NEM Zagreb 2023, an event focused on TV series and film creation, expanded its agenda with new elements and various opportunities for audiovisual experts from the CEE, is to honor outstanding content from the CEE through various opportunities, the organizers announced.

NEM Contest will honor the best screenwriting ideas for a series or a film in development and provide the opportunity to potentially fund the project, find the right coproduction partners, distribute the project and take it to the next level. The contest serves as a platform for connecting creators with experienced experts and decision-makers from the world of production and TV content creation. Jury members will give feedback to each applied project which gives a great opportunity for knowledge improvement and valuable exposure. Some of the jury members are: Alexandra Gabrižová, Program Coordinator, MIDPOINT Institute´s Series Program; Emmanuel Eckert, Deputy Acquisitions Director, Mediawan; Lenka Szántóm Creative Producer, TV Nova/VOYO, Czech Republic; Filip Bobiňski, Producer, Showrunner, CEO Dramedy Productions and Wiktor Piątkowski, Writer, Producer and Showrunner, BAHAMA FILMS.

The top 3 finalists from each category will also have the opportunity to join script surgery workshop and receive an in-depth analysis of their script.

Projects were submitted in four categories: Scripted series in all genres: drama, thriller, crime, fantasy, SF, comedy etc.; Scripted feature-length film (primarily for a streaming audience) in all genres: drama, thriller, romance, crime, fantasy, SF, comedy etc.; Documentary (non-scripted series)/Feature-length documentary film; and Non-scripted entertainment format. For now, more than 200 projects have been submitted to NEM Contest.

NEM Awards is a competition for the best TV series from CEE, publicly broadcast during the last year. The goal of NEM Awards is to bolster the global presence of exceptional TV series produced within the CEE. Some of the competitors for this year’s NEM Awards are BH Telecom, Czech Television, DANSU, Dramedy Productions, Drugi plan/Croatian Radio Television (HRT), Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), RTV Slovenija, Telekom Srbija, Polish Television (TVP).

The NEM Awards jury is constituted of top professionals in the AV industry from countries outside of the CEE. Some of the jury members are: Morad Koufane, Deputy Director of International Series (Co-productions and Acquisitions), France Télévisions; Marc B. Lorber, Executive Producer, The Art of Coproduction; Nigel McCrery, screenwriter; and Tom Coan, Executive Producer, Universal International Studios. The submissions will be rated through five categories: Idea, Monetization, Cast, Screenplay and Audiovisual presentation.

Besides the new and enhanced elements, all creators will have the opportunity to present their projects during Content Showcase - a segment dedicated only to content and projects regardless of the phase they are currently in. Always exciting part of the agenda are various screenings of new TV series which are followed by a Q&A session with the executive creator or co-creators.

NEM Zagreb will again provide a live scriptwriting workshop. Students from several regional universities will be gathered, and over the course of two days learn about characterization, exciting dialogue and how to create engaging TV content. Since networking is also a crucial part of success in the TV industry, workshops like these also serve to connect future audiovisual professionals.

For the third time, NEM Zagreb 2023 will serve as the central event in December where audiovisual experts have the opportunity to educate and connect as well as promote their projects and companies.

NEM Zagreb 2023 will provide special preferential prices for CEE countries by focusing on the CEE region and the countries with low production capacity and being part of the Creative Europe MEDIA sub-program. NEM Zagreb 2023 is co-funded by the European Union, through the Creative Europe MEDIA sub-program. Find more information at NEM Zagreb 2023 website.