The panel “CEE Producers: Reflections on the Last 5 Years”, held during the first day of NEM Zagreb last week, delivered one of the most honest, experience-driven discussions of the market. Moderated by Sanja Božić-Ljubičić, CEO of Pickbox, Mediatranslations, Mediavision and NEM, the session gathered leading producers from across Central and Eastern Europe to reflect on what has changed, what still hasn’t, and why co-production has moved from being an option to becoming a necessity.

Opening the conversation, Sanja underlined that NEM Zagreb had always been “focused on production and productions and the stories we tell,” before asking what had shifted in the past five years. Anita Juka (4FILM) responded by pointing to Croatia’s growing international relevance. “Croatia became an interesting spot for international co-productions,” she said, adding that several recent projects had achieved international success. Speaking about her company’s latest experience, Juka noted, “We just finished our show which was 20-million-euro budget. Hans Zimmer was the composer. So it was really a big thing for us and it was impossible even to think about these things five years ago.”

While crediting platforms such as NEM for facilitating progress through “workshops, panels, pitchings,” Juka was clear that growth remained incomplete. “We made a huge change in the previous five years,” she said, “but also there is a long path in front of us what we have to do in future.”

From Poland, Dariusz Jabłoński (Apple Film Production) framed the last five years as a slow but meaningful evolution, particularly in series co-production. “We are talking about co-productions in series. Which is really, really difficult,” he said, explaining that control over series had long been restricted, first by broadcasters and later by global streamers. “This is very difficult job. This is five years job. And slowly, slowly we are going forward.”

Jabłoński emphasized that the reward justified the effort. “The pleasure of doing new things and making construction and then selling it outside in Europe,” he said, “that is in general possible only for co-production.” He stressed that the region was now “much more forward than five years ago,” even if challenges remained.

Looking at Romania, Ioanina Pavel (May One) described a market pushed into co-production by necessity. “The streamers coming into Europe forced the broadcast companies across Europe to co-produce,” she said, arguing that this shift had led to higher budgets and stronger projects. While streamer penetration remained relatively low in Romania, she saw this as an opportunity rather than a weakness. “It is a market that hasn't been saturated by the streamers,” she noted, adding that projects from the region had proven they could travel internationally.

Greece’s recent transformation was outlined by Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos (Foss Productions), who described a fundamental change in rights ownership. “We broke the rule that the broadcasters have to have all the IP,” he said, referring to the first Greek series where the intellectual property belonged to the producer. This shift, he argued, triggered broader change across the industry. “The audience is hungry for television,” Chrysanthopoulos added, pointing to growing openness to international content and collaboration.

From the Czech Republic, Filip Bobiňski (Dramedy Productions) focused on continuity, infrastructure and ambition. He stressed the importance of being able to produce several projects in sequence, allowing teams to learn by doing. “You need to be able to do not one show, you need to do several shows,” he said, adding that building their own studios had helped provide stability. While investment had increased, Bobiňski warned against complacency. “These local things, they tend to be a bit mediocre, let's be very honest,” he said, framing the real challenge as producing projects that could resonate beyond national borders.

The discussion then turned to language, often cited as a barrier for international success. Bobiňski acknowledged it as “a certain limit” but insisted that craft mattered more. “I think it's really the level of craft which we are competing with,” he said. Juka illustrated the perception problem with a blunt anecdote. “He said, wow, fantastic Russian movie,” she recalled. “When he found out it's 4 million people, he just put his headphones off and it was over.”

Jabłoński broadened the conversation to Europe-wide structures, speaking in his role as president of the European Producers Club. He argued that stronger European lobbying was essential as platforms gained dominance. “The more global platforms play roles in our countries, the more a global legislation plays a bigger role,” he said, calling on producers to organize collectively. One core issue, he argued, was that streamers still struggled to understand co-production. “They don't get the co-production idea,” he said. “This is culture.”

To demonstrate what was possible, Jabłoński recalled a landmark Polish-Czech-Ukrainian co-production shot in five languages and sold across Europe. “From Arte, for the first time in my life, I got congratulation letter,” he said, noting that the series doubled audience expectations. “All of a sudden, this is a European show.”

Regulation and funding became central themes as the panel progressed. Jabłoński highlighted the recent adoption of the European Convention on the Co-Production of TV Series. “That means that official co-productions are possible,” he said, urging governments across the region to ratify it quickly. Juka, asked what rule she would change, pointed to financing and infrastructure. “We just need to increase the budget,” she said, stressing the importance of studios and industry-driven investment.

Jabłoński expanded on legal reform, arguing for investment obligations inspired by France. “Industry has grown enormously,” he said, citing evidence that such systems benefit both producers and platforms. “So it's win-win situation.”

Training and mindset were equally important. Chrysanthopoulos noted that creators in the region often lacked development support, while Jabłoński warned against internalizing low budgets as creative limits. “Write, feel free, bring the script, the best ever,” he said, recounting how ambitious scripts could later be adapted without losing impact. “Co-production gives me the possibility to get out of the limits of Croatia or Poland.”

In the final part of the discussion, the panel addressed content and courage. Ioanina Pavel argued that political instability and regional tensions were not obstacles but opportunities. “People all of a sudden care and are interested enough to understand the complexities of different identities in this part of the world,” she said, adding that audiences today wanted to be “gripped from day one.”

Jabłoński closed with concrete examples from Apple Film Production’s current development slate, including politically charged projects addressing surveillance, elections and the war in Ukraine. Speaking about Spy River, set in Rzeszów, he noted that some global platforms had rejected it outright. “We don't want any politics, we don't want Ukrainian border,” he recalled being told. Yet the project continues to be developed with broadcasters across Europe, underscoring his belief that producers must take responsibility for telling the stories they believe in.

One of the most striking undercurrents of the discussion was the shared rejection of the idea that CEE should “wait its turn” or accept structural limitations as permanent. Across different national contexts, the panelists repeatedly returned to the notion that scale alone does not determine relevance. References to Denmark, Israel and South Korea served as reminders that global impact is not reserved for large-language territories, but for industries willing to invest in development, infrastructure and ambition. The real divide, as several speakers implied, lies not between East and West, but between systems that actively nurture creators and those that still treat production as a marginal cultural expense rather than a strategic industry.

Equally important was the panel’s insistence on responsibility shifting back to producers themselves. Beyond funding models and regulation, the conversation made clear that international success cannot be legislated into existence. It requires producers to demand more—from broadcasters, from platforms, and from their own creative teams. The emphasis on training, development time and exposure to global storytelling standards underscored a collective understanding that competitiveness is learned, not granted.

As the panel concluded, one message stood out clearly. The region’s producers no longer lack talent or ambition. What they require is structure, courage and collective action. As Božić-Ljubičić summed it up, “co-production is the mother of all”. Jabłoński echoed: “it's a marvelous tool. And it's difficult, as every marvelous tool.”