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HBO starts Balkans originals push
Posted By Michael Pickard On 17-02-2017 @ 9:05 am In News | Comments Disabled
HBO Europe is lining up production on its first original series from what it calls the Adria region of the Balkans within the next 12 months.
The pay TV platform’s Central Europe hub currently commissions original series from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania.
But it announced at the Berlinale event this week that it now has “two or three” dramas in development originating from Adria, which covers Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
This expansion is set to increase HBO Europe’s original output further, alongside new series coming from the recently established HBO Nordic [1] and HBO España [2].
Antony Root, HBO Europe’s exec VP of original programming and production, told C21: “We are developing a number of scripts for the Adria region and one of them will be the one we would like to do there. We have been producing in four central European countries and hope to be producing in five in the next 12 months, as well as in the three Nordics and Spain.”
The decision to push production into Adria came ahead of HBO’s inaugural Adria First Draft competition, which was launched in August last year at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Part of the CineLink Drama programme, it invited submissions of drama projects set in Adria. HBO received almost 600 entries, of which 447 were eligible under the entry guidelines, and an announcement about the winners is due in April.
This is not the first time HBO Europe has run a script contest, with similar events being held in Romania and Hungary. Root sees them as a way to bring out local writing talent in the region.
“We made that decision to produce in Adria and then we thought about how are were going to tease out what the writing community is there,” Root continued. “One of the mechanisms through which we did that was the script competition.
“Almost certainly there will be development from the script competition, and we have two or three other things in development that are unconnected.”
HBO Europe announced this week it had restructured its original production team. However, that reshuffle, coupled with new production in Adria, doesn’t mean the network is about to change its commissioning strategy [3].
“We’ve always said we’d try to do one original series a year in each of the countries in which we produce, there’s no change in that,” Root added.
“What you’re not going to see is suddenly we’re doing five shows in Hungary and six shows in Poland. It’s always going to be at the one-a-year level, adding Adria. And we’re not going to commission too quickly in the Nordics. We’re only going to start when we’re ready. We haven’t got a schedule to fill. So we have the advantage of not being a commercial, terrestrial broadcaster, but having said that, we have to get on with it and find some shows the public want to see.”
HBO Europe’s first original production, Burning Bush, which originated from the Czech Republic, debuted in 2013.
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URL to article: https://www.c21media.net/news/hbo-starts-balkans-originals-push/
URLs in this post:
[1] HBO Nordic: https://www.c21media.net/hboholding-nordic-hires-for-originals/
[2] HBO España: https://www.c21media.net/hboholding-hires-commissioner-for-spain/
[3] commissioning strategy: https://www.c21media.net/hboholding-europe-rejigs-creative-team/
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