European Producers Club MD Alexandra Lebret Says CEE Production Sector Could Be The “New Nordic” & Urges Local Industry To Learn From Potential Pitfalls — Karlovy Vary

As production in the Central Eastern European market grows, economic expert Alexandra Lebret spoke to delegates at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this week and warned how the region can learn from the experience of the Nordic region’s film and television sectors. 

Lebret, who has been Managing Director of the European Producers Club since 2002 and is also the founder of production companies Mare Nostrum Productions and Halley Production, pointed that the current growth the CEE region is experiencing is similar to the boom in production that occurred in the Nordic region a decade ago. The latter sector has been experiencing grave difficulties in recent years thanks to rights conflicts, high inflation and the downturn of Viaplay.  

“The patterns that we see today [in the CEE] are the patterns we saw ten years ago in the Nordic region,” she told an audience at the KVIFF International Industry Insights session, emphasizing the importance for the CEE region to learn from the Nordic pitfalls.

“We saw in that period of time [in the Nordics] a lot of competition coming in, a lot of streaming services coming in – Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Viaplay – the economy was full of commissioning entities,” said Lebret. “But what has it brought? Competition, high inflation, high cost of shootings and suddenly a kind of crush, a crisis…because it was impossible to produce such a high number of shows at such a high budget and it has led to some withdrawal from some streaming services such as Amazon, for instance, and the bankruptcy of certain streamers – Viaplay being the best example.” 

Lebret pointed to increased investment in the CEE region from tech companies, coupled with an emerging TV series market that is finding international audiences (shows such as Spy and The Informant as being good examples), as positive trends for the market but urged the sector to call upon government officials and the wider industry to ensure that growth continues in a sustainable way. 

Check out the detailed panel above.