Coming Next from Spain, a showcase of five series, unspooled at Series Mania on March 21 just after a Spanish series, “Wrong Side of the Tracks” from Mediaset España and Alea Media, had scored 149.6 million watching hours in three weeks on Netflix for Seasons 1 and 2.
That platform connection and power of Spanish series threaded most of the series and much of the commentary at Tuesday’s Next from Spain, supported by Audiovisual from Spain.
At least in terms of titles now ready to hit the market, there’s little sign as yet of platform pullback in Spain. Rather, it remains a ground zero in the streamer wars.
2023 will see the release of 70 new Spanish scripted series and 27 returning seasons of titles such as “Elite” “Rapa” “30 Coins” and “Veneno,” presenter Irene Jiménez, at Audiovisual 451, told a Coming Next From Spain audience.
Of these new titles, 36% will be produced by linear TV broadcasters, and the rest, a whopping 64%, are commissioned by streaming platforms.
Four of the five Next from Spain titles involve streamers.
Platform tie-ups with big local players can allow for series of large ambition. Backed by national pubcaster RTVE, Banijay’s Diagonal and DeAPlaneta Entertainment, and airing on Netflix, “The Patients of Doctor Garcia” shot for six months, for instance, recreating not only Madrid but also Buenos Aires, Burnley, London and Switzerland, and using 150 locations and 2,500 extras,DeAPlaneta’s Elena Bort said at Coming Next from Spain.
Produced by Television-Univision’s premium streaming service Vix+ and The Mediapro Studio, “Las Pelotaris, 1926,” another Next from Spain title, is filmed on location in Spain and Latin America, said The Mediapro Studio’s Marta Ezpeleta. Settings, indeed, are often stunning.
“Selftape” is produced by Filmax, behind “The Red Band Society,” for upscale Spain-based platform Filmin; “Traces” is from “Elite’s” Zeta Studios, airing worldwide on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Rights splits are no longer a simple case of streamer takes all. On “Doctor García,” Netflix has SVOD rights worldwide, Diagonal owner Banijay and DeAPlaneta share free and pay TV rights for France, Italy and Germany, and Spanish public broadcaster RTVE distributes in the rest of the world.
Titles can enrol significant IP: “‘Doctor García’ marks the first series adaptation of a novel by Almudena Grandes, who has sold 1.7 million books, RTVE’s José Pastor noted in Lille.
Three of the five titles are set in the past: 1926, 1936-75, and 1997. They very much relate, however, to the present, in multiple ways. In “Las Pelotaris,” “All the problems we see in the series are very relevant today: We’re talking about balancing work and maternity, sexual freedom, physical abuse or even difficulties in getting relevant positions in a job,” said The Mediapro Studio’s Javier Esteban.
Two series at least address Europe’s Achilles’ Heel: the diaspora of young audiences to social media. “Selftape” “sums up the malaise of younger generations, millennials and Gen Z,” delivering “a modern content which speaks an independent language,” Filmax’s Claudia Nario told an audience at Coming Next from Spain.
The protagonists of “Crazy about Moliere” are young adults, late teens and early twenties students at Barcelona’s prestigious Theatre School.“They go to the School not only to pursue their dreams, work hard and perfect their talent, but they also want to have fun, get drunk, fall in love, make love and in that process, they will discover themselves as adults, and who they really are,” Mediawan Rights Randall Broman explained. That seems totally accurate, which may be appreciated by younger viewers.
A brief breakdown of titles:
“The Patients of Dr. Garcia,”
“The Patients of Dr. Garcia” is a romantic spy thriller series based on Almudena Grandes’ best selling novel spanning from the Spanish Civil War to Franco’s death in 1975. It follows friends Doctor Guillermo Garcia and Manuel Arroyo, a Republican diplomat as they infiltrate a clandestine network that helps Nazis settle in Spain and Latin America. Produced by DeAPlaneta, Diagonal and RTVE, with Netflix’s collaboration, the vast production stars Javier Rey (“Cocaine Coast”) and Goya winner Tamar Novas (“The Sea Inside”).
“Selftape,”
World premiering at the Malaga Festival last week, “Selftape,” is produced by mini-major Filmax’s Arca Audiovisual for Spain-based arthouse VOD service Filmin with Filmax selling internationally. A semi-autobiographical six-episode series created by and capturing Mireia and Joana Vilapuig a decade after their star turns as teens in smash-hit “The Red Band Society.” The show combines archive material with a fiction narrative aimed at building a deeply authentic journey. The sisters were named amongPvNew’s10 Spanish TV Talents to Track. All six episodes are directed by Rosalia music vid director Bàrbara Farré.
“Las Pelotaris: 1926,”
Created by Marc Cistaré (“The Boat”) and the first series out of a strategic production alliance between The Mediapro Studio and TelevisaUnivision’s Vix+. No placid period piece but rather a story of power, love, and revenge, TMS execs said at Series Mania, it turns on three pioneering women pelota players in the 1920s who fight to gain equal standing in their lives and sport. They are met with resistance from gangsters, a crooked cop, and corrupt businessmen. Shot in Spain and Mexico, the contemporary visual style and music add a modern twist to this plush production.
“Crazy about Molière,”
Produced forCatalan pubcasterTV3 by the Mediawan-owned Veranda TV, “Crazy about Molière” reps a dynamic series set in 1997 at a prestigious theater school in Barcelona, following a group of young hopefuls – Ferran, Eloi, Kàtia, Rem, Lara and Víctor – in pursuit of their dreams but also driven by their birth given right to have fun, party, and fall in love. With a mix of drama and comedy, the show pays tribute to the cultural and historical transformations of Spain during that era, inspired by the creator Héctor Lozano’s (“Merli,”) own experiences.
“No Traces,”
Coming to Prime Video worldwide and Zeta Studios-produced and Alicante-set “No Traces.”. A corpse is found by house cleaners Desi and Cata in a mansion they’ve just cleaned. Since they left everything spotless, they’re the perfect culprits, so they run: From the police, a couple of Russian hitmen, a family of millionaires and an ex-husband with mariachis. An action comedy starring Goya winner Carolina Yuste (“Carmen & Lola”), and Mexico’s Camila Sodi (“Luis Miguel: La Series”).
