Telekom Srbija’s Jasmina Lakobrija explains how the Serbian national telco is upping its international expansion plans with the first large-scale coproduction between the Adriatic territories and Spain. 

Cicatriz (Scar) is the story of a brilliant but lonely tech entrepreneur on the brink of becoming a billionaire, who falls for a young woman on a dating website hell-bent on a long-planned revenge mission.

Jasmina Lakobrija

The 2015 novel by Juan Gómez-Jurado – one of the most successful Spanish authors of all time, whose books, significantly, are also popular in Eastern Europe – is getting its own small-screen version later this year and the partnerships involved in this high-end coproduction are almost as intriguing as the plot.

The eight-part thriller comes from Spanish production giant Plano a Plano – the company behind series including Toy Boy for Antena 3 and Valeria for Netflix – and Mexico’s Dopamine – known for titles like Hernán for Amazon and TV Azteca, and Close to Me for Viaplay.

What’s striking about the project, however, is some of the other parties that have come on board since Plano a Plano and Dopamine (which both have offices in Madrid) came together on the show, given their shared adaptation rights.

France’s Asacha Media Group became attached in October 2022 to help with the international strategy and then last summer Telekom Srbija joined as a coproduction partner. For the latter, Cicatriz represents a step change in its original programming approach and the way in which it’s looking to collaborate with those in other territories.

“We want to diversify our catalogue in the sense of genre and, as a commissioner, we are getting on board really big projects involving the biggest platform players in the world,” says Telekom Srbija director of content production and sales Jasmina Lakobrija.

She’s referring to the fact that Amazon Prime Video in Spain is also co-commissioner of Cicatriz, along with Spanish national public broadcaster RTVE. Part of the reason for the excitement around the series is that Pablo Roa and Fernando Sancristóbal, co-writers of Netflix’s La Casa De Papel (Money Heist), are the scribes that have adapted the novel, alongside Verónica Marzá (Toy Boy, Diablero). Miguel Ángel Vivas, also known for La Casa De Papel and Vis a Vis (Locked Up) is the lead director.

“This is the first time that Serbia has coproduced with Spain on this level, involving key players like Prime Video and RTVE, who recognised Telekom Srbija as a valuable partner,” says Lakobrija. “After establishing ourselves as the leading producer and distributor of feature content in the CEE region, the natural step forward was to partner with a worldwide renowned team of producers and writers with such a strong background and offer our creative expertise, talent, writers and crew.”

Amazon Prime Video in Spain is co-commissioner of Cicatriz (Scar)

The story was originally set in the US and Russia but scenes set in the latter country, for obvious reasons, have been recreated in Serbia, with Bilbao replacing Chicago. Serbian production company Adrenalin has provided production services in the territory.

“It was an organic partnership because one of the storylines is happening in Serbia, and we have Serbian cast, so we are also involved creatively,” says Lakobrija.

“We are proud of this collaboration, which has additionally put Serbia on the world map as a shooting destination, as well as Serbian writers and talent, paving the path for future projects of this scope.”

While RTVE is the global distributor of Cicatriz, this agreement excludes the Adriatic countries (Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia), where Telekom Srbija retains sales rights. “We’re really looking forward to that and that’s how we’re developing our international partnerships,” Lakobrija adds.

Indeed, the state-owned Serbian telecommunications company, which has been growing its original production activities over the past five years, represents a number of its own homegrown titles such as last year’s Golden Boy, a five-part Serbian-language drama from Belgrade-headquartered Fantastika Film Studio based on a screenplay by Ognjen Jankovic, Vuk Rsumovic and Aleksa Rsumovic.

The series aired on Telekom Srbija-owned TV channel Superstar and commercial free-to-air network Prva TV in Serbia, plus Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia, where the company also operates. It teamed with Germany’s Beta Film for distribution beyond the region, with buyers including Amazon in that country and SBS in Australia.

An alliance with Indian distributor GoQuest, meanwhile, saw Telekom Srbija spy thriller Civil Servant, from Belgrade prodco Film Danas, sell to Brazil’s Globoplay, Miami-based FlixLatino and Telemundo in Puerto Rico.

“We have produced more than 60 titles – more than 850 hours of high-end content and become the biggest producer in the CEE region,” says Lakobrija.

“Telekom Srbija is the biggest telco operator in the region. It’s a Serbian national company, but it also operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia. We also recently opened operations in Turkey, Germany and Switzerland, and – through our OTT platforms – we are present in the whole world.

“Our core business is telecommunications but like other telcos [such as BH Telecom in Bosnia and Herzegovina] we recognised that everything is actually content and so about five years ago we started our own cable sports, thematic movies and series channels. And besides that, we decided to start producing local, domestic, high-end series, and with content all around this part of Europe, we decided also to get into international distribution.”

Investment from Telekom Srbija has helped elevate the whole CEE content industry, says Lakobrija. “Until then the only sources of finances were movie funds and national broadcasters, so production wasn’t on the same scale at all.”

Golden Boy, a homegrown hit for Telekom Srbija

She says the company has been fortunate enough to draw on Serbia’s rich heritage of movie schools, writers, producers, actors and directors but not only in the country, across the CEE region.

“In each of our series, we have a regional cast or a regional writing team, and of course, Telekom Srbija stands behind every project in every sense, including marketing and distribution.”

She takes Frust as an example – a six-part comic thriller, the first title from former HBO Europe showrunner Gabo Krigler’s Budapest-based Joyrider Television, made together with Serbia’s Firefly Productions, and directed by Oscar-winner Danis Tanovic.

“We financed that title,” says Lakobrija. “The whole production and the whole storyline is in Bosnian, not in Serbian, so that’s a good example of regional cooperation, but real regional coproduction hasn’t happened quite yet.”

While Telekom Srbija has previously coproduced with national broadcasters, pan-regional collaborations across the CEE region still remain some way off, though licensing relationships are very much alive. RTL Croatia, for example, last year acquired 14 Telekom Srbija titles, according to Lakobrija.

Frust was one of a dozen new properties Telekom Srbija presented at the 2023 Sarajevo Film Festival, where the firm signalled its commitment to the further internationalisation of its content and an intent to expand beyond markets where it’s already had success – cracking the US, for example. The partnership with Amazon on Cicatriz, due out later this year, was hailed as emblematic of the company’s ambitions for 2024 and beyond. Despite difficult economic headwinds, Lakobrija remains confident these plans will continue.

“We are facing rising of budgets, enormously,” she says. “But still, when you have an environment with production on scale, it fosters creativity and new talent. Right now, we have five years behind us, we know our writers and producers, and I think the best projects are yet to come.”