The forum is taking place 30 August–1 September in Lille, France
The panel brought together leading industry execs from CEE region: Jan Maxa, Director, Content and New Media at Czech TV — public broadcaster in the Czech Republic, Gabor Krigler, Creative Executive/Producer at Joyrider LLC, ex exec at HBO Europe, Judit Banhazi, scriptwriter, Kriszrina Gallo, Head of Original Production CEE at Sony Pictures Television International Networks. The panel discussion was moderated by Marike Muselaers, CO-CEO / Acquisitions, development & co-productions TV-series at Lumiere Group. Thanks to Marike Hide and Seek, Ukraine’s first crime noir drama premiered in the Benelux states — she was one of the first to license the series from ZDF Enterprises, who handle international distribution of the series.
Kateryna Vyshnevska spoke about the future of co-production partnerships in Central and Eastern Europe. She introduced an initiative to set up a content alliance of CEE producers and broadcasters with the idea of having a shared pool to fund the most significant stories out of CEE. This kind of collaboration provides new opportunities to build a critical volume of Central and Eastern European content and to make it into a sustainable business for all stakeholders: producers, creative talent, broadcasters, global streamers, international distributors. We need to establish CEE as a common market as none of the individual countries within CEE are large enough on their own to ensure sustainable investment into premium content.
Kateryna shared successful cases of FILM.UA Group and spoke of the production facilities and a variety of financing options that Ukraine can provide to co-producers. We are now able to tailor funding options to the needs of each individual project, be it local soft money funds (i.e. Ukrainian State Film Agency), license fees from broadcasters and VOD platforms, Eurimages support Ukraine, etc.
Exclusively for Series Mania Forum, Kateryna also presented a first-look trailer for the new season of Love in Chains series (produced by FILM.UA Group and StarLightMedia). The premiere of the series is scheduled for autumn 2021. The new seasons of period drama are co-produced with the Polish public broadcaster TVP. The first two seasons of Love in Chains became a ratings success for TVP1. Love in Chains case confirms that CEE-produced co-productions can enjoy success and pull big audiences in the region.
Kateryna's initiative to set up a content alliance found traction with the other speakers and the audience, as we share not only the commercial realities but also cultural and historic background. Kateryna’s manifest kickstarted a conversation about the rise of CEE-produced content and development and financing opportunities in the region.
