The 7 projects started development in November 2016 at the first residential workshop in Slovakia, focusing on their series concepts and pilot scripts. Workshop 2 took place in Pilsen, Czech Republic, in collaboration with Finale Plzen and was dedicated to creation of the projects' pitch books. And now the third and final workshop has concluded in Sarajevo in the context of CineLink Drama Industry Days and Sarajevo Film Festival, bringing the projects to an international network of professionals. Wednesday morning the participants pitched their projects to broadcasters, commissioning editors, and industry guests in general.
The HBO Europe Award 2017 of 4.000 USD was awarded to 'The Midnight Shift' by writers Harry Ayiotis & Frixos Masouras, and writer/director/producer Andreas Kyriacou – Cyprus.
Tereza Polachova, Executive Producer at HBO Europe, and Steve Matthews, VP Executive Producer, Drama Development HBO Europe, say,
"HBO Europe Original Production is once again happy to co-operate with the MIDPOINT TV Launch programme. MIDPOINT continues to find and nurture amazing TV writing and producing talent, and we are delighted to be able to support the winning project THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT. It is a highly innovative concept – both commercial and deeply personal to the creators – professionally executed at every stage from concept to script to industry presentation; a great story told with a distinctive voice and a big heart."
About 'The Midnight Shift' ...
Earlier in the day following the MIDPOINT TV Launch Pitching Sessions, the C21 Media Award was awarded to Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos, participating in the program as the producer of '10 Bullets', offering him a one year subscription to C21 Media's content.
All further participants receive a special 3-month subscription, as well as a special discount for further C21's events and offers.
Alan Kingsberg (US), Head of Studies of MIDPOINT TV Launch, says,
"TV Launch is a year-long, three-lab workshop designed to enable writers to take their TV series from idea to market. The first workshop focuses on developing the series concept and the stories for the pilot script. During the second workshop each writer/producer team polishes their pilot script, maps out the season (and series) arcs for their main stories and characters and works to design the pitch documents they’ll need to sell their series. At the third and final workshop, the teams design marketing strategies and polish their verbal pitch which they then deliver to an audience of broadcasters, network executives and commissioning editors."
Read more about all the projects of MIDPOINT TV Launch 2017 ...
Call for MIDPOINT TV Launch 2018 is now open!
The call for TV Launch 2018 has officially opened today, and MIDPOINT encourages writers and producers primarily from Central-Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic countries and the wider Mediterranean area to apply. Creators with a possible background in filmmaking or with previous experience in TV writing, who want to shift to quality television production.
Deadline for applications is September 15, 2017. APPLY NOW!
MIDPOINT wishes to thank all funders and partners who made MIDPOINT TV Launch 2017 possible.
MIDPOINT TV Launch is realized with the support of Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, Slovak Audiovisual Fund, International Visegrad Fund; It is presented in collaboration with HBO Europe, CineLink Industry Days, Finale Plzen, CHARACTER – Film Development Association, Serial Eyes, C21 Media, Barrandov Studio, Creative Europe Desk Czech Republic - MEDIA and AMU.
