Born in 1980 in Slovenj Gradec, he is a director or a producer of many documentaries and award-winning short fictions. He established EnaBanda film production in 2011, and Rusaalka Films in 2016. He was the initiator for a short film screenwriting workshop Kratka Scena in Ljubljana, where the best screenwriting experts from all Europa are hosted. He also is one of the initiators for the young producer association Prodorni producenti, which is working under the biggest Slovene Producer association.
- A producer is a leader or a boss?
One and another.
- What qualities or attributes do you look for in people you are looking to employ or work with?
The honest answer would be that I am mostly working with people who are good enough, and easy to work with. You can have a real genius but if he/she is an idiot, the results will not be selective.
- What do you look for in a script?
That is a tough question. For the last years, I have been one of the decision-makers for the short film script workshop. I notice that the good script has to be written clearly, with craftsmanship but in the end, there is always individual taste, which prevails. I like intimate scenes I like poetic touch.
- Would you recommend writers think like a producer when writing their script? Or, just write with reckless abandon and then worry about the cost, or whatever, after they’ve grabbed a producer’s attention.
I do not make many films so I am a bit precise in the way that script is doable. It can be written as expensive film if there is potential to adjust it in the process. However, if all story depends on some costly scenography or equipment that of course would not make it competitive with other even though it is a good script.
- How involved in the writing of a project do you get? Are you more involved in the initial development?
I do like to be involved (I’m also a filmmaker not only a producer), but usually, in some stage, you have to leave the authors to do it the way they think is write.
- How much influence as a producer do you have with the choices made by the director and/or DP?
There must be collaboration and if it is not, then film got into the problems. If parents fight, children are suffering.
- What is the most important thing you have learned during your career?
You learn a lot, but often you do not become aware of it – you just make things different than the last time and then they become a pattern. I learned that there must be the right measure between friendship and professional distance. I never believed that the filmmaking must be just an industry without romantic part including making it.
- If you had an unlimited budget at your disposal, what would be your dream production project?
Some intimate stories from all around the globe – something with a humanistic message.
- What does the future of film look like?
Nobody knows, but it will be kind of the same as it is for a while. There were many tries in a different direction but at the end of the day, the film is still similar like it was decades ago, there are still cinemas and home screen. Does not matter is it big and in front of you, or smaller in your hand.
