Conecta Fiction: ‘The Bureau’ Creators Top Productions Seek Spanish-Language Partners

Beatle but it’s his love of heavy metal that has made Lennon Jon Sharp Garcia an overnight star in Spain. The mini kilted rock star, who is half Scottish, half Basque, stunned TV audiences with a headbanging performance on the nation’s hit talent show Idol Kids.

Jamie Lang Leading Spanish sales, production and distribution company Filmax has secured sales rights for first-time director Carol Rodriguez Colas’ “Girlfriends,” currently in post-production.

Jamie Lang Spain’s northern region of Navarre has fortified its position as a hub for the audiovisual industry in recent years and, mirroring trends seen elsewhere in the country, seen particularly strong growth in TV production in the past year, in spite of the current COVID-19 pandemic.Why is another matter. In 2019, Netflix produced more hours of original productions in Spain (163) than any other country outside the U.S., apart from South Korea (238), according to an Omdia analysis.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterStudiocanal has promoted Anne Cherel from Head of International Sales to EVP Global Sales & Distribution. She will oversee the company’s international sales of TV and features and report into CEO Anna Marsh.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentMovistar Plus, the pay TV division of Telefonica, one of Europe’s biggest telecoms, is scaling up — in series’ ambition, distribution aggression and corporate magnitude — as it seeks preeminence as a producer not only in Spain but also in the world’s dramatically exploding Spanish-language content market.That expansive drive has seen bullish moves in 2020, despite COVID-19.

Jamie Lang On Sept.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSpain’s hybrid 4th Conecta Fiction, Europe’s biggest TV co-production forum with Latin America, closed its on-site doors on Sept. 3, though its online complement runs until Sept.

Emiliano De Pablos Since 2015, a growing number of animation studios and post-production houses have been landing in Spain’s Navarre, driven by a 40% tax deduction for R&D and tech innovation activities. Spanish productions and co-production also have access to a 35% tax credit.

Ed Meza @edmezavarWith a diverse lineup of series coming out this year, HBO España is making its mark in Europe with top tier productions that differentiate themselves from the current crop of shows currently on the market, according to the service’s head of original programming.Discussing the pay TV outlet’s strategy and upcoming productions at this year’s Conecta Fiction Reboot confab, Miguel Salvat, HBO España’s commissioning editor of original programming, said the channel receives and

Emiliano De Pablos Five Madrid-based companies, led by leading Spanish production house Tornasol Films, producer of Oscar-winner “The Secret in Their Eyes,” are teaming to launch services consortium Centro Navarro para la Producción Cinematográfica in Navarre, Northern Spain.Based out of the Sarrio industrial park in Berrioplano, a town near Pamplona, CNPC will provide production services, develop R&D projects and launch industry training programs in a region of Spain that is consolidating as a

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“Demokracy,” a period women’s emancipation tale plus crime thriller, has walked off with the biggest prize at Conecta Fiction Reboot, a development deal from Spanish public broadcaster TVE.Written by Spain’s Rodrigo Martín (“Mis adorables vecinos,” “Fuera de control”) and screenwriter-producer Pedro García Ríos (“Manos de Seda,” “Lex”), “Demokracy” is set in 1979, during Spain’s transition from Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1975 to supposed

Ann-Marie Corvin Filming is underway on new police thriller “Parot” – a series based on the chaos that followed a controversial move seven years ago to reverse a piece of legislation in Spain that ensured prisoners served their full jail terms.The ten-part drama, made up of one-hour episodes, focuses on a series of retribution attacks on prisoners who were subsequently released early, and a police officer determined to track down the person or people responsible for a series of revenge

Emiliano De Pablos Last year’s release of the Atresplayer Premium pay TV platform involved stepping up Atresmedia’s bet on original TV content production, particularly in fiction series.Part of its transformation process from traditional broadcasting group to a digital content producer, Atresplayer Premium is giving the group a new distribution window for Spain and the rest of the world.With a remarkable presence in Spain and Latin America, Atresplayer Premium’s subscribers number has grown

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentPAMPLONA —  No presentation at Conecta Fiction is as important as its CoPro Pitching Sessions, packed this year with 12 scripted series projects from Latin America and Europe. 2020’s hybrid edition – with Spanish producers and creators pitching in Pamplona, Latin Americans mostly online – is proving no exception.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentBursting onto the Latin American film-TV scene in the second half of last decade, Colombia’s Fidelio Films has struck a development and co-production deal with Stories, the burgeoning film-TV arm of Spain-based publishing giant Editorial Planeta.The news comes as Fidelio prepares to present at Spain’s Conecta Fiction, a Europe-Latin America TV production forum, the supernatural drama series “Tenebris,” which won an Our Local is Global grant from

Instituto Cervantes, in Manchester, many people got to try out Spanish via their series of online classes throughout summer.Now with education back underway it's important to keep practising those skills.And Instituto Cervantes is providing courses starting in September with both face-to-face and online learning via video chat.As Instituto Cervantes is also the official centre promoting Spanish language and Hispanic culture, funded by the Spanish government you couldn't be in better