Production in Prague encountered a worrying break a year ago, with a noticeable slowdown on the usual scheduled sound stages of Czech capital and bustling streets. The Czech Republic, often one of Europe's busiest production hubs, felt the impact of Hollywood strikes and turmoil in its discount system, a closure for most new applications in 2023.

“If you look back at this time last year, it’s so dead. The number of calls I received, the number of budgets, the number of scouts we’re playing is very (small). “Until today, it can almost go back to the front hit place. ”

The turnover part is the result of a rebound in Hollywood during the 2023 labor shutdown, which has affected production worldwide. But a new audio-visual law has been introduced, whose supporters say it supports both modernizing the modern Czech industry and making it more competitive with neighbors in the restless arms race to attract more foreign countries product.

“The Czech Film Fund must adapt because its original framework is no longer sufficient,” said Helena Bezděk Fraňková, CEO of the newly named Czech Audiovisual Fund. "It is necessary to respond to audiovisual policies in other countries. The world is changing, and we must change with it."

During this year's EFM's Berlin Nale Series, the new look of audio-visual law will be introduced to industry professionals, and the Czech Audio-Visual Fund is co-producing the market with the Berlin agent, which will hold a group on February 18. Petr Tichý, CEO of Prague's historic Barrandov Studios; Vratislavšlajer, Chairman of Assn. Audiovisual producer.

One of the main provisions of the new legislation is that the country's production incentives have increased from 20% to 25%, and the introduction of 35% incentives for digital production and animation. The maximum amount that each project can require is twice as much as nearly $19 million.

The revamped Czech Audiovisual Fund will also support a wider range of productions than its predecessors, providing not only selective support mechanisms for movies, video games and animation projects. Its budget is expected to rise sharply due to a provision that will charge a levy from global streaming platforms for the first time. These funds, in turn, match the state, with a total budget estimated at $92 million per year.

The industry's response is optimistic, leading television productions Outfit Nutprodukcia's Tomáš Hrubý described the law's paragraph as "a huge success" while the šlajer of the Association of Producers insisted: "This will really kick off the industry for Czech pictures. Transparent Minkowski said , the overhaul's incentive program "absolutely brings us closer to where we should be" in order to continue to attract foreign work "Nosferatu", which is the Oscar contender, which is most of the filmed in Barandov.

These changes will thoroughly overhaul domestic production, thus causing the TV industry to make a sharp effort to make a living while Czech public broadcasters are plagued by financial difficulties and global streaming platforms that are exhausted from accessing local markets. (“We haven’t seen Netflix’s original show yet,” Hrubý noted.) Meanwhile, Martin Vandas Kplus Genert Strand of the prolific animation house Maul Movie said the incentives will strengthen the Czech Republic, said the incentives will strengthen the Czech Republic The strong field of animation in the history of the Republic and will “open the possibility of developing and producing TV series and co-producing with domestic television and foreign partners.”

The prospect of forging new paths into the international market is an attractive approach to local talents and a necessary step towards the growth of the Czech industry. "There is a new generation with greater experience as audiences and creators globally," said Šlajer. "What we need now is stronger financing... (and) more international connections - about what we produce and create In terms of project types, it is more global, but it can also become a stronger co-production partner."

Director Jihong Mádl's drama Waves was shortlisted for Best International Academy Awards, and he believes the Czech industry is already mature. "I think we're in good condition - better than in previous years," he said. "I think what we're missing now is the attention from the outside world."

Mádl's Waves followed a group of tenacious investigative journalists, appropriately set when the Czech cinema blossomed on the eve of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact on the 1968 invasion of the Czech Republic. Can the world prepare for another new Czech wave?

"I feel like something is growing," he said. "It's going to explode. I feel like we're on the verge of something."