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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Heweliusz, a recent series about a real-life sea disaster that was Netflix’s most expensive Polish production ever, contributed 78 million zloty (€18.4 million) to the country’s economy and supported over 600 jobs, according to a report by research firm Oxford Economics.
The five-episode drama, directed by Jan Holoubek, tells the story of the 1993 sinking of the ferry MS Jan Heweliusz, in which 56 people died, making it Poland’s worst-ever peacetime maritime disaster.
The series, which portrays events at sea as the ferry capsized and on land as families and the authorities dealt with the consequences, quickly became one of the most popular non-English language productions in the world after its premiere on 5 November, ranking fourth on the platform in its first week.
Oxford Economics said production expenditure reached 61.7 million zloty, making Heweliusz “the largest television production in recent Polish history”. That figure covered a range of expenses, including for local cast and crew, as well as goods and services provided by local businesses.
The study – commissioned by the US Motion Picture Association (MPA) – found, however, that the total economic impact of production, which took place in 2024 and 2025, was even larger, adding 78 million zloty to Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The production involved 2,560 companies across Poland. It directly employed 430 people, while a further 210 jobs were created through supply-chain and wage-related spending, the report said.
Production employment was highest in Mazovia province, where Warsaw is located, accounting for 62% of the total. It was also the region where the most money, 15.7 million zloty, was spent on production.
The report also detailed Heweliusz’s cost structure. Visual-effects work accounted for the largest category at 23%, or 7.6 million zloty. Location expenses reached 4.5 million zloty, while travel, accommodation, and the use of vehicles and animals each amounted to about 3.3 million zloty.
The direct economic impact, through employment and taxes, was estimated at 28 million zloty. Indirect economic impact, generated through purchases from suppliers, totalled 28.3 million zloty.
Induced impact, derived from household spending by workers and suppliers, was also included in the overall assessment and estimated at 21.7 million zloty.
"HEWELIUSZ" znalazł się na 4. miejscu najchętniej oglądanych nieanglojęzycznych seriali na platformie Netflix z 3,3 mln wyświetleń. pic.twitter.com/QUjDPjsd28
— Kino Alert (@KinoAlertPL) November 12, 2025
Beyond direct and indirect economic gains, the analysts noted that series such as Heweliusz can generate wider benefits for the audiovisual sector, which Poland has sought to strengthen through tax incentives adopted in 2019.
That has led to a steady growth in the film production sector in Poland, including documentary filmmaking, which accounted for over half of all works produced for cinema and television in 2024.
Although the study did not quantify these wider effects, Oxford Economics said film and television projects can also stimulate tourism, create training and apprenticeship opportunities, and support new business ventures and community activity.
New Polish drama Forgotten Love (Znachor) has become a global hit on Netflix.
The film, adapted from a 1937 novel by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz, is already among Netflix's most successful ever non-English titles https://t.co/5HxOoTU5AI
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 2, 2023
Netflix has previously released economic-impact assessments for selected productions.
The hit series Bridgerton was estimated to have contributed about £275 million to the UK economy, while Argentina’s The Eternaut added roughly $70 million to the country’s GDP, reports Business Insider Polska.
In 2022, Netflix opened an office in Warsaw, saying that it wanted to work more closely with local creators and producers. It has since then broadcast a number of Polish productions, including Forgotten Love in 2023 and Kleks Academy the following year.
Netflix will open an office in "key market" Poland, which will also act as a hub for the CEE region.
The streaming giant, which has invested €105m in Poland over the last two years, wants to work more closely with local creators to produce new content https://t.co/UPQcKguXpU
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 30, 2022
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Netflix press materials
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
