Netflix Executive Tells Karlovy Vary Panel Why Homegrown Fare Is “Crucial”: “Czechs Love Local Content”

Georg Szalai
·2 min read
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Opportunities for film and TV series production in the Czech Republic and broader Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the competition between Netflix and other sector players, were in the spotlight on the first day of the Eastern Promises Industry Days program of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Sunday.

“Czechs love local content,” Lukasz Kluskiewicz, Netflix’s director of film licensing and co-productions for the region, told a panel about the current opportunities for film and series development in Central Europe on Sunday. “We can see growing relevance of local content, and we can see growing demand for local content.” That is why the development of and investment in such content is “crucial” for Netflix, he added.

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The creation of local content is reflected in his business of licensing movies. “Since 2019, we have acquired 260 films, licensed,” said Kluskiewicz in emphasizing the streamer’s commitment to showcasing homegrown fare.

The executive also said Netflix was ready to collaborate with other companies instead of just competing with them. “We are in a very good place where competition is less important than cooperation,” he argued, before concluding by emphasizing that there was an opportunity to “work together to grow the market and to create opportunities.”

The panel was moderated by Zac Ntim, writer at Deadline, media partner of the Eastern Promises program and owned by Penske Media Corporation, just like The Hollywood Reporter. The other participants were Radim Špaček, film director (Walking Too Fast, In the Pines) and vice chair of ARAS, the Association of Czech Audiovisual Directors and Screenwriters; Přemysl Martínek, consultant for the Czech Film Fund; Vratislav Šlajer, film producer (Runner) and chairman of the board of the Audiovisual Producers’ Association; and Klára Brachtlová, chief external affairs officer at CME, a content and broadcast giant in Central and Eastern Europe that also operates streaming service Voyo, and also a representative of AKTV (Association of Commercial Televisions).

Earlier in the day, Helena Bezděk Franková, director of the Czech Film Fund, and Martínek had discussed their work in a Czech-language session titled “Transforming the Czech Film Fund into the Czech Audiovisual Fund.”

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