PRAGUE: Two major international productions are at the start of filming in Prague, with season three of the TV series Borgia beginning on 27 May 2013, and the US film Child 44 scheduled to begin filming on 10 June.
Borgia services are handled by Film United, a newcomer on the Czech production scene cofounded by Hollywood film producer Rick McCallum. The third season of the series is produced by Michal Schwarz. Borgia will shoot twelve one-hour episodes over the course of 133 filming days lasting ten months, with local spend in the range of 27-28 m EUR.
Child 44 is handled through Stillking Films, founded by Matthew Stillmann 20 years ago, which is also a producer on the film. The film, which stars Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, and Noomi Rapace, is directed by Daniel Espinosa and produced by Scott Free Productions, Summit Entertainment and Worldview Entertainment. The dramatic thriller about the hunt for a child killer with ties to the top echelons of government is set in Stalinist Russia. Child 44 has a 75 day shoot and expected local spend of 15 m USD.
The Czech Republic is in one of its busiest production seasons in years, and the glut of productions is stretching Czech resources, McCallum told FNE, affecting everything from hotel rooms to available crew. Among the international productions arriving in Prague this spring are the ten-part BBC series Musketeers which began filming in Prague in March, and the eight-episode Danish TV series 1864 which began filming in April and will end its 69-day shoot in mid-July.
