HBO pledges to produce annual TV series from “Adria” region
Scene from Game of Thrones, produced by HBO and partly filmed in Croatia (Image: Game of Thrones / Facebook)
19 August 2016
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Elise Morton
Broadcaster HBO, known for producing such TV hits as Game of Thrones, has launched a new initiative to produce one TV drama series per year from what it calls the “Adria” region, comprising of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
This development was revealed yesterday at the CineLink Dram forum, which forms part of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
The project, run through the broadcaster’s offshoot HBO Europe, aims to see contemporary stories written in a local language turned into high-end drama series, with production beginning from 2018.
The scripts must come from the “Adria” region, and be submitted by 15 November 2016.
HBO Europe began producing projects from eastern Europe in 2010, working on such shows as Romanian drama Umbre, Hungarian thriller Aranyélet and Czech crime series Mamon.
“It is our absolute aim to work with local talent in order to deliver quality series developed primarily for the domestic audience, based on original local ideas. To achieve this aim, we are launching the First Draft Contest, seeking the best scripts in the Adria region. We’re looking for scripts that are distinctly local,” said Steve Matthews, HBO’s executive producer of drama development, while in Sarajevo to announce the call for project proposals.
Source: Screen Daily
