Screenwriter Creative
consultant
for TV series
Educator

“I ignite over TV projects that dare to be more than mere entertainment: a platform for thought-provoking ideas that challenge the status quo, tackling tabu themes.”

About me

She has worked as a Creative Producer, Head Writer and screenwriter on various types of TV series – crime, historical, thrillers, sitcoms and one soap opera – with hundreds of hours shown on national and regional television. She also starred in one episode of the sitcom, but has since turned down acting offers.

European Showrunner Programme

The first professional training for showrunners in Europe, organized by the International Filmschool (IFS) in Cologne.

European TV Drama Series Lab

Organized by the Erich Pommer Institute in Berlin and MediaXchange.

MFI Script 2
Workshop

Organized by the Mediterranean Film Institute in Greece.

There she learned firsthand from the most respected authors of TV series and movies, such as Jeppe Gjervig Gram (Borgen, Follow the Money), Jeff Melvoin (Killing Eve, Northern Exposure), Frank Spotnitz (The Man in the High Castle, The X -Files), Hagai Levi (Our Boys, In Treatment), Peter Blake (House M.D., Billions), Sven Clausen DR (The Eagle), Christina Lazaridi (Nobody’s Watching) and others.

Sanja is the author of the first book about TV series in the former Yugoslav countries:
"Quality TV series: The Millennial Age of the Screen" (2017).

She worked as the main screenwriter on the first crime TV series in the region of the former Yugoslavia, Good Intentions (HRT), with the first domestic writers’ room. Since then, she has worked in numerous script rooms of different layouts and sizes.

And she can’t wait for the next one, it’s the most fun place in the production.

She wrote a dozen original screenplays for TV and film, some of which received international recognition (The House, at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, 2010) and national recognition in the form of support from the Croatian Audiovisual Center, and several TV concepts were bought by TV networks. In her dramatic works, she likes to touch on controversial topics with the obligatory dose of dark humor.

She has worked as a creative producer, head writer and screenwriter on various types of TV series – crime, historical, thriller, sitcom and one soap opera – with hundreds of hours shown on national and regional television. And she starred in one episode of the sitcom, but since then she has turned down acting offers.

The Artistic Consultant

She was the Artistic Advisor at the Croatian Audiovisual Center assessing national TV project in development, and has worked as an expert evaluator of TV series and movie projects for the Creative Europe MEDIA Program, as well as for regional broadcasters and independent producers in Southeastern Europe.

 

She led renowned screenwriting workshops in Croatia (Vukovar Film Festival, Center for Creative Writing, ADU) and occasionally holds lectures on writing and producing TV series in the region.

She led the first public forums on the topic of quality TV series in Croatia.

She is a member of the Croatian Union of Freelance Artists and the Union of Screenwriters (SPID).

Currently works as creative production consultant and script coach in regional TV productions

From the Media

"Good intentions" (62 x 50'), crime series, HRT

"Kanal", short film (Zagreb stories Vol1.)

First prize for the screenplay for the feature film "House"

The Balkan Film Fund in Solun

Editor of the issue of the cult magazine Polja about TV series (Novi Sad, 2020).

Essay in "Zvonimir Berković", monograph (Croatian Film Association, 2016)

Tribune "Extraordinary TV series"

"Conversations with screenwriters" in the Croatian Film Yearbook

"16 top recent series for apocalyptic everyday life"

„Dobre namjere“ (62 x 50'), kriminalistička serija, HRT

„Kovačević je bila glavni scenarist vrlo dobre i kod nas nepravedno zaboravljene serije “Dobre namjere”, serije koju HTV nažalost nije pravo prepoznao, iako je bila riječ o prvom iskoraku u modernu igranu TV u poslijeratnoj Hrvatskoj“.

Jurica Pavičić, Jutarnji list

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„Serija prikazuje posttranzicijski Zagreb i društvenu elitu u kojoj su granice kriminala, biznisa, showbiza i državnog aparata prilično zamućene. Premda nije izravno politična, posjeduje politički komentar“.

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„Kanal“, kratki film (Zagrebačke priče Vol1.)

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What is unique is the way he struggles with everyday difficulties to get a high-quality education. Great camera work, beautifully shot, a complete story. I highly recommend this film.”

Mihai Catalin Cazacu (RomeArchive)

Prva nagrada za scenarij za dugometražni film „Kuća“

The Balkan Film Fund u Solunu

“U sklopu 51. međunarodnog filmskog festivala u Solunu, scenarij za dugometražni igrani film Kuća, scenaristice Sanje Kovačević proglašen je najboljim”.

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Urednica broja kultnog časopisa Polja o TV serijama (Novi Sad, 2020.)

“Ako zahtijevamo od TV serije da bude beskompromisna u kopanju do istine, a ona to dokazano može, moramo priznati da u rukama imamo oružje za masovno uništenje predrasuda i isfabriciranih informacija”.

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“Patrijarhalnost u filmovima Zvonimira Berkovića"

„Radi se o sintezi Berkovićeve poetike koja mu je kao „prosvijećenom patrijarhu“ bila strana, a tiče se reprezentacije ženskih likova u njegovim filmovima. Riječ je o prvoj ozbiljnoj dramaturškoj studiji njegova igranofilmskog opusa, i to iz pera jedne, po njegovu shvaćanju, ‘nedokučive’ – žene.“

Dijana Nenadić, Predgovor

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Tribine “Izvanserijske TV serije”

„Cilj tribina ‘Izvanserijske TV serije‘ je ljubiteljima serija dati prostor za raspravu te priliku da teme vezane uz serije i društvo ‘pretresu’ sa stručnjacima iz određenih područja, a prva u nizu je „Sluškinjina priča: o nastajanju totalitarizma”.

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„Razgovori s filmskim scenaristima“ u Hrvatskom filmskom ljetopisu

Razgovori sa: Vinko Brešan, Arsen Ostojić, Goran i Snježana Tribuson, Mate Matišić, Jurica Pavičić.

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„16 top recentnih serija za apokaliptičnu svakodnevicu“

Jutarnji list, 2017.

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"Good intentions" (62 x 50'), crime series, HRT

“Kovačević was the main screenwriter of the very good and unfairly forgotten series “Good intentions”, a series that HTV unfortunately did not properly recognize, even though it was the first step into modern feature TV in post-war Croatia.”

Jurica Pavičić, Jutarnji list

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“The series shows post-transitional Zagreb and the social elite, where the boundaries of crime, business, showbiz and the state apparatus are quite blurred. Although it is not directly political, it has a political commentary”.

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"Kanal", short film (Zagreb stories Vol1.)

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“What is unique is the way he struggles with everyday difficulties to get a high-quality education. Great camera work, beautifully shot, a complete story. I highly recommend this film.”

Mihai Catalin Cazacu (RomeArchive)

First prize for the screenplay for the feature film "House"

The Balkan Film Fund in Solunu

“As part of the 51st International Film Festival in Thessaloniki, the screenplay for the feature film House, by screenwriter Sanja Kovačević, was declared the best”.

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Editor of the issue of the cult magazine Polja about TV series (Novi Sad, 2020).

“If we demand from the TV series to be uncompromising in digging for the truth, and it is proven that it can do that, we must admit that we have in our hands a weapon for the mass destruction of prejudices and fabricated information”.

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"Patriarchy in the films of Zvonimir Berković"

“It is about the synthesis of Berković’s poetics, which as an “enlightened patriarch” was alien to him, and it concerns the representation of female characters in his films. It is the first serious dramaturgical study of his feature film oeuvre, and it is from the pen of one, according to his understanding, ‘unfathomable’ – woman.”

Dijana Nenadić, Foreword

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Tribune "Extraordinary TV series"

“The aim of the ‘Out-of-series TV Series’ forums is to give fans of series a space for discussion and the opportunity to ‘examine’ topics related to series and society with experts from certain fields, and the first in the series is “The Handmaid’s Tale: About the Rise of Totalitarianism”.

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"Conversations with screenwriters" in the Croatian Film Yearbook

Interviews with: Vinko Brešan, Arsen Ostojić, Goran and Snježana Tribuson, Mate Matišić, Jurica Pavičić.

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"16 top recent series for apocalyptic everyday life"

Jutarnji list, 2017.

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