From Local Stories to Global Success: The Sellability and Adaptation of Regional Drama Series
This panel delves into the complex landscape of adapting existing IP into drama series, exploring the challenges and the opportunities that arise in the process. The discussion centres on two drama series from the region: OPERATION SABRE, which won the Special Interpretation Award at Canneseries this year and is distributed by Beta; and CONSTANTINE’S CROSSING, the adaptation of the novel of the same title, currently in post-production and distributed by Mediawan. The panel explores the creative and distribution sides of securing rights, navigating legal and creative hurdles, and re-imagining original works for television. Special attention is paid to the challenges of using real events and people in adaptations, including the implications for distribution and the necessary clearance processes. Additionally, the discussion addresses what makes series from this part of the world sellable globally, considering how small, local stories can work well internationally and exploring the potential for creating remakes or allowing these series to thrive in their adapted forms.
SPEAKERS
ECKERT EMMANUEL
Acquisition deputy director, Mediawan Rights / FR
ANNA ROHDE
International Creative Executive, Beta FIlm Group / DE
SNEŽANA VAN HOUWELINGEN
Producer, This and That Productions / RS
BOBAN JEVTIĆ
Head of Content Strategy and Development, Firefly Production / RS
MODERATED BY
MATIJA DRAGOJEVIĆ
Scriptwriter / RS
TIME
Monday, August 19, 2024
17:45– 18:45 (CET)
LOCATION
Swissotel Sarajevo / CineLink Talks Conference Room
Anna Rohde
Before joining Germany’s distribution and production house Beta Film GmbH as International Creative Executive & Content Editor in 2011, Anna Rohde studied dramaturgy, philosophy, and literature at Munich's Theatre Academy and at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich. Before her studies, she worked as assistant director in many national and international TV and feature films. She is member of Germany’s VeDRA (Verband für Film- und Fernsehdramaturgie e.V.), jury member of the International Emmy’s semi-finals, and mentor of the post-graduate Serial Eyes writing program. As creative executive, she has been working on many internationally successful shows from the CEE region, most recently on the multi-awarded THE SILENCE (2021-2023) and GOLDEN BOY (2021), Jasmila Zbanic’s Venice premiered I KNOW YOUR SOUL (2023), and the Canneseries-awarded OPERATION SABRE (2024).
Snežana van Houwelingen
Snežana van Houwelingen graduated in Film Production at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade and completed the EAVE Producers program in 2011 and EAVE Plus in 2021. She produced internationally acclaimed films, including DARKLING (Serbian Oscar Entry, 2022), BAD BLOOD – ANCESTRAL SIN (87,000 viewers, sold to Netflix, 2021), FAITH AND BRANKO (Hotdocs 2021), ASYMMETRY (Sao Paolo IFF 2020), A GOOD WIFE (Sundance 2016). Her TV show OPERATION SABRE premiered at Canneseries 2024, winning a Special Interpretation Award. She also produced MORNING CHANGES EVERYTHING (2018) and BAD BLOOD (2021) for RTS. Snežana's upcoming projects include MOTHER MARA by Mirjana Karanović and OUR FATHER by Goran Stanković. She teaches at FMK, is a voting member of EFA since 2015, mentored at EWA in 2023 and 2024, and participated in ACE Producers program.
Boban Jevtić
Boban Jevtic is a Serbian film and TV screenwriter. In the period from 2015 to 2019, he was the director of the Film Center of Serbia. Since 2019, he is working as a Head of Content Strategy and Development in the Firefly Productions, a production company from Belgrade, Serbia. As the creative director of Firefly Productions, he worked on TV series such as - "Tycoon 1-2" (2020 -2022), "Underneath 1-2-3" (2020 -2022), "The Clan 1-2-3" (2020 -2022), "The Family" (2021), "No Trespassing 1-2-3" (2021-2022), "Black Wedding 1-2" (2021), Block 27 (2021), Children of Evil (2022), The Fall (2022), “V-effekt (2023). As a screenwriter among several works : "Military Academy" (2012 -2013 ), "Suspicious Faces" (2016 – 2017), “Black Sun 2” (2017) Strange loves (2022 - Heart of Sarajevo for screenplay, comedy). In 2016, he was awarded the Order of the Ministry of Culture of France in the rank of Knight of Arts and Literature.
Matija Dragojević
Matija Dragojević was born in 1991, Belgrade, Yugoslavia. As the country fell apart, Matija grew up on film sets, annoying his filmmaker parents with endless questions. Matija lived in Los Angeles for several years before moving back to what was now called Serbia, just in time for his own identity crisis. Following studies in psychology, Matija pivoted towards screenwriting, earning an MA in Serial Storytelling from ifs Film School in Cologne. Matija is an alumnus of Midpoint, CNC’s Going European program, and the Laureate of the CanneSeries Residency. He co-authored the series “Awake,” a supernatural detective thriller, which was selected for competition at CANNESERIES, where it won the Audience Award. On the industry side, Matija worked for Sundance Labs, Seriencamp, and Berlinale Series Market, where he is the Conference Programmer and Head of Programming at Seriesly Berlin. Matija also offers quality post-production services to his 4-year-old son. He lives in Berlin. Representation by Homebase Agency.