This year’s TV Beats Forum will host the inaugural Serial Bridges Baltics workshop – five days of intensive mentoring designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the international series market and practical guidance on navigating the European co-production and co-financing landscape. Six writer–producer duos from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will also have the opportunity to meet renowned international series professionals during exclusive masterclasses.
This year’s TV Beats Forum will host the inaugural Serial Bridges Baltics workshop – five days of intensive mentoring designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the international series market and practical guidance on navigating the European co-production and co-financing landscape. Six writer–producer duos from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will also have the opportunity to meet renowned international series professionals during exclusive masterclasses.
Series Mania Institute Eureka Series 2022 alumna and writer of Von Fock, Leana Jalukse, spoke with Pierre Ziemniak – Director of Programmes at the *Series Mania Institute *– and Thomas Grand, Regional Audiovisual Attaché for Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
From Rio to the Baltics
Serial Bridges Baltics was launched through the efforts of Thomas Grand, whose goal was to strengthen cooperation between France and the Baltic audiovisual sector. With no prior structured partnership between the two regions, collaboration had to start from scratch.
Grand’s motivation came from witnessing the Baltics’ strong collaboration on audiovisual projects, especially scripted series. He highlighted two recent examples: Von Fock, an Estonia–Latvia–Italy co-production that premiered this year, and the Estonian–Ukrainian My Dear Mother, featured in the *Berlinale Series Market Selects *programme.
“They show the strength of local quality content with authentic roots and prove that Baltic productions have the potential to reach international audiences,” said Grand. “The next step is to build bridges – to bring together professionals from different regions.”
For this, Grand enlisted Pierre Ziemniak, who had already organised the aptly named Serial Bridges workshops in Rio de Janeiro, Taipei, Almaty and Istanbul over the past two years. The workshops are largely financed by France, through the Institut français and French embassies, alongside local partners. French distributors have also shown openness in partnering with the initiative, exploring new markets with curiosity and a spirit of collaboration.
A Changing Industry
It is particularly important to foster new partnerships at a time when the post–peak TV slowdown has left the series industry seeking new strategies and business models. The globalisation of streaming has accustomed audiences to watching series in many different languages – a change that means local content can now travel internationally without necessarily relying on platform commissions or multinational partnerships.
However, Baltic producers continue to face the challenge of small markets and limited budgets. International co-production and cross-border talent exchange therefore remain essential tools for enhancing creative and production value. While film co-production frameworks are well established, series models are still emerging, and Serial Bridges aims to help shape them.
“Our ambition,” Grand explained, “is to encourage more creative exchange at the development stage – to support collaboration between writers and producers, and to build the structures that could one day become true European writers’ rooms.”
While the industry continues to adapt to new realities, further transformation is imminent. One major force on the horizon is artificial intelligence, whose impact on writing and production the Series Mania Institute is already exploring through its new workshop, the AI Storytelling Bootcamp.
Looking Ahead
Both Grand and Ziemniak hope to make Serial Bridges a recurring initiative and a long-term partnership between France and the Baltics.
While Grand admitted that the number of submissions was not high, he emphasised their strong quality and noted that most already have broadcasters attached. Ziemniak added that he was impressed by the variety of genres among the projects submitted. The current selection is already in a rather advanced stage, but future editions may focus on projects in earlier stages. Grand emphasised that the more effort invested in creative development, the more likely projects are to travel internationally.
The Baltic edition is financed by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Institut français, as part of France’s strategy to promote cultural and creative industries internationally, and supported by Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Elisa Eesti, Latvian Television, LRT, and the Estonian Film Institute.
Serial Bridges Baltics projects 2025:
The projects will be pitched at Serial Bridges Baltics Porject Pitching taking place on 17 November 12:15 at Apollo Kino Plaza, 1st Lux Hall.
The article was published in Estonian Film Magazine 3/2025. Read the magazine here