Polsat makes digital originals move

Polish pay and free TV broadcaster Polsat Group has selected the first four film and TV original projects to come out of its Cyfrowa Strefa Twórców (Digital Zone) project.

Polsat said it that over 250 pitches for films and TV series had been made under the Cyfrowa Strefa Twórców initiative, a digital platform designed and launched four months ago for content creators and producers to pitch projects – including for cinema release as well as TV – that Polsat Group would support, alone or in partnership with co-producers.

The broadcaster committed to provide financial backing for development and longer-term support in the shape of joint sales activities, including international sales, as well as looking after copyright protection.

The first projects selected for Polsat’s support under the scheme are Podwójny Ironman, a film based on the life of thriatlete Jerzy Górski, directed by Łukasz Palkowski, which will be released in the fourth quarter of next year; Brawo My!, a romantic comedy to be released in 2018, directed by Bartosz Prokopowicz, Gwiazda, which is a biography of actress Anna Przybylska directed by Radosław Piwowarski; and Wilq Superbohater, a 13-episode animated TV series based on the cult comic book of the same name, directed by Bartosz Minkiewicz and Leszek Nowicki, which will be distributed via TV and online in 2017.

Aleksander Myszka, member of the supervisory board of pay TV unit Cyfrowy Polsat, mobile arm Polkomtel and Polsat, said that the group intended to use the platform to invest in further projects of interest, adding that the Cyfrowa Strefa Twórców project would enable fast and efficient selection of projects based on criteria set by the broadcaster to the mutual benefit of all parties.

Agnieszka Odorowicz, member of the board of Cyfrowy Polsat, said that more titles would be announced in December, which will bedeveloped over the course of next year and produced in 2018.