Spanish TV Fiction Producers’ Appetite for Co-Production Grows

variety.com:

Emiliano De Pablos Traditionally, Spanish broadcasters retained all rights, paying producers a percentage of the budget of their series, which prevented them from building catalogs of their own rights.

Although at first, the arrival of SVOD platforms didn’t change their business relationship, the increasing demand for TV fiction and financial needs have forced an increased use of the co-production model.“There is a lot of creativity and versatility in co-productions from Spain,” says Caroline Servy, managing director at The Wit.Dipping its toe into the co-production arena in 2016 with “The Young Pope,” The Mediapro Studio, one of Europe’s super-indies, is expanding across Asia, Latin America and the U.S.

markets, teaming with key broadcasters and platforms. Released on Jan. 16, action thriller series “Express,” created and showrun by Iván Escobar (“Vis a Vis”), marked Starz Play’s first Spanish-language original series, co-produced with The Mediapro Studio and Pantaya.Buendía Estudios, the joint-venture created in 2020 by Atresmedia and Movistar Plus, is “highly interested in international co-productions, which allow projects to grow not just in financial terms but also in collaboration with local creative communities,” says Laura Miñarro, Buendía Estudios VP.

The company is now launching operations in Latin America and the U.S.Telefónica’s Movistar Plus is following the co-production path it started to plow in 2019 with “Hierro,” the paybox’s most watched TV series in Spain, a co-production with Spain’s Portocabo, Arte France and Atlantique Productions.The success of “Hierro” encouraged Movistar Plus to up the ante.