Already at work on Netflix’s first Romanian original, former HBO Europe execs Johnathan Young and Ioanina Pavel have hit the ground running since launching Romanian production company May One in February.

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) high-end scripted market changed significantly following Warner Bros Discovery (WBD)’s decision to turn its back on original production in a host of European markets, including Central Europe, in 2022.

Johnathan Young

At the time, Johnathan Young was VP of original programming for HBO Max in EMEA and production in CEE, a role that saw him oversee HBO’s slate of original local-language series in the region and, due to the change in strategy, was suddenly surplus to requirements.

During Young’s time at HBO, his executive producer credits included award-winning Polish series Wataha (The Pack), Romanian-German international coproduction Hackerville and, most recently, the Cold War spy drama Spy/Master, which has since been picked up by the BBC in the UK.

Following his exit, Young teamed up with his fellow former HBO Europe colleague Ioanina Pavel, who began as a development executive at HBO Romania, working on hit Romanian gangster drama Umbre (Shadows) and Hackerville, before going on to produce a variety of series including romantic drama RUXX, reality contest One True Singer and Spy/Master for HBO Max.

With many years of experience developing and producing drama in Romania and Central Europe under their belts, the former HBO Europe executives launched Romanian production company May One in February.

A creative hub to produce premium television drama in Romania for local and international audiences, the company is so-called because the duo left WBD on April 30, 2023, meaning May 1 last year marked the beginning of a new era for the producers.

Based in Bucharest, May One has been set up to develop, produce and provide creative partnership for high-end series shot in Romania, working with established and new talent from both within and outside the country.

Its first commission, currently shooting and starring Ana Ularu and Florin Piersic Jr, is the original Netflix series Subteran, announced in October last year and produced alongside Spy/Master coproducer Mobra Films of Bucharest.

Cold War spy drama Spy/Master was picked up by the BBC

The first Romanian original from the global streamer, the show follows a mother who works in IT and starts fighting undercover against the criminals of Bucharest. The six-part series is created by Steve Bailie, with Octav Gheorghe and Peter Kerek as co-writers.

Anna Nagler, director of local-language series for Netflix in CEE, has described the series as a fast-paced, captivating and “slightly absurd” crime series. Young and Pavel can’t reveal more about the show, beyond confirming it is consistent with the high-stakes, fast-moving entertainment that Romanian audiences can’t get enough of.

It comes as May One aims to open up a wealth of Romanian resources and talent to the international industry, inviting partnerships and collaborations from across Europe and beyond. The team are also seeking to discover and develop fresh new writers and ideas within Romania, which Young describes as a hotbed for creativity.

“The country provides an enticing and fascinating backdrop for TV. With our knowledge and network in this vibrant, exciting space we want to be a hub for local talent, to attract collaborations, and create high-quality drama that brings a different flavour to international audiences,” says Young.

Pavel adds: “Here in Romania we have ideas that won’t be found anywhere else, and the creative talent to back them up. Our aim is to elevate these for local and global audiences, tapping into our unique vision and landscape to create bold, genre shows that feel unique and distinctive, but have broad appeal.”

Ioanina Pavel

A handful of Romanian projects had been in development at HBO Europe when the decision was made in the upper echelons of WBD to restructure and move away from original production in markets including Central Europe and Turkey.

These projects reverted back to the writers and, keen to carry on their working relationships with Young and Pavel, May One has been trusted to try and bring these series to fruition. Many of these differ from Spy/Master in that they aren’t necessarily geared towards the international market, while the positive experience on Spy/Master has whetted the duo’s appetite for coproductions.

“We have a number of new projects on the slate that pick up the baton from Spy/Master. And then we have projects that were with HBO that are specifically for Romania. We’re continuing to work on them and to see whether other streamers might step into the space that HBO vacated. You never know,” says Young.

“We’re also talking to the local TV stations and seeing if we can use our international experience to do something that might be of interest to them. They’re lower budget, but they could do fantastically well locally. We’d love to have a May One show on one of the networks here in Romania. So we have a multi-pronged approach, which I think we probably have to have in the current market.”

Young is also hopeful that the recent efforts from the Romanian government to reinstate the country’s tax rebate scheme could see more international companies return to film there after the scheme ground to a halt between 2019 and 2023.

Ana Ularu and Florin Piersic Jr will star in Subteran

Despite these issues, numerous high-profile international productions have been filmed in Romania in recent years, including Tim Burton’s Wednesday for Netflix, and Canal+ and Sky Studios’ English-language reimagining of Sergio Corbucci’s classic 1966 Western, Django.

“You want people to fall in love with the country, the people and embrace the talent. The rebate scheme might help to do that. You need the Americans and the Brits to be making the shows that come in. We’re obviously a bit vulnerable to what goes on internationally,” says Young, pointing to the commissioning slowdown in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, Pavel asserts that the local market is strong, with Romanian audiences eager to watch local content, reflected in the increasing numbers of people making trips to the cinema since the pandemic.

However, the CEE market remains hamstrung by the relative lack of funding, subsidies and resources from the state available to local producers compared to their counterparts in Western Europe.

This means May One is seeking coproductions with European partners that are driven by a show’s script rather than its financing plan. “We’re thinking about genuine coproductions where you’re creatively aligning with someone who has as much passion about the project from a creative point of view as you do,” says Young.