Spain’s TV fiction industry is exercising some caution after high-end Spanish-language series lifted off in 2018.
“We all wanted to launch so many projects, so many new platforms arrived that there was no time for analysis,” says Bambú co-founder Ramón Campos.
As streamers scale back on originals and sales cycles slow, the industry has time for larger re-calculation.
“We come from a spectacular moment, in terms of both quality and volume,” says Sonia Martínez, series editorial director at Buendía Estudios.
That groundbreaking moment, championed by series like “Money Heist” and “Elite,” propelled Spanish fiction production to historic heights of global popularity.
“There is a virtuous circle that began in 2018 and has been continuously regenerating. Spain’s talent base already interests international audiences,” says María Valenzuela, Movistar Plus Intl.’s general manager.
But the country’s TV production scene is still cycling through the fruits of the boom: the number of...
“We all wanted to launch so many projects, so many new platforms arrived that there was no time for analysis,” says Bambú co-founder Ramón Campos.
As streamers scale back on originals and sales cycles slow, the industry has time for larger re-calculation.
“We come from a spectacular moment, in terms of both quality and volume,” says Sonia Martínez, series editorial director at Buendía Estudios.
That groundbreaking moment, championed by series like “Money Heist” and “Elite,” propelled Spanish fiction production to historic heights of global popularity.
“There is a virtuous circle that began in 2018 and has been continuously regenerating. Spain’s talent base already interests international audiences,” says María Valenzuela, Movistar Plus Intl.’s general manager.
But the country’s TV production scene is still cycling through the fruits of the boom: the number of...
- 10/16/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix is expanding the universe of its popular Spanish drama series Money Heist, otherwise known as La Casa De Papel.
The streamer revealed a first look at the spinoff series Berlin, which centers around the popular character also known as Andrés de Fonollosa (played by Pedro Alonso), during the fan event in São Paulo, Brazil on Saturday.
Related: All The News From The Tudum 2023 Fan Festival
Berlin is the second-in-command of the Royal Mint of Spain heist and also planned the Bank of Spain heist, which he shared with The Professor and Palermo. The teaser introduces audiences to Berlin’s latest heist to rob one of the top auction houses in Paris.
Watch the full teaser above. Berlin is expected to debut on Netflix in December.
Money Heist was created by Alex Pina and tells the story of the heists through the perspective of one of the robbers, Tokyo, played by Ursula Corbero.
The streamer revealed a first look at the spinoff series Berlin, which centers around the popular character also known as Andrés de Fonollosa (played by Pedro Alonso), during the fan event in São Paulo, Brazil on Saturday.
Related: All The News From The Tudum 2023 Fan Festival
Berlin is the second-in-command of the Royal Mint of Spain heist and also planned the Bank of Spain heist, which he shared with The Professor and Palermo. The teaser introduces audiences to Berlin’s latest heist to rob one of the top auction houses in Paris.
Watch the full teaser above. Berlin is expected to debut on Netflix in December.
Money Heist was created by Alex Pina and tells the story of the heists through the perspective of one of the robbers, Tokyo, played by Ursula Corbero.
- 6/17/2023
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
Former top Vis exec Laura Abril has been appointed EVP of scripted and global business development at Buendía Estudios, producer of “Veneno,” “Cardo” Season 1 and “Offworld,” in a move which signals the large international ambitions of one of Spain’s key production powerhouses.
Abril will report to Ignacio Corrales, Buendía Estudios CEO.
Rising through the ranks at Viacom from 2009, Abril crowned her career at the studio as the highest-ranking international TV executive in Spain named in 2019 as head of ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Launched in August 2020, Buendía Estudios has already scored heavily in creative terms, producing a Variety Best International TV Show in 2020 (“Veneno”), 2021 (“Cardo” Season 1) and 2022 (“Offworld”). In volume, in 2022, it produced seven series for streaming services, more than any other production house in Spain, according to a study by Madrid-based consultancy Geca.
Six of these were, however, for either Atresplayer Premium,...
Abril will report to Ignacio Corrales, Buendía Estudios CEO.
Rising through the ranks at Viacom from 2009, Abril crowned her career at the studio as the highest-ranking international TV executive in Spain named in 2019 as head of ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Launched in August 2020, Buendía Estudios has already scored heavily in creative terms, producing a Variety Best International TV Show in 2020 (“Veneno”), 2021 (“Cardo” Season 1) and 2022 (“Offworld”). In volume, in 2022, it produced seven series for streaming services, more than any other production house in Spain, according to a study by Madrid-based consultancy Geca.
Six of these were, however, for either Atresplayer Premium,...
- 2/27/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In what is expected to be a surefire hit, Buendia Estudios revealed an upcoming TV series adaptation of Antonio Gala’s erotic novel, “La Pasion Turca.” The popular novel was last adapted into a hit feature film in 1994 with the late Vicente Aranda directing and Andres Vicente Gomez of Lolafilms producing. It starred singer-actress Ana Belen in what is considered her most successful film.
Buendia Estudios’ director general Ignacio Corrales and editorial director Sonia Martínez jointly announced the new project at the 2nd edition of the Iberseries & Platino Industria television event in Madrid.
The new six-episode series set to air on Spanish free-to-air channel Antena 3 and streamer AtresPlayer Premium will start shooting by the end of October in Turkey for seven weeks before moving to Madrid. The cast will be made up of Spanish, Turkish and Italian talent.
Story revolves around Olivia, a Spanish Fine Arts teacher who wakes...
Buendia Estudios’ director general Ignacio Corrales and editorial director Sonia Martínez jointly announced the new project at the 2nd edition of the Iberseries & Platino Industria television event in Madrid.
The new six-episode series set to air on Spanish free-to-air channel Antena 3 and streamer AtresPlayer Premium will start shooting by the end of October in Turkey for seven weeks before moving to Madrid. The cast will be made up of Spanish, Turkish and Italian talent.
Story revolves around Olivia, a Spanish Fine Arts teacher who wakes...
- 9/28/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Taking off from one of Spain’s most successful series during the century’s first decade, “The Boarding School: Black Lagoon,” the new second season of its reboot, “The Boarding School: Las Cumbres,” has dropped in its entirety on Prime Video, confirming the new series’ own identity and voice. It’s a reboot that has taken on a life of its own.
Born out of the collaboration between Prime Video, The Mediapro Studio and Buendía Estudios – whose co-founder, broadcast network group Atresmedia, owned the original IP – the second season answers many of the questions left by the first while opening new mysteries that could lead to a potential third.
It follows a group of students who start investigating their own school after a series of gruesome murders. Slowly, a densely layered lore starts to unfold to both students and audience, a mythology that is deepened in this season by creators Asier Andueza and Laura Belloso.
Born out of the collaboration between Prime Video, The Mediapro Studio and Buendía Estudios – whose co-founder, broadcast network group Atresmedia, owned the original IP – the second season answers many of the questions left by the first while opening new mysteries that could lead to a potential third.
It follows a group of students who start investigating their own school after a series of gruesome murders. Slowly, a densely layered lore starts to unfold to both students and audience, a mythology that is deepened in this season by creators Asier Andueza and Laura Belloso.
- 4/6/2022
- by Emiliano Granada
- Variety Film + TV
Entering into a post-“Money Heist” phase, the Spanish TV fiction industry is immersed in international growth strategies as it promotes at home new and original voices that create TV stories with universal appeal.
Key production-distribution TV companies such as The Mediapro Studio, Onza Entertainment, Secuoya Studios and Buendía Estudios are building beachheads in the Americas to strengthen the standout place in the sun of the global TV drama business that the Spanish TV industry already occupies.
As by far the biggest part of a 600 million people Spanish-speaking community around the globe, Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic represent the most obvious market for growth.
However, a common ambition for Spanish companies eyeing the Americas is to develop projects in the region but aimed at the global market, which are also increasingly based on IP. And the most natural formula is to bet on international co-productions, which allow projects...
Key production-distribution TV companies such as The Mediapro Studio, Onza Entertainment, Secuoya Studios and Buendía Estudios are building beachheads in the Americas to strengthen the standout place in the sun of the global TV drama business that the Spanish TV industry already occupies.
As by far the biggest part of a 600 million people Spanish-speaking community around the globe, Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic represent the most obvious market for growth.
However, a common ambition for Spanish companies eyeing the Americas is to develop projects in the region but aimed at the global market, which are also increasingly based on IP. And the most natural formula is to bet on international co-productions, which allow projects...
- 1/19/2022
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
The biggest product in Spain of the M&a boom which looks set to power much future entertainment growth in Europe, Buendía Estudios, a joint venture of Telefonica’s Movistar Plus and Atresmedia, is fast driving into second-phase expansion in Latin America.
In one move last November, Buendía tapped former Telemundo Global Studios exec Ana Paula Valdovinos as director of production and development for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic.
Valdovinos will be based out of Mexico, Latin America’s “nerve and talent center,” she said, as the country also accounts for approximately 70% of the 70 million Latinx population in the U.S.
In another development, Buendía has confirmed to Variety further details on its first Latin America project, “Swift as Desire,”
Billed as a fantasy romantic drama, the series “Swift as Desire” is structured as a six-part, 50-minute adaptation of a hallmark novel by Mexico’s Laura Esquivel, published in...
In one move last November, Buendía tapped former Telemundo Global Studios exec Ana Paula Valdovinos as director of production and development for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic.
Valdovinos will be based out of Mexico, Latin America’s “nerve and talent center,” she said, as the country also accounts for approximately 70% of the 70 million Latinx population in the U.S.
In another development, Buendía has confirmed to Variety further details on its first Latin America project, “Swift as Desire,”
Billed as a fantasy romantic drama, the series “Swift as Desire” is structured as a six-part, 50-minute adaptation of a hallmark novel by Mexico’s Laura Esquivel, published in...
- 1/18/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The second season of Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell” reimagining will stream Nov. 24.
In the second season, Bayside High is back in session, despite the Season 1 finale teasing the emergence of Covid-19 in the world of the show. Now, the students are getting ready to compete in the Southern California School Spirit Competition, with Mac (Mitchell Hoog) seeing it as a way to finally get out of his father Zack’s (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) shadow. Meanwhile, Daisy (Haskiri Velazquez) finds herself paying more attention to her love life than she wants to; Jamie (Belmont Cameli) leans on Lexi (Josie Totah) in the wake of his parents’ divorce — with Lexi struggling to be a more understanding girlfriend; Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Peña) looks for a new outlet after football gets canceled; DeVante (Dexter Darden) enters into a relationship with a rich Bayside girl; and Slater (Mario Lopez) and Jessie (Elizabeth Berkley Lauren) grow closer.
In the second season, Bayside High is back in session, despite the Season 1 finale teasing the emergence of Covid-19 in the world of the show. Now, the students are getting ready to compete in the Southern California School Spirit Competition, with Mac (Mitchell Hoog) seeing it as a way to finally get out of his father Zack’s (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) shadow. Meanwhile, Daisy (Haskiri Velazquez) finds herself paying more attention to her love life than she wants to; Jamie (Belmont Cameli) leans on Lexi (Josie Totah) in the wake of his parents’ divorce — with Lexi struggling to be a more understanding girlfriend; Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Peña) looks for a new outlet after football gets canceled; DeVante (Dexter Darden) enters into a relationship with a rich Bayside girl; and Slater (Mario Lopez) and Jessie (Elizabeth Berkley Lauren) grow closer.
- 10/13/2021
- by Jennifer Yuma, Danielle Turchiano and Katie Song
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has teased the latest series of hit Money Heist (La Casa De Papel), billed as part five, volume 2 and coming out on December 3.
Volume 1 ended with Tokyo sacrificing herself to defeat Gandia and the soldiers and the concluding season looks set to be a cracker for one of Netflix’s most popular global dramas.
The fifth part, volume 1 of the heist drama, which dropped its first five episodes earlier this month, saw the gang shut in the Bank of Spain for over 100 hours. They managed to rescue Lisbon but their darkest moment is upon them after losing one of their own. The Professor was captured by Sierra but, for the first time, didn’t have an escape plan. Just when it seemed like nothing else could go wrong, an enemy came on the scene that is much more powerful than any they’ve faced: the army. The end of...
Volume 1 ended with Tokyo sacrificing herself to defeat Gandia and the soldiers and the concluding season looks set to be a cracker for one of Netflix’s most popular global dramas.
The fifth part, volume 1 of the heist drama, which dropped its first five episodes earlier this month, saw the gang shut in the Bank of Spain for over 100 hours. They managed to rescue Lisbon but their darkest moment is upon them after losing one of their own. The Professor was captured by Sierra but, for the first time, didn’t have an escape plan. Just when it seemed like nothing else could go wrong, an enemy came on the scene that is much more powerful than any they’ve faced: the army. The end of...
- 10/13/2021
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Producer of HBO Max hit “Veneno,” Spain’s Buendía Estudios, a joint venture of Atresmedia and Movistar Plus, is now developing a series on Federico García Lorca, Spain’s greatest and best known modern poet, executed by dictator Francisco Franco supporters in 1936 for his left-wing views and homosexuality.
Currently in development, “Lorca in New York,” a six hour miniseries, is based on an original idea by Granada writer-producer Eduardo Galdo. It is created and developed by Buendía Estudios’ and Galdo Media.
“We now have extensive story lines which will allow us to move the project on the market,” said Sonia Martínez, Buendía Estudios’ editorial director. Buendía has developed a creative dossier.“It’s quite special given the important visual and music components of the series.”
“Lorca in New York” catches the poet over 1929-30 during the greatest spiritual crisis of his life, victim of an unrequited passion for Salvador Dalí,...
Currently in development, “Lorca in New York,” a six hour miniseries, is based on an original idea by Granada writer-producer Eduardo Galdo. It is created and developed by Buendía Estudios’ and Galdo Media.
“We now have extensive story lines which will allow us to move the project on the market,” said Sonia Martínez, Buendía Estudios’ editorial director. Buendía has developed a creative dossier.“It’s quite special given the important visual and music components of the series.”
“Lorca in New York” catches the poet over 1929-30 during the greatest spiritual crisis of his life, victim of an unrequited passion for Salvador Dalí,...
- 6/8/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Adriana Ugarte, star of hit Spanish TV drama “The Time in Between” and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Julieta,” will play the lead role in Atresmedia original series “Madre.”
A remake of successful Turkish TV drama “Anne,” in turn an adaptation of Japanese series “Mother,” “Madre” continues Spanish media conglomerate Atresmedia’s bet on re-versioning recent standout Turkish scripted series. This strategy kicked-off with “Alba,” the Elena Rivera-starring redo of female empowerment skein “Fatmagul,” a modern Turkish classic.
A 13-hour series, “Madre” is produced by Atresmedia TV in collaboration with Buendía Estudios, the joint-venture launched last year by Atresmedia and Telefonica-owned pay TV operator Movistar Plus.
Scheduled to premiere this year on Atresmedia’s SVOD service Atresplayer Premium and then launch on the group’s core channel Antena 3 in Spanish TV primetime, “Madre” will follow the same release windowing as “Alba,” which bowed in March on Atresplayer and now awaits a free-to-air TV debut.
A remake of successful Turkish TV drama “Anne,” in turn an adaptation of Japanese series “Mother,” “Madre” continues Spanish media conglomerate Atresmedia’s bet on re-versioning recent standout Turkish scripted series. This strategy kicked-off with “Alba,” the Elena Rivera-starring redo of female empowerment skein “Fatmagul,” a modern Turkish classic.
A 13-hour series, “Madre” is produced by Atresmedia TV in collaboration with Buendía Estudios, the joint-venture launched last year by Atresmedia and Telefonica-owned pay TV operator Movistar Plus.
Scheduled to premiere this year on Atresmedia’s SVOD service Atresplayer Premium and then launch on the group’s core channel Antena 3 in Spanish TV primetime, “Madre” will follow the same release windowing as “Alba,” which bowed in March on Atresplayer and now awaits a free-to-air TV debut.
- 5/10/2021
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin — Spanish broadcast network Atresmedia and Bambu Producciones teamed on two milestones in the international outreach of Spanish series: “Gran Hotel” and “Velvet,” whose avid audiences, especially in Latin America, proved there was a mass audience abroad for original Spanish series, not just their formats. Atresmedia and others – Netflix, for example – took note.
Having linked for “Fariña,” one of the biggest free-to-air hits in Spain last year, Atresmedia and Bambu are back with “45 Revoluciones.” Shooting from October, a trailer for the 13-part series was presented by Atresmedia Television’s Antonio Salso, head of acquisitions and sales, on Monday afternoon at a Berlin Drama Series Days Spanish TV Showcase. Its pedigree is instantly recognizable.
Created by Ramon Campos and Gema R. Neira, the series is produced by Bambu’s Campos and Teresa Fernandez Valdés and Atresmedia Television head of fiction Sonia Martínez, also a guiding spirit of Atresmedia Studios.
The ‘60s-set...
Having linked for “Fariña,” one of the biggest free-to-air hits in Spain last year, Atresmedia and Bambu are back with “45 Revoluciones.” Shooting from October, a trailer for the 13-part series was presented by Atresmedia Television’s Antonio Salso, head of acquisitions and sales, on Monday afternoon at a Berlin Drama Series Days Spanish TV Showcase. Its pedigree is instantly recognizable.
Created by Ramon Campos and Gema R. Neira, the series is produced by Bambu’s Campos and Teresa Fernandez Valdés and Atresmedia Television head of fiction Sonia Martínez, also a guiding spirit of Atresmedia Studios.
The ‘60s-set...
- 2/11/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid — Marta Hazas, who has leapt to fame as the absolute lead of “Velvet Collection” – Movistar + first original series which it sold to Netflix – will now star opposite series creator Javier Veiga in “Pequeñas Coincidencias,” a more unusual romantic comedy which marks several new milestones in Spain’s fast evolving high-end production industry.
Produced by Atresmedia Studios, Onza Entertainment and MedioLimón, “Pequeñas Coincidencias” (“Little Coincidences”) is Amazon Prime Video’s first fiction series in Spain. Amazon Prime Video has rights to Spain and Latin America. Otherwise, Onza will sell the world, with Onza’s Gonzalo Sagardia bringing one of the highest-profile of new productions from Spain onto the market at Mipcom.
Onza is in discussions for a U.S. sale on “Pequeñas coincidencias,” Sagardia said.
Spanish free-to-air rights are held by broadcast network Atresmedia, Atresmedia Studios’ parent company.
In a Spanish TV industry whose main challenge, at least for independent producers,...
Produced by Atresmedia Studios, Onza Entertainment and MedioLimón, “Pequeñas Coincidencias” (“Little Coincidences”) is Amazon Prime Video’s first fiction series in Spain. Amazon Prime Video has rights to Spain and Latin America. Otherwise, Onza will sell the world, with Onza’s Gonzalo Sagardia bringing one of the highest-profile of new productions from Spain onto the market at Mipcom.
Onza is in discussions for a U.S. sale on “Pequeñas coincidencias,” Sagardia said.
Spanish free-to-air rights are held by broadcast network Atresmedia, Atresmedia Studios’ parent company.
In a Spanish TV industry whose main challenge, at least for independent producers,...
- 10/11/2018
- by John Hopewell and Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes — The ‘80s-set true-life “Fariña – Snow On the Atlantic,” the latest drama from Bambu Producciones’ Teresa Fernández Valdés turns on how humble fishermen in Galicia, North-West Spain, turned into drug lords, importing 80% of Europe’s cocaine.
In one scene in the Atresmedia original series, sold by Beta Film, wannabe drug baron Sito Miñanco finally makes it onto the board of Galicia’s tobacco contraband cartel. Just a few years back, you’d imagine this scene coming in Ep. 3 or 4 of the series. The scene in fact takes place two thirds if the way through Ep. 1.
Packed into the first episode are Sito’s rise to local smuggler clan overlord; a family feud; his first contacts with a Panama drug cartel; the disintegration of his marriage; a snitch’s threat of exposure.
In another scene, the cigarette smugglers joke about upcoming local elections. The cartel should cough up some money to back their party’s candidates,...
In one scene in the Atresmedia original series, sold by Beta Film, wannabe drug baron Sito Miñanco finally makes it onto the board of Galicia’s tobacco contraband cartel. Just a few years back, you’d imagine this scene coming in Ep. 3 or 4 of the series. The scene in fact takes place two thirds if the way through Ep. 1.
Packed into the first episode are Sito’s rise to local smuggler clan overlord; a family feud; his first contacts with a Panama drug cartel; the disintegration of his marriage; a snitch’s threat of exposure.
In another scene, the cigarette smugglers joke about upcoming local elections. The cartel should cough up some money to back their party’s candidates,...
- 4/10/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish drama production has evolved quickly in the past few years, while the proliferation of Svod platforms is revolutionizing the sector. Ott distribution has helped push some Spanish series onto not only continental screens, but also global TVs.
Take, for example, Alex Pina’s “La Casa de Papel,” produced by Vancouver Media for Atresmedia, and acquired worldwide by Netflix. Its Dalí-inspired aesthetic has been celebrated at Brazil’s Carnival and Saudi soccer matches.
Netflix has now commissioned Spanish drama series (such as Bambú’s “The Cable Girls”) and made early investments in others (such as Rtve’s “The Department of Time,” Atresmedia’s “The Cathedral of the Sea”).
Spanish fiction has “always been a quality product,” says Mediapro head of content Javier Méndez. Now, “the world is discovering Spanish fiction through its presence on new global platforms.”
Beyond Spain, the main target is Latin America.
In February, Movistar Plus — Telefonica...
Take, for example, Alex Pina’s “La Casa de Papel,” produced by Vancouver Media for Atresmedia, and acquired worldwide by Netflix. Its Dalí-inspired aesthetic has been celebrated at Brazil’s Carnival and Saudi soccer matches.
Netflix has now commissioned Spanish drama series (such as Bambú’s “The Cable Girls”) and made early investments in others (such as Rtve’s “The Department of Time,” Atresmedia’s “The Cathedral of the Sea”).
Spanish fiction has “always been a quality product,” says Mediapro head of content Javier Méndez. Now, “the world is discovering Spanish fiction through its presence on new global platforms.”
Beyond Spain, the main target is Latin America.
In February, Movistar Plus — Telefonica...
- 4/7/2018
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
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