Filming has begun on a new HBO dramedy series with the working title The Winner, hailed as the first-ever Slovak project to be made for the premium television network. The six-episode series was written by the Slovak scriptwriting duo of Zuzana Dzurindová and Peter Nagy, who worked on several domestic series including The Websters (read the news) and Peter Bebjak’s post-apocalyptic web series The Spot. The series will follow Slovak prime minister Viktor Hudák as he ends his political career and returns to normal life. He soon finds out he does not wield power in his private life the way he was used to as the head of the government. Scriptwriter Zuzana Dzurindová is the daughter of former Slovak prime minister Mikuláš Dzurinda. “She has first-hand experience of what it means to live in a family with a professionally exposed father. And she is not afraid to write about it,” said HBO Max producer Tereza Polachová. According to HBO Max producer Johnathan Young, the series pokes fun at patriarchy and politics.

Czech director Jan Hřebejk (of the black Slovak-language comedy The Teacher [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jan Hřebejk
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interview : Milan Ondrík
fiche film]) along with Czech actress Ivana Chýlková (Backstage). Prague-based company Etamp Film Production, which has made several series for HBO Europe including the acclaimed The Burning Bush, Wasteland and Head Over Heels, is producing The Winner which will be shot in Slovakia. 

The new platform HBO Max will replace the current service HBO Go in 2022 (read the news) in the Czech and Slovak territory. In addition to The Winner as the first Slovak series from Max Original production for the streaming service, the unscripted docu-series Czech It Out! (by the Czech director Matěj Chlupáček whose company Barletta Productions produces the project) will be HBO Max’s first unscripted documentary series shot in Europe.

The Winner is produced by Tereza Polachová and exec produced by Johnathan Young and Steve Matthews of HBO Max and Jan Bílek of Etamp Film Production.