HBO Europe rejigs creative team

HBO Europe has restructured its original production team following the pay TV network’s expansion into the Nordic region and Spain.

Hanka Kastelicová

Johnathan Young has been named VP of original programming and production at HBO Central Europe, taking charge of the Central European teams in Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Bucharest.

Young has executive produced drama series Mammon (Mamon, Czech Republic), The Pact (Pakt, Poland) and Silent Valley (Valea Muta, Romania). He is currently overseeing the second season of The Pack (Wataha) in Poland.

Steve Matthews becomes VP and executive producer of drama development for HBO Europe, with a brief covering Central Europe, the Nordics and Spain.

Matthews’ recent exec producer credits for HBO include Wasteland (Pustina, Czech Republic) and Golden Life (Aranyelet, Hungary), and he is currently working on Blinded by the Lights (Ślepnąc od świateł) in Poland.

Meanwhile, Hanka Kastelicova becomes VP and executive producer of documentaries, in recognition of the success of HBO Europe’s factual slate under her leadership.

HBO’s Polish documentary Communion has just received three nominations at the 2017 Polish Eagles, and Kastelicova was recently awarded the prestigious Eurofipa D’Honneur in January at the 2017 FIPA festival.

Young, Matthews and Kastelicova all report to Antony Root, HBO Europe’s executive VP of original programming and production.

Antony Root

The appointments mean the broadcaster now has three executives covering specific geographical regions – Young at HBO Central Europe, Hanne Palmquist at HBO Nordic and Miguel Salvat at HBO España. Matthews and Kastelicova’s genre remits, drama and documentaries respectively, will span all three HBO Europe regions.

Root said: “These promotions recognise our senior team’s outstanding achievements over the last few years. The original productions they have overseen have been successful with local audiences, sold internationally, selected for major festivals and have received many awards.

“We look forward to continued success in Central and Eastern Europe and to building our original programming presence in the Nordic region and Spain.”

Salvat joined fledgling HBO España as a commissioning editor in November last year, while Palmquist arrived at HBO Nordic as VP of original programming last April.