Series Mania’s Forum to Unveil Spain’s Biggest Panel Presence Ever at a Major TV Market

Emiliano De Pablos In a move that suggests the golden age of true-crime content is also being established in Spain, Madrid-based Onza Distribution has pounced on worldwide rights outside the country to smash hit series “Crímenes” (“Crimes”), by Catalan journalist Carles Porta.Broadcast since 2020 on Catalunya’s public broadcaster TV3 under the Catalan title of “Crims,” the true-crime series’ first two-seasons topped free-to-air TV primetime slots in the region, snagging peaks of 22% audience share.Since January, adapted as “Crímenes” into Spanish language, it launched nationwide on leading paybox Movistar Plus’ premium channel #0 and its VOD service, also generating an enthusiastic audience response. Onza Distribution is presenting “Crimes” to international buyers for the first time ever at MipTV, which runs April, 4-6 in Cannes.With the combination of documentary material and the necessary fictional resources, “Crimes” recounts a series of criminal offenses extracted from recent real-life events in Spain.It invites the viewer to draw their own conclusions from the cases, based on the facts presented with precision, but not forgetting that it’s also entertainment.The true stories were selected for their social impact, the profile of the accused, the complexity of the plot or their surprising resolution.“True crimes are experiencing a great time.

Oscar Isaac, follows the first hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to struggle with Dissociative Identity Disorder. The show’s protagonist has four individual identities, though the series will start out focusing on the lives of just two. Alongside Issac, Ethan Hawke, Gaspard Ulliel and May Calamawy also star in.

Holly Jones Featured in the Spanish showcase at Series Mania, “Age Of Anger” (“La edad de la ira”) has the potential to grab viewers from all demographics as it tackles the fractured and complex inner workings of teenagers coming to terms with their complexities, amidst the investigation of a close-to-home homicide.Produced and distributed internationally via Atresmedia TV and The Mediapro Studio, the series follows its protagonists as they negotiate the terms of their budding and unconditional relationship, one that toes the line between steadfast friendship and romance. Palpable rapport is felt between the characters as they traverse the classroom, where they’re provoked to unravel moral quandaries by a passionate professor and an extracurricular film studies group.

Emiliano De Pablos Antonia Nava’s Barcelona-based Neo Art Producciones has teamed with Rome’s Pupkin Production to co-produce gay romantic drama “Si las paredes hablasen” (“If Walls Had Ears”), the feature debut of Spanish femme director, Ceres Machado.Scheduled to roll by this year-end or the first quarter of 2023 in Barcelona and Rome, the film will be produced by Nava and Pupkin’s Rita Rognoni.Spanish actor Fernando Tejero (“La que se avecina,” “My Heart Goes Boom!”) is attached to star in a cast that will combine Spanish and Italian actors.Co-written by Machado and scribe Salva Martos Cortés (“Maniac Tales”), “If Walls had Ears” will narrate, in 10 sequences, a Barcelona and Rome-set story of intense love, passion and pain between two men. They are Juan, a 50 year-old married man who hides his homosexuality, and Leonardo, a 23-year Italian who arrives in Barcelona to try his luck as a soccer player.Over a decade, they will live their romance, but it remains burdened by Juan’s inability to accept his sexuality and the conflicts that it creates with Leonardo, who despite working in a homophobic environment, is open about his sexual orientation as he tries to break social barriers and stereotypes.“The concept is universal and, unfortunately, a highly topical issue.

Emiliano De Pablos After more than a two decades relationship, media conglom Atresmedia Group and the Málaga Film Festival have grown what looks like a unique case of symbiosis in the Spanish film-TV industry.Atresmedia, a driving force in Spain’s film and TV sectors, joined the Málaga Festival as an official sponsor in 2000. The DeAPlaneta-controlled broadcaster and Málaga, today Spain’s biggest festival dedicated to local and Latin American film and TV, have been faithful witnesses of the evolution of the Spanish film and TV industry.The relationship has benefited both partners.   The Málaga Festival launched in 1998; one year later, a law began to oblige Spanish broadcasters to invest 5% of their annual revenues in local and European films.

Amazon Studios Europe Boss Georgia Brown has revealed how the streamer “completely turned storymaking on its head” for upcoming hybrid grime/drill musical Jungle. 

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentPriya Dogra, president of WarnerMedia Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia (excluding China), took the stage on Thursday to deliver a keynote speech at the Series Mania TV fest in Lille, France, and the message was clear: the U.S. conglomerate is ramping up production in Europe.“Our industry is becoming more global,” said Dogra.

WarnerMedia EMEA & Asia President Priya Dogra has talked up the U.S. media giant’s plan to “ramp up investment in local creative communities across Europe,” with 40 shows in the pipeline for 2023.

The head of France Télévisions Delphine Ernotte Cunci has said she “wouldn’t personally have applied censorship” to Russian news networks.

Major networks are “beginning to see the light” by commissioning entertaining content from Africa, according to EbonyLife Founder Mo Abudu, as the heads of production houses in some of the world’s biggest growing content markets spotlighted the challenge of attracting new talent.

Manori Ravindran International EditorParamount is the latest studio to plant its flag in the ground at French TV drama festival Series Mania, where international CEO Raffaele Annecchino broke down the company’s international distribution and SVOD strategy.In a keynote moderated by Variety’s Italy and West Asia correspondent Nick Vivarelli, Annecchino detailed plans to focus internationally on premium SVOD service Paramount Plus and FAST offering Pluto TV, which has more than 64 million monthly users. Also in the mix to “compete with our ecosystem,” according to Annecchino, is Paramount’s JV with Comcast, SkyShowtime, which is launching in 20 European markets where Paramount Plus won’t be available.By the end of 2022, both Paramount Plus and SkyShowtime will be in more than 60 markets in Europe.

Paramount International boss Raffaele Annecchino has talked up the streamer for “launching quicker than others” in key European markets, as he unveiled a tied-up with global Lupin and Narcos production house Gaumont and set titles from France, Argentina and Germany.

Marta Balaga The conditions are set for an increase in scripted adaptations, argued Tim Westcott of research organization Omdia at Series Mania.According to the research opening the “With Local Content Going Global, What’s the Future of Scripted Formats?” session on Wednesday, the U.S. has been the biggest and “most enthusiastic” buyer of scripted remakes between 2010 and 2022, with South Korea, Turkey and France also following suit.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentVery few The Mediapro Studio shows, indeed very few Spanish series in general, have lit a fire on the open market like “The Head,” an Antarctic-set thriller which lifts off as a murder mystery to constantly evolve into other realms. Starring Álvaro Morte, “Money Heist’s” Professor and Japanese pop idol Tomohisa Yamashita, written by Alex and David Pastor (“Hogar,” “Carriers”) and directed by Jorge Dorado (“The Department of Time,” “The Pier”), “The Head” broke viewership records on co-financiers Hulu Japan and HBO Asia and sold to over 90 countries including HBO in the U.S. The Mediapro Studio retained IP. “Sales opened doors to new markets and clients with whom we hadn’t worked before,” said Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of The Mediapro Studio.

Anna Marie de la Fuente At a time when journalists are under attack in many parts of the world and the odious term “fake news” has become part of the global lexicon, Spain’s Mediacrest presents the topical drama series “Fake” at a key event in France-based Series Mania, the invitation-only Spain Pitching Breakfast, on Thursday.Leading the charge is industry vet-producer Gustavo Ferrada (“Klaus,” “Nobody Knows Anybody”), Mediacrest’s executive director of fiction, who joined the fast-rising Spanish production company in January.“Fake” is one of five selected projects from leading Spanish production companies seeking European partners, comprising Fedent España, Friki Films, Onza, Vertice 360 and Mediacrest. Created in-house by Mediacrest’s deputy head of fiction, Carlos Molinero and senior scriptwriter Nicolás Romero, the Strasbourg-based series of six 52-minute episodes follows a high-powered couple as their once idyllic relationship turns toxic.

Naman Ramachandran “Is bigger generally better?” was one of the hot button topics being debated at a Series Mania panel on Wednesday and the answer in general was there is always room for growth in a rapidly expanding market, albeit with some caveats. Weighing in on the topic were the heads of Europe-based companies, each of which operate several labels across territories.

HBO Max EMEA Boss Anthony Root has set out his team’s stall to “broaden the appeal” of the streamer “beyond the die hard Euphoria fan.”

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentTicking multiple boxes, and a competition frontrunner,  “Paradys” walked off on Tuesday night with the Series Mania Forum Best Project Award, the biggest industry plaudit at one of Europe’s largest TV festivals.A novel crime drama “Paradys” is produced by South Africa’s Quizzical Pictures and Keshet International, which also handles international distribution.

EXCLUSIVE: Call My Agent! and Marianne writer Quoc Dang Tran has struck a first-look deal with Universal International Studios, becoming the first French writer to sign such a deal with a major studio.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios has started drumming up interest internationally for The Birth of Daniel F Harris, the latest young adult drama from End of the F***ing World producer Clerkenwell Films.