I’m back from a virtual trip to Riga where I delivered a new online edition of Writing a Successful TV Series for Creative Europe Desk Latvia and the National Film Centre of Latvia.
The participants were sixteen writers, directors and producers developing TV projects supported by the national fund. They had access to half the course in pre-recorded modules, which they went through at their own pace over a week-end. We then followed with live Q&As and case studies during the week.
Here is a sneak peak of the online course, which is still a work in progress:
Although I couldn’t travel from the UK, there was no COVID restriction within Latvia, so participants attended the live sessions together in a conference room. This hybrid set-up worked very well as it allowed everyone to indulge in refreshments and networking during the breaks.
We ended the week with a series of one to one meetings on Zoom to discuss individual projects lined up for production and put all the tools into practice.
Feedback from the participants was very positive and Lelda Ozola, from Creative Europe Desk Latvia, kindly summed it up:
TV Series Workshop for CE Desk Latvia
The TV Series online seminar with Emmanuel Oberg in Riga organised by CE Desk Latvia, MEDIA office, was a unique experience, as it was the first professional training for writing TV series in this country.
It was a huge pleasure to organise it together with Emmanuel – all happened on a highly professional level – he was reachable 24/7 and solved any organisational issues promptly and easily.
The seminar was also greatly appreciated by the participants. Several of them said that these 3 days were like a month at a film school, all of them confirmed that having participated in the seminar will seriously improve the quality of their projects and all of them said they have a hunger for more!!!
Thank you very much for being the turning point of the TV series writing in Latvia!!!
June 2022 Update: Two mini-series in this workshop went into production and were successfully released:
Emily. Queen of Press, Mistrus Media, Latvia
In addition to funding from the National Film Centre of Latvia, this project also attracted financing from the public TV channel Latvian TV, as well as VOD operator TET. Prior to the release on TV and VOD, the series was distributed in cinemas and became the most watched title in 2021 in Latvia. The producers are working on the international sales of the series. So far the Estonian public broadcaster ERR has acquired the screening rights and more contracts are in the pipe-line.
Crime Solving for Beginners, RedDot Media, Latvia
Majority financing was granted by the National Film Centre of Latvia, but the series became a co-production with Lithuania and Russia. It has been released on VOD platform LMT and will be broadcast on Latvian public television Latvian TV in October this year. The producers have sold the production to TV3 in Lithuania and Go3 platform in both Lithuania and Estonia. Right now the mini-series has attracted a sales agent based in Sweden Eyewell.se, so more international sales are anticipated.
Many thanks to Dita Rietuma from the National Film Centre of Latvia and to Lelda Ozola from Creative Europe Desk Latvia for their kind invitation, their fantastic organisation (with the precious help of Margarita Rimkus!) and their wonderful enthusiasm.
