Paris, 31st March 2010 -- Organizers of the annual DISCOP EAST event today announced details of DISCOPRO, the training and pitching program which will take place on Tuesday 22nd June 2010. Held the day before the opening of the 18th edition of the well established Budapest-based content market (23rd - 25th June), the DISCOPRO program will focus on the vibrant co-production sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

DISCOPRO will once again explore the wealth of opportunities available in this region, in a television production sector which continues to flourish despite the current economic climate. Organizers of DISCOPRO have worked closely with a number of CEE partners, including Bavaria Media, to produce a compelling program of pitching sessions, events and projects to take place throughout the day.

DISCOPRO will commence with a detailed analysis of the creative, production and funding road maps of recently completed projects cofounded by a CEE partner. A successful completed project will be presented, looking at the development phase onwards, in order to highlight the importance of each step.

"After last year's kick-off panel about the know-how of co-production in general, we are glad to become more concrete now and present successfully completed projects as model case studies", says Philipp Kreuzer, Vice President International Sales & Coproduction at Bavaria Media.

"The CEE countries have made a tremendous step in terms of quality of their domestic productions. Our aim is to bring ideas and producers together", adds Helge Koehnen, Director Sales at Bavaria Media.

After this presentation, 4 or 5 eclectic, high-value, television drama projects in development will be pitched to a panel of commissioning executives known for their East/West co-production expertise. All projects will have been selected on the basis of partial funding already being in place and the potential for CEE creative and production incentives in the final completion of each project. Two projects will be selected, which will then benefit from further development and visibility support at other major pitching events.

"We are proud to say that the two projects that were pitched and selected at last year's DISCOPRO are now in final phase of funding, and we will invite the producers to report on the current status of their projects", said Patrick Jucaud, general manager of DISCOP.

The afternoon session will be dedicated to documentary: four archival-based projects centered on European topics will be pitched to coproduction executives representing CEE TV stations interested in funding such content.

The day will wrap with a close look at Hungary's local incentives, tax rebates and new production facilities, provided by Raleigh Studios Budapest, a major Hollywood-sized production facility due to open in April 2010.

"With such great crews, unbeatable diversity in locations, a fantastic tax incentive and now world class facilities, it's no wonder Budapest is becoming so popular with productions" said Michael Moore president of Raleigh Studios, "Whether its new programming or reformatting existing content Budapest is a perfect hub for European TV productions and we are excited to be a part of it".

Since the beginning of 2009, DISCOP events have brought together a combined number of 2160 participants, a 33% increase from 2008, demonstrating the growing importance of world regions such as Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa for audiovisual content business.

After 15 years of operating independently, DISCOP events have now partnered with the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) since 2005. NATPE is a global non-profit organization dedicated to the creation, development and distribution of televised programming in all forms, across all mature and emerging media platforms. www.natpe.org

For further information contact:

Debbie Lawrence Paul Nichols
The Lippin Group - London The Lippin Group - Los Angeles
T: +44 203 008 5406 T: +1 323 965 1990
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.