International Disruptors: Galician Screenwriter And Director Dani De La Torre On The Rise Of Spanish Drama Production And How Embracing The U.S. Showrunner Model Transformed The Local Industry

deadline.com:

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we’ll shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S.

shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week we speak to Dani de la Torre, co-creator and showrunner of Movistar+’s anti-terrorism thriller drama series La Unidad (The Unit) and director of the recently released feature Live is Life, about local developments, Spain’s emergence as a key European drama hub and his love of nostalgic 1980s movie making.Dani de la Torre represents one of a growing number of creative talents emerging from across Spain that are making the world sit up and take notice of the stories pouring out of the country.

The country was once not considered as a major player in the European production stakes, but a series of rebates, new studio builds and (crucially) the arrival of minted streaming services — local and global — have pushed Spain into the center of the international scripted boom.With the government’s five-year, €1.6B ($1.7B) AVS Hub plan now well underway — promoting local talent, attracting further foreign investment and selling Spain as a major production hub for international streamers and producers — the country is on the rise and writer, producer and director de la Torre is at the forefront of the changes.“It is a historical fact that we’ve always dreamed of having an industry like the U.S., a place where the creative community is able to do what it loves,” de la Torre says. “These days, there is much more work in the sector, and moreover, in surprising and ambitious projects.

We feel we can now produce work that can compete perfectly with U.S. and Latin American fiction and this makes us more ambitious and gives the impetus to build the future