You return to Nova, where you were a reporter years ago, as a creative producer. What is involved?
At first, I came back as a scriptwriter, because Nova made very little four years ago when I joined. Like he was sleeping. Two scriptwriters, who keep an eye on them in terms of content, are enough for some things to become their own work.
Then the ice started to move a little. The development of my own stuff became so necessary that the then program director Alex Růžek made me a content development manager. No one knows what that means. My husband (Jakub Szántó, Czech Television reporter – editor’s note) made fun of me for being a content development manager.
I coordinate many of all the ideas that come to Nova. I decide what our five-person department will read, how we will evaluate it and who will take care of what. I don’t do that anymore. Since Michal Reitler took over as director of content development, the ice movement has paid off many times over. Coordinating all the producers is Michal’s tough task. And I’m one of them.
News only appears on the Voyo platform?
My current project, but I also have two in the workshop, which are aimed at the main Nova line. In general, we really care that Voyo likes the audience, the number of subscribers is growing, and at the same time we know when, for whom and what is best to produce. Five new series will premiere this year in the middle of the year only, roughly the same as the second half of the year. Maybe there will be more next year.
Isn’t it a pity that the new show is for subscribers only, i.e. for a very limited audience?
Voyo costs CZK 160 per month, less than a movie ticket for a movie. I don’t think subscribing would be unfair to the audience. And the trend of TV is moving towards paid platforms.
A few years ago, it was estimated in Europe that on average, one half of paid platforms would go to families. The truth is now that the average European family subscribes to three or more such platforms. It works mostly in an interesting symbiosis.
One household has paid for one transnational platform, such as HBO or Netflix, one specialty, such as sports or children’s content, and one local. We want to be a local player, a channel where, when Voyo pays, see the host stars that he is used to, topics that are close to him.
It works in the world, there’s no reason why it doesn’t work here. Of course, sometimes some projects will switch to linear television. But maybe long after all your friends have seen it on Voyo.
The audience program on Nova hasn’t changed at all. Not everyone is willing to pay for Voyo. Are you going to do something about it?
Certain. And we did, it just took a long time to get started. We’ve been working relatively frantically since we had new owners. If we were two scriptwriters four years ago, there are now about twelve of us in charge of various projects.
Because the novice audience is used to something and we want to adhere to the standard, but also to improve it, it will take time. For example, it takes at least a year and a half to write a good script. And then production followed. We wanted to surprise the audience, of course. But only good. And it just takes focused and patient effort.
Many people from Czech Television come to you. You’ve mentioned Michal Reitler.
Michal Reitler is the captain of the television series, we love to watch it. Yes, quite a lot of good people are coming, that’s okay. Human power is shifting, so are the interests of independent creators, for example.
I consider it a great thing that director David Ondříček or Alice Nellis did for us. We recently had our first contact with Viktor Tauš in a feature film. Those are big names.
Your project is the National Handball series. Especially?
On average, I handle six seven projects that are in various stages of development, production, post-production. We received an assignment for Voyo Originals in January 2021 and we immediately started looking for ideas and producing.
National handball is the theme of Michal Suchánek. I barely knew that there was a national handball, but I knew that Michal could write forums. This is a pretty good start for a collaboration. Today I already know the dimensions of the goal.
Another highlight of my workshop is the Morning Light series, which will premiere on Voyo on June 10. And then, for example, I have projects in the pre-production phase, which will be filmed in the fall, and several in the development phase, namely writing scripts.
What was before the excavation now?
Spy thriller. A thing that hasn’t changed much in the Czech Republic, and when it did, it wasn’t enough. I really hope and I think this is it.
You wrote the screenplay for the award-winning two-part film Methanol by Czech Television. You also wrote the screenplay for the Streets series on TV Nova. Did you miss writing today?
Sometimes yes. But even if I don’t write scripts now, I also get a lot of imprint on the people I work with, even if it’s not my copyrighted work.
I wrote methanol for three years, and only because I was with Jakub in Israel, where he was a reporter. This means that nothing bothers me and I don’t have to feed myself month after month. My husband feeds me. None of the Czech screenwriters can afford to do something for three years without doing anything else. Impossible.
Yes, sometimes I miss writing, even though I’m still a little creative. It’s something for something.
When you are in Israel, you blog. Haven’t you thought about publishing it as a book?
I got the offer. But I feel that the magic of formatting on the Internet is fresh, up-to-date. There’s emotion in it. I often think of my writing as therapy after a hard day’s work. That doesn’t sound so great in the books, it would be a slap in the water. After all, you want more from a book than just fun.
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