Q&A with Production Lab producer Csaba Jobbágy

As a boutique agency based in Budapest, Production Lab have been at the heart of Hungary's international production boom.

Production Lab have worked on high-end commercial shoots, music videos, and Netflix hits like The Witcher season one and The King starring Timothée Chalamet. Producer Csaba Jobbágy explains how the company came to be and why Hungarian crew are unparalleled. 

What is Production Lab’s ethos and mission statement?

Our company was created two decades ago, focusing on raising the quality of photo productions with a specialised team within the Hungarian commercial scene. From our first week, we had several international jobs - commercials, catalogues and so on.

Four years ago, we reformatted the company into Production Lab, to cover the various types of productions we had —  video shooting, TV spots, social media videos, and the like. We have a dedicated, cooperative team with the same perspective, working on the same professional level. Our team also writes prompts for AI made videos.

At Production Lab we are committed to quality and teamwork. Our team and our contributors are engaged to reach the best results possible even when the production has an insufficient budget. Having a problem solving attitude and detailed oriented focus is our “fingerprint”.

Have there been any recent infrastructure developments in Hungary, and what are the benefits of those changes for incoming productions?

Four new studios on 10,000 square metres with all the service buildings were developed and opened in January 2025 by The National Film Institute in Fót. In addition, the United Illusion Virtual Production Studio also opened, with a 28 metre wide, 6 metre height ROE LED wall. It has a 7X 4.5 meter LED ceiling and a 4 x 4 movable side wall.

There are less than 10 studio available in the world with same parameters. Certainly these are mainly set for Hollywood movies, however commercial shootings have a great benefits to reduce their cost meanwhile setting up a complex visual without using several locations.  

What is the difference between the various productions Production Lab works on?

We have mainly been working on social media videos and photos, and commercial and fashion photo campaigns. The main difference usually the timing and the crew size. The Production Lab team set up the most dedicated crew for each shooting. For social media we have to be significantly flexible. For TV or coproducing  marketing material or a series, we need to be very precise and use the usual hierarchic levels of a film production.

For music videos we shoot connected with a brand, such as Kelvyn Colt for Oppo. The goal was to introduce both the music and camera quality of the Oppo phone, which we used to shoot the entire video.

The visual atmosphere of a music video can be more creative, and farther from the 'real world situation' than a commercial, so it can be more interesting to set up those productions.

No matter what, whether it's a filmed production or a photo-shooting, the complexity of the production is the key; we define those technical needs and figure out the best possible solution for the best possible result. 

Citygroup Parasport – Photo: Jordan Nicholson, Agency Adv. Agency: Publicis One Client: Citigroup USA

What major international projects and collaborations did you work on last year?

Last year we produced and co-produced mainly video and photo materials for Philip Morris. We had an amazing experience shooting for Speedo International with the Pentland team.

We also did several social media campaigns for Xiaomi, Oneplus, and Oppo with a superb German team. We shot four videos for Desmos-Oresha company in January. Production Lab also co-produced the marketing photo shooting of Sky Studios' Amadeus series production. 

What major international projects and collaborations do you have planned in for this coming year?

Hopefully we can continue to shoot the smartphone and smartwatch commercials [for Oppo], for the social media campaign we do with a great German creative team. We are continuously fighting for Hungarian productions as well, and are looking forward to more photo shooting this year. 

How does Production Lab stand apart from local competition?  

Our advantage is the flexibility and communication, problem solving attitude and the creative background of our team. We have a small in-house team and an extended professional contributor network. This way we can set up dedicated teams based on the brief with making sure we have the right experts for the production. Production Lab is a boutique company which give us the opportunity to accommodate easier to any production size. We have clients from all over the world.

Xiaomi Leica lens credit - Photo: Csaba Jobbagy , Agency: BRZ, Client : Xiaomi

What was a challenge you faced in filming a recent production, and how did you work to overcome it?

We had a very tight budget to shot four complex spots with several characters, significantly different settings based on target customers. It was a French-German-Hungarian production. Certainly, the camera and lighting equipment has to reach the contemporary standard, however with the smallest crew possible. We only had two shooting days, so the timing was not our best friend either.

As a creative producer I personally spent days with our location scouts to find the perfect location. It ended up being a villa where we could set four different moods without two truck-loads of props. We managed to get the perfect location. The DOP chose the new DJI RONIN 4D which is an astonishing solution if you have to work with a small crew. In the end, we produced perfect results.

What should international producers know about filming in Hungary?

Hungarian film experts, in every field of production, are educated professionals with decades of experience. They are like a walking Swiss Army Knife. You do not need to travel with a whole crew.

The Witcher character posters; Source: Netflix

Not surprisingly, the working fees are lower than the EU average. So, if you budget is tight, but you need a professional crew and beautiful locations, the answer is Hungary.

The whole country offers an incredible variety of locations to suit every brief — ruins, gothic castles, renaissance, baroque, classical buildings, bucolic rural landscapes, high-tech sci-fi atmosphere, busy city scapes, forests, rivers, mountains, vineyards, and beautiful fields.

Budapest is one the most photographed city in the world, a chameleon if you need different locations, doubling for Moscow, Berlin, Paris, and many more.