ICS Nordic Hires Live Comedy Exec & Strikes Deal With Ismo Leikola

EXCLUSIVE: ICS Nordic, the Finland-based production house of Ilkka Hynninen and Ilkka Rahkonen, is pushing into the live comedy space.

The company, which is behind the Anne Watanabe-starring Blood & Sweat, has hired live comedy events specialist Ilona Puttonen in the role of Talent and Operations Executive, and signed a partnership deal with Ismo Leikola, Finland’s top international comedian.

Puttonen, who has 17 years’ experience in the culture and live events world, will spearhead a push into the live space, which is part of ICS’s plan to create cross-platform concepts that combine live experiences with film and TV content. She will focus on artist collabs, operational development, partner networks and new business.

“In the future, we are seeing clear increasing synergy between film, television, and live events,” said Puttonen. “Our goal is to develop innovative concepts where different types of content support one another to create unique experiences for audiences and partners.”

The deal with Leikola plays into the strategy and deepens his partnership with ICS. The pair previously produced feature film Ismo – Breaking Bad English, which had a theatrical release and broadcasted on HBO in the Nordics and the Baltic region, along with selling internationally into the likes of Australia.

Leikola recently sold out the Nokia Arena in Finland, marking the largest stand-up audience in the country’s history. He is set to embark on a European tour, and ICS represents him in Finland on all business related to live events, partnerships and audiovisual content within the territory of his tour.

“It’s exciting to take the next steps with ICS Nordic,” said Leikola. “We share the same ambition to build comedy that travels internationally while still staying true to its roots.”

“This is a natural next step in building a modern, internationally oriented content company – the strengthened partnership reinforces all of our positions as international players and opens new opportunities for film, television, and globally scalable comedy formats,” said ICS’s co-founders in a statement.

“More broadly, ICS sees intellectual property as a wider universe from which different kinds of content, experiences, and business opportunities can be built. From our perspective, this move is a natural strategic extension of that thinking. That is exactly why Ilona’s arrival is important — she brings deep practical experience from the culture and events sector and strengthens this capability significantly.”

For Tampere-based ICS, the news comes a month after it hired new development, production, finance and legal and business affairs execs, and three months after we reported the company had teamed with Sherlock & Daughter creator Brendan Foley on Operation: Arctic Fox, a TV adaptation of a book by journalist and former army officer Helena Immonen.