forms of media we wish to show that there is no one way of being European, and that diversity of the experience is what connects us. Over the period of 24 months we aim to develop 10 projects - exploring European values through a variety of perspectives and first hand experiences while also enhancing the soft power capabilities of the European Union. 

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A project supported by Creative Europe Media Programme.

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