www.lionsdailynews.com friday, june 24 , 2011

66
n Superdog spot
from the Pannon
GSM campaign in
Hungary
FRIDAY, JUNE 24,2011
FOCUS ON CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE
Los Angeles. “These spots would not have been possible in LA
unless we were working on a back lot,” Pritts says. “The city is
so film-friendly — if cars are parked on the streets, they move
them with an enormous machine, then put them back on their
original positions when we’re done, without towing or ticketing
people.”
In Hungarian capital Budapest there’s a similar set-up.
Here, you find regional offices for agencies such as Leo Burnett
(Publicis), McCann Erickson (IPG), Euro RSCG (Havas) and
O&M (WPP). Operating in parallel are production companies
such as Extreme Film, set up by producer Dalma Hidasi in 1994
and now working for local and international brands. Among
the latter, Extreme can count Danone, SABMiller, Bacardi, Michelin
and Nestle. Echoing the situation at Zoom Films, there are
also heavyweight TV campaigns for local brands such as mobile
operator Pannon GSM.
David Ungvari, producer/director at Budapest-based BPPS,
says: “Hungary has great crews, awesome locations, low wages
and a favourable tax system [for films]. At BPPS, we can offer
full production services, meaning everything from location
scouting through to world-class post-production. ”
Like the Czech Republic, Hungary also boasts a stunning
capital. “Budapest is a city with many faces. From one angle it
can look like Paris, from another London or Berlin. It is probably
the most eclectic city in Europe. A modern glass office block
can be situated by a 100-year-old near-ruin and a ’60s building.”
While there’s not much between the Czech Republic and
Hungary, the latter is probably the better developed, with more
production companies on the ground and a slightly superior
infrastructure. This is most evident in terms of studios, Ungvari
says: “The constant rivalry between Prague and Budapest has
resulted in immense investments in Hungary, to regain its market-leader
position. Two large studios emerged in the past five
years [Etyek and Raleigh]. Both offer world-class sound stages,
their sizes unmatched in the region. Etyek has the largest sound
stage in the world. Hellboy 2 was shot there in its entirety.”
Given the strength of the Czech and Hungarian offering,
how do other countries in the region try to win business from
them? Generally there are two arguments. Firsty, that Czech
and Hungarian locations have been over-used and fresh (but
similar) images can be found further afield, Second, both markets
have become expensive in recent years. Elsewhere you can
get a 20-40% cost reduction.
One location proving increasingly popular for international
shoots is Serbia. Back on track after the Balkan conflict,
the country is open for business in a big way, says Milos Djukelic,
of Red Production. With offices in Serbia, Montenegro and
Croatia, Red has provided production services for more than
400 commercials over the last seven years for clients such as
Henkel, T-Mobile, Interbrew, Unilever, P&G, Societe Generale,
Siemens, Tefal and Pepsi.
Equally passionate about what Serbia has to offer is Bozidar
Djokic, of Belgrade-based Emote Productions, a company
that works across feature films and commercials. What are the
benefits? “Serbia is 30% cheaper than territories such as Hungary,
Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia and
Greece, while providing a high-quality infrastructure, workflow,
facilities and locations,” Djokic says. “Serbia has outstanding
talent in photography, set design, costume, make-up, thanks
to having one of the strongest film industries in south-eastern
Europe.
“Our crew and talent have worked on films with Ridley
Scott and Luc Besson. At Emote, we produce quality commercials
for domestic and international clients. Our MTV spots
last year won the David award for Best TV Commercial within
Ogilvy’s European branches. This year we have spots competing
at the YDA and Fireflies competition in Cannes.”