The fund will be an extra source of cash for production in Serbia. Serbia already has a government backed system that has proven to be efficient among European cash rebate programmes, offering 25% for qualifying film and TV productions and rising to 30% for qualified Serbian spend on features with a budget of 5 m EUR and above. Balkanic Media has produced two seasons of CW channel’s The Outpost and episodes of the third season of CBS’s Seal Team, both of which benefitted from the Serbian cash rebate.

The investment stands out as the largest commitment by a single film financier to Serbia and further advancement of the international filming portfolio in the post Covid-19 period. Head Gear, founded by Phil Hunt and Compton Ross, is known as an active provider of production services and debt finance to independent media projects. The Serbian fund will focus on TV series but will also be available for single picture financing.

“I’ve always been keen on expanding into other areas and this partnership with Balkanic will build on our growing television slate and continue to lay foundations in other territories. I’ve known Balkanic partners Jonathan and James since the mid 90s so this is a perfect fit for a new venture in Serbia.” said Hunt.

Balkanic Media is currently shooting the third season of series The Outpost at PFI Studios in Belgrade for Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment and Arrowstorm Entertainment. The company has also produced the indie films The Deal (USA) and Serbia’s A.I. Rising / Ederlezi Rising produced by Mir Media Group Beograd and Balkanic Media.