Szentgyörgyi always had the dream to make an authentic series about the history of Hungary that really rings true.
How did he land in the movie business despite all that? That is a story itself well worth bringing to the big screen. He has never attended a film school to learn the tricks and techniques of the industry, nor does he come from a family with a cinematic background. According to, he started the project at the age of 24 without any formal education.
The creator and director of the TV drama, Bálint Szentgyörgyi is often referred to as “the new wonder child of HBO Europe”. Read also: HBO series to come about Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó and the vaccine The creative process of filming the Informant
The cast of the Informant includes both close friends and Hungarian TikTok starlets.
To achieve that, he hired costume designers and hairdressers who were already working in the ’80s but, as a bold move, chose lesser-known, emerging actors. On the other hand, the director also found it important that the generation of his parents and grandparents enjoyed and found the show truthful while it would also connect with Millenials and members of Gen Z. After all, these absurd and often abnormal past events defined the future for millions in Hungary. He wanted to create a series that would convey this feeling, this foreign sense of nostalgia to the western audience. Obviously, my parents had a very idealised view of the West but they had no idea what was going on on the other side and that always seemed very, very interesting to me” “Our parents, and especially our grandparents, have a very ambiguous relationship with this period. The aspiring Hungarian director grew up in a generation where families still frequently talked about the communist era, a world that no longer existed yet was often brought up in conversations during Sunday lunches and other gatherings. In an interview Szentgyörgyi gave to, he revealed what inspired him to create this ambitious project, the first-ever Hungarian spy drama set in the ’80s. Source: The inspiration behind the concept A college freshman and skilled chess player, Geri is bribed for a piece of punch cake and then involuntarily recruited on the train to Budapest by the state police. The story plunges us into the 80’s Hungary, during the time of the Iron Curtain, and is narrated through the daily joys and struggles of Geri Demeter, a young student who is forced to lead a double life. The promising Hungarian spy drama, written and co-directed by Hungarian self-taught rising star Bálint Szentgyörgyi, is an HBO EMEA original that premiered at the Geneva International Film Festival.
Regardless of the credibility of this hearsay, we are in for good entertainment. Rumours have it that one of the main characters of The Informant is based on Viktor Orbán, well not the current Hungarian PM but his younger self before he entered the political scene some 30 years ago. The first episode of the eight-part television drama has just aired two days prior to the Hungarian general election which some believe was no coincidence. If you are lacking some thrilling Hungarian spy series in your life, the streaming giant has got your back.