Wiktor, Poland has become one of the most-dynamic markets in CEE when it comes to TV and streaming and especially in terms of scripted content. What makes the Polish TV market so attractive, besides the fact that it is the biggest one in CEE?
You mentioned one of the biggest factors, which is the size of the country. And now, after the war and when Russia is excluded from the international community, we are the biggest Central and Eastern European country, so the size is one factor. I think another factor is the long history of co-productions in Poland, starting from the great directors like Andrzej Wajda or Krzysztof Kieślowski. And I think our TV market is also pretty, pretty strong and we have all the big major streamers present on our market but also there's always the public broadcaster and private networks, also a few film schools. What is also important is the Polish community in other European countries - in England,Iceland, Ireland, etc. Polish is the second most popular language after the local language; the Polish community is huge in the USA; you can find Poles everywhere. They could also be kind of like the ambassadors of those films or TV series that are produced here. I also think the price, the value for price, the quality that you can get to shoot here in Poland is a big factor. I think Poland is just between those top European countries, which offer great value, but unfortunately for like way higher budgets. You also have smaller CEE countries that are cheaper in terms of production but maybe the price for value is not there yet on this level.

The aforementioned streamers have announced ambitious CEE content strategies but for the time being the bulk of those plans include Polish content. CEE is avast market, with lots of different territories with different specifics. Doyou believe the latest Polish series will travel well across the entire region, both as ready-made content and formats and does viewers' taste differ much int he different countries?
I think there are some similarities, but basically all our countries are different. I've never worked in any of those streaming companies, I've cooperated with them, but from the outside, so I cannot talk about their strategies because I don't know them. But if I have to guess, I would say that it's like a safe bet to start from the biggest market and then put the feet there and then move further to smaller markets, so I think more local content will come soon from other territories, not only the biggest countries, but also smaller countries. And I also really believe in co-productions because I believe that if it's a co-production between two or three Central and EasternEuropean countries, we can make it interesting for all of the two or three markets. I think there's a chance that a Polish show could be popular in Romania or a Bulgarian show in Poland, but I think if it's a co-production with a cast that the audiences in those countries know, that would definitely help. And also, local talents engaged starting from the very beginning, from the writing till the end of the production.

Netflix, for which you have made 4 original films, has become one of the biggest players in terms of original fiction in Poland and has been investing quite a lot in local content. How has the most-popular international streamer which launched in Poland in 2016 changed the Polish scripted market and what're your thoughts on the recently adopted legislative changes that will see royalties paid by streamers to Polish filmmakers and actors?
I believe it was a big game changer for us when Netflix entered the Polish market and when they started to produce. And it was a great boost for the whole market. For me as a writer, creator, producer, it's really amazing that something that you write, you create something in your rather small or medium-sized market, and then it can be on top of the world. Like three of those four movies, they made it to number one in the non-English category in films. And it's really amazing that a rather small project can do it, it would never happen before this great revolution that the streamers brought to our market. So, this is really amazing. And also, they brought international standards, protection for all film professions. I think that the rates went higher as well, so people started to earn more money. Now the royalties are coming, which is also great to unify the situation in the whole European Union so that we can work all on equal terms, fair terms. So, I think that's good that the legislation in Poland speeded up.

I think it was one of the last countries to do so...
Yes, we were one of the last countries. So, it's really good that we finally changed it and I think it's a really huge game changer. And also I would say that what the streamers, Netflix and other streamers changed is they opened the door to different genres and projects that would never be produced. I remember when I started 15 years ago in this market I created and pitched a comedy series set in the medieval times, and everybody was looking at me like I'm crazy. And now, I think a year or two years ago, a Polish comedy series called1670, taking place in the past was created, it was so popular, not only in Poland, but also in other countries. And it would never happen 15 years ago.

Polish pubcaster TVP is currently in liquidation and most recently rumors appeared about a potential sale of leading commercial broadcaster TVN by its current owner Warner Bros. Discovery. Also, Viaplay, which up till recently has been investing into local fiction, found itself into financial troubles. How is this situation affecting the Polish TV market and especially investments into local fiction, are local producers worried?
Of course we are all worried about that. I created the first original Viaplay series (Murderesses, e.d.) and we had plans for the next season and so it affected me personally as well. I think when you look at the trends in every market, it's up and down, it's constant fluctuation. And I think probably now it's not the best time, but I hope in one, two, maybe three years we'll get back there. And the political situation stabilizes in Poland. So, I hope the public television soon will get on track, because we need the public television in our region, it has an important role in the production landscape. With TVN, you mentioned, yes, it's a big question mark for the industry what's going to happen? So, we are waiting but I think the better times are coming.

Earlier this year we talked to two former HBO Europe execs who recently founded May One in Romania who told us that "it’s unlikely that there will be a sudden surge of money flowing east". HBO Europe was one of the leading commissioners and co-producers of premium drama series in CEE, up till 2022, including your series Wataha (The Pack/The Border). Do you believe major international streamers can fill the "void" left by HBO Europe when it stopped investing into CEE fiction or traditional broadcasters will keep their leading role?
I think the local audiences need local content and this will never change. And, of course, there are some fluctuations because of the situation in the US, in the American market. I personally think, but I'm not saying this as a writer-producer, but as a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics, that from the economic point of view, some mergers and acquisitions will take place probably in the future. And I think the market is waiting for it, it's this time that we are waiting for what's going to happen. But, in my opinion, this will resolve in the next three, five years.

You are attending TV market events and festivals regularly, also you run screenwriting workshops both in Poland and internationally. From your extensive experience of working with international producers and filmmakers in Italy,Germany, France, Scandinavia, Ireland; etc. What are the necessary ingredients for successful co-productions?
First of all, I think it has to be organic because I think many times it's money-oriented like 'okay, there is money in Switzerland', so a dead body is found in Switzerland. But there is more money to get in Italy. Alright, but the hand is missing so a hand is in Italy. And it gets more and more ridiculous if you just follow the money in that case. I would definitely start from the creative point of view, it's a lot of work for producers, for executives:translation of contracts, all the paperwork, so if the co-production is organic and makes the show better, I would definitely go for it. Sometimes you feel that it doesn't have to be a co-production. It could be a guy coming from another part of the same country, but they made it a co-production because probably they were hoping for some external financing sources. I think the audience is too intelligent now not to feel it so I would suggest thinking creatively and looking for organic co-productions.

Are you looking for co-production options in the region? Neighboring Ukraine is now very active in the field. Have you been approached by Ukrainian companies with such proposals?
I think from my work we have a few projects that we are developing. We recently pitched a project with a Finnish production company. I also pitched a project at Series Mania with an Irish company. But about the region, I'm looking for an organic co-production between countries from our region. I used to have a greatPolish-Czech project that wasn't produced because of some reasons but I'd love to get back either to that project or to some other regional co-productions.

You are a member of the Series jury at this year's Heart of Europe TV Festival and Forum. What will be the main elements of the series projects you will be evaluating and what are the prerequisites for a successful pitch in your opinion?
We were looking for the great idea, because some projects were a bit more developed, with some development money well invested and the whole package was shiny, and the projects were well pitched. But for some other projects you could feel that they are in the beginning of this road, the idea is very free and strong. So, the project that we decided was the best, in our opinion, wasThe Prince (pitched by Sergiu Scobioala – Producer, Traian Stoianov – Actor,Rlive TV Representative). The project that was fresh and probably in the beginning of the whole development process, but we wanted to support the potential in it and the freshness of the idea. So, this is what we as a jury were looking for in this particular event. But I would definitely try to find the great balance between the project and also the pitch itself because sometimes you could feel that the project is way better than the presentation of it. And also, when you pitch a lot and you are on both sides of it as a jury member or as a person pitching a project. You could feel sometimes those shiny papers around that maybe not the best project so you can get it with some experience.I think the project comes first and pitching next but it's also very important.

Do you regularly watch content from other CEE territories and what are your thoughts on the scripted market in the region?
I once was a jury member in the Pilsen Film Festival and I had to watch everyTV series and every TV movie produced in the Czech Republic throughout the whole year so we stayed almost for a week watching every piece and I must say Iwas really impressed by the quality of their family-friendly content - TV movies for kids.

And their fairytales...
Yes, the fairytales were wonderful, I remember them from the 80s, 90s when Iwas a kid and they are still producing those and they are still good. And I have watched some Ukrainian projects. I try to watch whenever I'm at some festivals because it's not easy to get access to some of those productions.Whenever I have a chance, I watch them, and I see that the quality of work is improving significantly. If you compare it to those projects produced 10 years ago, 5 years ago, it's a huge difference. So, I think regarding the quality -we are getting there, we are really catching up with Western Europe, that's why they started coming.

Wataha (The Pack/The Border) was your first major series that you co-created with Kamil Chomiuk and Krzysztof Maćkowski and it was also HBO's first originalPolish drama. The series enjoyed critical acclaim and has been popular outside of Poland, aired in over 40 countries. How was the idea about the series born and how long did it take to produce it? What were the main difficulties in producing a high-end drama back in 2015 compared to 2024, what have been the major changes in the industry?
The original idea was from, I think, 2008 and the inspiration was Poland entering the Schengen zone. So back then the Polish-Ukrainian border became the EU border and it's the border where people, money, weapons, drugs from Asia were smuggled through Russia, to the European Union. So, all of a sudden it became a very important part of the whole European Union. And I knew this region pretty well because my wife comes from Moldova, so we were driving or taking a train through Ukraine, through that border and I knew it really well -the inspiration came from there. And we wrote the first materials in 2009, it was the whole package, three scripts, the Bible and lots of materials. But it was more like learning by doing, I think I was still technically in film school back then and we didn't have any classes about TV writing, it wasn't that popular.

So, it was like analyzing American shows, reading American books and learning by doing, it wasn't easy. When we had the whole package, I pitched it to everyone in Poland and everybody rejected it, but we knew that it's strong because of the arena and also because of the border guards, the profession that nobody knew back then that well so we didn't give up. So I pitched it again, we got rejected and I pitched it again and all of a sudden I found somebody who believed in the project. It wasn't easy. I think now it would be 10 times or like 100 times easier to pitch it, to sell it because the budget back then, it was the highest budget ever in Polish TV, we didn't have streamers. We were lucky that HBO started original production in our region, and they picked Wataha. So, you need luck. but you also need a project, a good project to wait for luck.

In 2009 you established Bahama Films. What have been your successful projects in Poland and abroad and what are the projects you are currently working on?
We established the company starting from organizing workshops for screenwriters, then we added screenwriting. I was head writing, we were doing script doctoring, also jobs helping other production companies or broadcasters.And now we are moving more in production. At the moment we are producing a feature film, we want to produce two more next year. And soon we'll do the whole production of TV series. And I think looking back to the last 15 years, we mentioned Wataha, which was like the first big series for me. I would also mention Murderesses (Morderczynie), which is the first Polish Viaplay series.I'm happy with this project and it's also doing quite well internationally. And the Netflix movies because that was also mind-blowing that your project, a small project, can be popular in whole South America those movies were super popular. Number one for lots of days and I really love that feeling that you can reach the audience, not your local audience only, that you can move on with your work and to show it to more people. I would say those were the highlights in the previous years. But now I'm looking forward to the new bright future.

And when can we expect your newest TV series?
I think that the projects we are developing now should be shot next year.Probably in two years I will have two projects that I'm having great expectations about.