Starring “3o Coins’” Miguel Angel Silvestre and “The Palace’s” Katia Fellin, “Weiss & Morales” has gone into production in the Canary Islands, boasting the credentials of a textbook procedural appealing to current market appetites.
As co-production ramps up between free-to-air players in Europe, led very often by its state-backed networks, “Weiss & Morales” links two of the continents’ most powerful public broadcasters, Germany’s ZDF and Spain’s RTVE, which produce with ZDF Studios. The latter is also handling worldwide sales outside Spanish-speaking territories.
Also producing are Galicia-based Portocabo, which in the space of 10 years has pioneered co-productions between Spain’s Galicia and Portugal (“Dry Water”) and Spain and France (“Hierro), and Nadcon whose head, Peter Nadermann co-produced iconic Nordic Noir titles “The Killing” and “The Bridge” when at ZDF.
“A series rooted in the most classic elements of the genre and reformulated to meet the current standards of premium television drama,” its partners declared in a written statement Monday, “Weiss & Morales” sees German BKA agent Nina Weiss (Fellin) and Raúl Morales, a Spanish Civil Guard sergeant obliged to partner when a crime is committed in the Canary Islands’ German community.
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“Nina Weiss is professional but detached, being a woman in her position means she relates just as much as she needs with her colleagues; while Raul Morales likes to deep dive into psychology, understand how people tick,” executive producer and Portocabo head Alfonso Blanco said at a presentation earlier this month in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
“Weiss’ distance grates with Morales, who tries to get closer. Despite everything, however, they work well as a tandem and try together to discover the truth,” he added.
Yet while the original Danish “The Killing” took two seasons to resolve one crime, “Weiss & Morales” – in a symptom of the lighter procedurals demanded by current markets – crack a case per episode.
The series’ 90-minute episodes can be viewed as separate movies, while its just four episodes means it does not outstay its welcome.
“Weiss & Morales” is also set against stunning scenery, if a first image and the Canary Islands’ Gran Canaria, where most of the series will shoot, are anything to go on.
“Weiss & Morales” writing teamboasts a blended Spanish and German writing team spearheaded by Nina Hernández, Portocabo’s head of content on Movistar Plus+ hit “Rapa,” Carlota Dans, a writer on “Dry Water,” and young vet Ron Markus, who helped pen “Bad Banks” Season 2 and won Germany’s Grimme Preis, for his work on “Stromberg,” the German re-version of “The Office.”
The series’ ensemble cast takes in Juanjo Puigcorbé, Mariam Hernández, Margarita Broich, Thomas Heinze, Tania Santana, Yaiza Guimaré, Saulo Trujillo, Luifer Rodríguez, and Iria Santana.
Director is Oriol Ferrer “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” “Estoy Vivo,” Nadermann also serves as an executive producer. Wolfgang Feindt serves as ZDF commissioning editor and Mar Díaz as executive producer at RTVE.
