Tango Productions: One Year On
After spending a year in the UK polishing his English and experiencing British culture, Remik Bartos landed a role of post production manager at Tango Production in 2007. He has been there ever since as a producer shooting various projects in Poland but also the Middle East, Asia and Africa. He is now executive producer and responsible for foreign crews working in Warsaw and overseeing productions.
Q> It’s been a tumultuous time in Eastern Europe the past year. Reflecting on it, do you think people were nervous to shoot in Poland initially being so close to Ukraine?
Remik> The beginning of the war caught me on a night shoot for MUSE’s music video 'Compliance'. The news hit us like a lightning bolt, especially as, already back then we had a cast consisting mostly of Ukrainian citizens. Noticing their reaction made us horrified and even more nervous as we witnessed first hand people worrying for their relatives and loved ones. I think the whole region and not only Poland has been tainted by the fear of war. I feel the last 12 months haven't completely lifted that feeling for us but personally we feel safe. NATO assurances as to what would happen if the war spread out puts us in the same position as other countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance and those European ones which is reassuring.
Q> Has Poland acquired some of the productions that would’ve been shot in Ukraine? Are you hiring Ukrainian filmmakers?
Remik> That’s a tricky question. Quick answer yes and no. The long answer is there’s a huge initiative in Western Europe to help their respective partners in Ukraine that they have existing relationships with so they can withstand the hardships of war and move projects out of Ukraine to Poland, Lithuania and other neighbouring countries. As a company we don’t feel an increase in projects due to the war, those projects where we’d normally be bidding against other locations such as Kiev are being directed to Ukrainian production houses operating in Warsaw, Vilnius and other locations in the region. Based on the knowledge we have today, the situation seems not that temporary so a balance and sustainability would be needed.
Q> How is the situation in Poland right now with the Zloty and cost of living?
Remik> Inflation of prices is the main news in all of Europe. Even though we’re being challenged with double digit inflation, the crew fees haven't changed since last year. Our local market is aware that we need to last through the challenging times and not lose even more international business due to an increase in fees. We still have a quite weak Zloty and this helps a lot to remain a competitive location to shoot.
As to cost of living, the common EU market doesn’t differ so much between countries and we’re struggling with pretty similar issues as France, Germany or UK.
Q> Are you working on many big budget productions as before?
Remik> We’d wish! But the truth is nowadays every penny is being counted by purchasing departments but that’s where the fun of figuring out how to shoot big productions for less. We’re good at finding solutions so if the counterpart is open to suggestions we’re here to show them
Q> Tell us about the studio facilities in Warsaw.
Remik> Glad you’ve asked! We have a new studio that opened this year. The latest one is 2400 square metres that can be divided in half with a mobile wall and a height of 18m. The other advantage of that studio is its full backstage (3100 square metres) with make up and dressing rooms, production spaces so you can see there’s always a space to shoot.
Q> We hear the Russian arm is now called the Ukrainian arm! Is this available in Poland?
Remik> Yes it is and there’s a range of them. Please do contact us so we can give more details to any interested parties.
As to the name we couldn’t use the old one and to be frank now the name gives the proper credit to the original creators, Filmotechnic from Kiev. So long live U-Crane!
Q> What’s next for Tango?
Remik> A busy year ahead of us I hope, against all odds! There’s a great variety of new tech like Vortex and LiteLED lamps, Arri Trinity 2 system with well experienced operators and other tech novelties just waiting to be used with your next projects. So please do remember that our doors are always open.
