Serielizados Barcelona Dramatic Growth, Catalan TV Surge  

Bowing Nov. 3 with Movistar Plus+ and Arte France’s event historic drama “The Anatomy of a Moment,” Barcelona’s Serielizados competition is making a splash for its 12^th version, with a bolstered {industry} part and a strong sequence program to cater for his or her 10,000+ on-site and 200,000+ on-line Spanish fan base.

On the {industry} entrance, more than 250 decision-makers (150 from Spain) shall be available at the Serielizados Pro Industry Day, Nov. 6, such as Arte France’s Alexandre Piel and Movistar Plus+’s Susanna Herreras who will talk about ‘Arte and Movistar: a Co-Production Love Story,’ a session moderated by Variety’s John Hopewell.

Other {industry} highlights embody case research on the HBO Max Catalan upcoming reveals ‘Ravalejar,” “Pubertat” (“Puberty”) and the Icelandic/French “The Danish Woman” (RÚV/SVT/Yle/Arte France). The State of Distribution will be unpacked by Mediapro Studios’ Javier Esteban, BBC Studios’ Rebecca Ransley, Beta Film’s Christian Jockel, while 3Cat’s Pío Vernis, Yle’s Jarmo Lampela and RTVE’s Alberto Fernández will communicate on the panel Pubcasters Collaborating and Making Series.

10 standout European sequence shall be pitched at the inaugural ‘Mind the Gap ‘co-production session, and star showrunners Alan Ball (“Six Feet Under,” “True Blood”), Henriette Steenstrup (“Nepobaby,””Pørni”) Benedikt Erlingsson, (“The Danish Woman”), Leticia Dolera (“Pubertat”), will ship masterclasses. Other stars anticipated embody Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Trine Dyrholm, Javier Cámarra, Joaquín Reyes, Emma Vilarasau.

On the competition entrance, 52 contemporary reveals will bow onsite in Barcelona, the place the competition runs Nov. 3-12, and round 30 on-line (Nov. 10-23) through the Spanish streamer Filmin, of which six will run for best worldwide sequence (“The Danish Woman,” “A Better Man,” “A Life’s Worth,” “Reykjavik Fusion,” “Empathy,” “Riot Women”) and 4 for best Spanish sequence (“The Anatomy of a Moment,” “The 39,” “Jakarta,” “Argi Gorriak”).

Ahead of Serielizados, co-founders Víctor Sala and Betu Molero inform Variety how the competition has grown from a college project right into a fully-fledged worldwide competition, on-line journal, expertise lab and podcast showcase for Catalan – and Spanish – viewers.

This yr you’re ramping up your worldwide lineup and attain. Could you first inform us how Serielizados was born and what’s the competition’s DNA?

Betu Molero: We began as a web-based journal in 2013 as a final yr of college project. The authentic concept was to have a web-based journal targeted on TV sequence, with small occasions, masterclasses and many others so that showrunners may come and introduce their reveals. Then we determined to get to know our on-line viewers via a competition. That’s when Victor and I co-founded Serielizados.

At the time, there was no Netflix, Prime Video, HBO in Spain. We didn’t even know that other sequence competition like Series Mania existed. In 2015 we invited Dan Harmon [“Rick & Morty, “Community”]. That was a turning point for us as we attracted numerous media consideration and viewers consciousness. Then Netflix landed in Spain late 2015 and HBO a yr later. Today, we collaborate with every platform in Spain, providing a curated indie program of sequence for people to sneak peek bodily during the competition and a few days later on-line through Filmin.

Víctor Sala: It’s important to highlight that we’re providing a lot more than just premieres, masterclasses and Q&As. We showcase a wider program of classics, docu sequence, on top of podcasts as our objective is to raise TV sequence to the class of high tradition.

Could you element your choice course of and partnership with Filmin?

Sala: One of the key standards is for the reveals to have a Spanish – or Catalan – premiere for the national sequence, and worldwide reveals must have been distributed in the home nation within a yr. We decide the best of the best reveals from round the world, with a particular consideration to storytelling, no matter the style, and visionary works.
The choice is made hand-in-hand with broadcasters/platforms to advertise upcoming reveals and build the phrase of mouth. But we also decide up sequence that don’t have distribution in Spain. This yr, two of the worldwide sequence in competitors have been acquired for Spain. Filmin purchased “A Better Man” and AMC “Reykjavik Fusion.”

Molero: Our collaboration with the streamer Filmin began in 2020 because of COVID. We wished to verify that the competition would continue to exist despite the pandemic. Thanks to Filmin, we found a new solution to run a competition – each on web site and on-line – not only for people in Barcelona, however all over the place in Spain. We soon grew to become one in every of the greatest festivals in Spain, with more than 205,000 on-line viewers, on top of round 9,000 onsite.
Sometimes it’s onerous to carry the viewers to a cinema to observe two episodes of an unknown Danish or South African present. The Filmin partnership has allowed us to make bolder editorial selections.

Sala: The on-line showcase has been an exquisite solution to democratise the competition.

You appear to have a particular style for Nordic content as 4 out of six competing worldwide reveals – “The Danish Woman,” “Reykjavik Fusion,” “A Better Man” and “A Life’s Worth” – are both totally or partly Nordic.

Sala: Last yr we had three Nordic sequence in competitors and “Pressure Point” from Sweden received best sequence. After Thomas Vinterberg last yr, we’re pleased this yr to have masterclasses with Benedikt Erlingsson [“The Danish Woman”] and Henriette Steenstrup whose sequence “Nepobaby” is screening at the out-of-competition Panorama part. We are also happy to organise the Mind the Gap co-production pitch in collaboration with the Göteborg Film Festival, the Swedish Institute, and Swedish Embassy in Spain.

Having Alan Ball in a masterclass is sort of a coup…

Sala: Yes, it’s an absolute pleasure and honor, particularly to mark the 20^th anniversary of the finale of “Six Feet Under.” The invitation was shared with the Geneva International Film Festival. We make a point of working carefully with other European and Spanish movie and TV festivals.

What are you able to say about your Spanish lineup?

Sala: During Serielizados’ early days, our focus was on worldwide reveals and showrunners. We had been very fortunate to host Dan Harmon, David Simon, Vince Gilligan and Jesse Armstrong. But now that Spanish drama has grown exponentially in storytelling and visually, it’s key for us to focus as properly on Spanish content.

Molero: Netflix’s phenomenal “La casa de papel” (“Money Heist”) was a turning point in 2019. After that, we just adopted the spectacular progress of Spanish sequence.

Sala: This yr now we have chosen 10 Spanish reveals and 4 are in the Spanish official competitors. We wished to open with “The Anatomy of a Moment,” a really trendy political biopic which mirrors the very profitable partnership between Arte France and Movistar Plus+ that has introduced us so many good sequence in recent times. Then “Jakarta” originates from one in every of our favourite showrunners: Diego San José. He received Best Screenplay right here last yr with “Celeste.” We are closing with “Sense FilTRES” (3Cat) a younger grownup Catalan present that facilities on the lifetime of a younger trans man, his bodily id and self-realization, utilizing social media or videogame avatars.

Another novelty this yr is the presence of two Basque sequence, showcasing the effort from the regional broadcaster EITB and the fruitful outcomes of the Basque area incentives. We are world premiering “Argi Gorriak” (with Itziar Ituño from “Money Heist”) in a unusual comedy about a dubbing skilled, and screening “Zeru Ahoak” (“Mouths of Sky”), after San Sebastian.

I imagine documentaries also have a particular place at Serielizados…

Sala: Yes the concentrate on docu sequence has grown at the competition. It displays the rising urge for food for the format on the streamers. We will highlight 5 titles: “The Agent” (NRK), “The Black Swan” (DR), “La Fugida” (3Cat), “Nazi Cartel” (Sky Showtime) and “Missing in Murcia” (Movistar Plus+).

You are broadening the scope of your {industry} strand Serielizados Pro with the first Mind the Gap co-pro pitch session. What triggered this resolution?

Sala: Our ambitions with Serielizados are two-fold: on one hand, we need to develop the variety of people attending the competition bodily and having fun with them at dwelling on Filmin. Our other objective is to be more related for the Spanish – and Catalan – audiovisual {industry}.

Molero: The Catalan authorities has elevated funding for Catalan sequence and co-productions [ as reported by Variety]. We felt it was a possibility to build on this momentum and create not a Series Mania sort of gigantic event, however a tailor-made boutique Pro-event to permit people to develop high quality dialog.

Sala: Unlike other territories in Europe and even in the U.S. the place Originals have dropped by 20% or more, in Spain, we’re still having fun with a increase. It’s fascinating to see as an illustration HBO Max teaming up with 3Cat for 3 new Catalan reveals: “Ravalejar,” “Pubertat” and “In Vitro” [currently filming].
Another specificity about the Spanish market – which shall be mentioned by Spanish commissioners at the Pro-industry day – is co-productions between the national station RTVE and regional stations. At our competition, two years in the past we had “This is Not Sweden” [co-produced with Catalonia’s TV3 – now 3Cat]. Last yr we had “Dieciocho” [co-produced with Valencia’s À Punt Media and the Balearics’ IB3] and this yr, we’re showcasing the Basque sequence “Zeru Ahoak.”

What’s the next step for Serielizados?Molero: Our next step is likely to be entering into manufacturing. We do have initiatives in thoughts, including documentaries. It’s still early days.

(This interview was edited for readability)