Ara Shirinyan on the Challenges of Producing Series

Currently, we are hardly producing any series ourselves. There has only been a children’s series, and we need the film production companies operating in Armenia to also engage in this work.

This was stated by Ara Shirinyan, the chairman of the Public Television Council, during the discussions on the implementation of the 2023 state budget in the National Assembly, responding to MP Narek Babayan from the 'Civil Contract' faction, who noted that series could be produced and used to disseminate educational content, such as condemning bad behavior.

According to Shirinyan, the problem is old and fundamental. In his opinion, the Public Television should be able to produce series and feature films with this content, but there is no financial capacity for that. “Let me be clear: in Armenia, we cannot produce series. We have hardly any successful experience. We can mention one or two semi-successful attempts, but this is a problem for Armenia, and it has been a longstanding issue, and it is not something that only Public Television can resolve. Producing any series might require half of our annual budget. I mean the most basic, minimal requirements needed to shoot a quality series,” he said.

The executive director of Public Television, Hovhannes Movsisyan, who was also present at the meeting in the National Assembly, responded that educational and non-educational content does exist on Public Television, recalling the series 'Four Dreams'. At the same time, he invited the National Assembly committee to discuss the matter with Public Television or the Public Broadcasting Council together. “The obligations of Public Television are fixed both by the 'Public Broadcaster Law' and various decisions. Public Television has numerous obligations, and we are trying to uphold those obligations. If there is something being done only partially, perhaps we should also discuss the need for changes in decisions and laws,” he said.