NATPE Budapest started its 2023 edition at the Intercontinental hotel of the Hungarian capital with 20 percent more buyer and delegate traffic. Compared to last year's 600 registrations, the traditional June market in the region received more than 725 registrations in 2023, including 200 buyers from CEE + CIS territories. As for the traditional screenings that the major U.S. studios choose to hold in Budapest, the first day was the turn of Sony Pictures Television and A+E Networks Media.

Sony held its event at the traditional Puskin Cinema, showing previews of ‘Ten Pounds Poms’, ‘PSI Cops’, ‘Twisted Metal’, based on the famous videogame; ‘The Winter King’, ‘The Killing Kind’, ‘Classified’, ‘The Good Lawyer’, spin off from ‘The good doctor’; ‘DOC’, ‘High Country’, ‘A Very Royal Scandal’, ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’, ‘Mr. Loverman’, ‘The Hoagie Bros’, ‘Gattaca’, series based on the 1997 SciFi film; ‘Long Bright River’, ‘Blood of my Blood’, ‘Community’, ‘Red Eye’, and ‘Insomnia’. Most of the products are one-hour dramas, and the trends are true crime and real facts plots, many thrillers, IA themed stories and new versions of former series and movies.

‘A + E Networks Media presented (in the same hotel of Natpe) Antwerp Belgium, a film about the protection of diamonds in the Diamond Quarter of Antwerp; Tyre, a historical series that chronicles the message Alexander the Great wanted to send to the world during his campaign against the Persians; Gypsy, a crime documentary that tells the story of a girl who was abused by her mother, and how she contacted a man to murder her mother. On the entertainment side, the company presented James Brown: Say it Loud, the biography of one of the legends of music. In reality shows, Alone, the number one show in countries such as Denmark, the United States, Australia, Switzerland, among others, where a person is alone in the middle of nature and must survive different storms.

The day ended with the panel “Switching on: A look at the CEE Media and Content Landscape”. Georgi Chakarov, CEO of CEE TV, highlighted the success of classic shows in the region and how reversions of different formats are coming back on the air many years after having been off. Some of the examples he demonstrated where ‘The Golden Swan’, ‘Lia’, ‘Mom for Rent’, ‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics’, ‘Beat the Chasers’, and ‘Let’s Make a Deal’. As we see, both in major fictions and unscripted, a guarantee of success is appreciated.

Buyer testimonials? Eva Kozma, acquisition manager, Pororom (Hungary): ‘This is a very friendly market, and it's very nice to be around. I think it's more or less the same atmosphere as previous editions, so I hope it will be fruitful and busy for everyone. And, well, I just saw that everyone is very happy to meet again in person. I know the pandemic ended a year and a half ago, but still, I can see that everyone is happy to work and discuss business issues’.

Robert Blagman, CEO of Media Fusion (USA): 'It's amazing to be back here, and to see that one company has become a new one. But I've been coming since it started in 1995. So, it will be very interesting to see how it has changed. I think this year will be more vibrant, with more business. That's because even though the media business is in a bit of changing, it's going through a transitional stage now. I think people are very anxious to get back to where they were and get back to where they're going'.

Francisco Ferreyra, from Budapest

| NATPE BUDAPEST Daily News

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