{"id":104242,"date":"2025-05-15T18:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/104242\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T18:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:56:09","slug":"series-mania-french-media-crown-spanish-tv-but-can-it-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/104242\/","title":{"rendered":"Series Mania, French Media Crown Spanish TV, But Can It Last?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAt France\u2019s Series Mania<\/a> in April, now firmly consolidated as Europe\u2019s biggest TV festival, Spain scored a historic double, scooping its two top awards, Competition\u2019s Grand Prize with \u201cQuerer\u201d and its International Panorama major sidebar with \u201cCeleste.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth \u201cQuerer\u201d and \u201cCeleste\u201d were produced by Spain\u2019s Movistar Plus+<\/a>, \u201cCeleste\u201d along with The Mediapro Studio. Since Series Mania launched its International Panorama in 2018, no country, let alone the same company, has won its two biggest prizes in one and the same year.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent dealing, Arte France, the French leg of pan-European public broadcaster Arte, also co-produced Rodrigo Sorogoyen\u2019s \u201cThe New Years\u201d and acquired \u201cQuerer\u201d and \u201cLa Mes\u00edas,\u201d the biggest series to date from \u201cVelvet\u201d creators and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo \u2013 \u201cLos Javis.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the first time that we have so many projects at the same time with the same commissioner and the same program unit of one company or one broadcaster or platform, whatever,\u201d notes Alexandre Piel, Arte France\u2019s deputy head of drama.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt 2025\u2019s Series Mania\u2019s, \u201cCeleste\u201d lead Carmen Machi also won Panorama\u2019s best actress award, while \u201cInterregnum,\u201d from Spain\u2019s Tornasol Media, received its\u00a0SeriesMakers\u00a0Beta & Kirch Foundation Award.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe two major international prizes confirm the prominent place of Spanish series in today\u2019s serial landscape,\u201d Series Mania founder and general manager Laurence Herszberg commented, announcing the awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus+ and The Mediapro Studio certainly aren\u2019t making all Spain\u2019s running in France. In early 2018, \u201cMoney Heist\u201d exploded onto the world\u2019s TV scene, becoming Netflix\u2019s first ever non-English-language global blockbuster. France was one of La Casa de Papel\u2019s core markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix is still going great guns in Spain. 2025\u2019s Series Mania looked to mark another milestone moment, which says a lot about what\u2019s happened to Spanish TV and international market trends since.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere has been massive investment from the global streamers in recent years, in part because of the potential of Spanish-speaking markets, and that has pushed competition, producers and talent and the average quality of shows,\u201d says Francesco Capurro, Series Mania Forum director.<\/p>\n

\n\tBegun by HBO over 1999-2002, global streamers when they launched aimed to amplify that phenomenon, creating a feeding frenzy for scripted premium TV which many big Spanish groups \u2013 Movistar Plus+, The Mediapro Studio, Atresmedia \u2013 have responded to with energy.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith no MipTV in Cannes, their executives and titles have flooded Series Mania. A fourth Spanish title selected by the European TV festival was \u201cMariliendre,\u201d created by Javier Ferreiro and produced by Los Javis, and described by\u00a0Variety\u00a0as Spain\u2019s answer to \u201cLa La Land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSeries Mania was very close to tying down a fifth title, comments Herszberg. As things stood, only France had more series at Series Mania this year than Spain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGhislain Barrois at Spain\u2019s Mediaset Espa\u00f1a, RTVE\u2019s Jos\u00e9 Pastor and Movistar Plus+\u2019s Rub\u00e9n Fern\u00e1ndez Loa (Movistar Plus+) served on Forum juries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSpain\u2019s across the board growth is now reaping international market benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFounded in 2010 at Paris\u2019 Forum des Images and moving to Lille in 2018, Series Mania has grown as Europe\u2019s premier co-production meet. In Europe, in real terms broadcaster budgets in Europe, at both public or commercial networks, are now edging down, according to a European Audiovisual Observatory study presented at Series Mania.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s increasingly difficult to make an ambitious series just within your country. Getting outside money already opens up being broadcast elsewhere or accessing a sales agent,\u201d says Herszberg. \u201cCo-financing and co-production are more relevant than than ever,\u201d agrees Series Mania director Francesco Capurro.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Arte France, Movistar Plus+ has found a like-minded partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two\u2019s now intense title-by-title relationship is knit by what Piel calls \u201ccommon editorial guidelines.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Alauda Ru\u00edz de Azua, and teaming Movistar Plus+ with Kowalski Films and Feelgood Media, \u201cQuerer\u201d plumbs what must be one of the least explored but most frequent scenarios of rape in the world: marital relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on Javier Cercas\u2019 acclaimed non-fiction book of the same title, \u201cAnatomy of a Moment\u201d captures Spain\u2019s Feb. 23, 1981 one night coup\u2019 d\u2019etat, emphasizing the complexity of events, the fragility of its democracy, the value of its defence and how two men distant on the political spectrum \u2013 Spanish prime minister Adolfo Su\u00e1rez, who came from Spain\u2019s Francoist Falange, and Spanish Communist Party leader Santiago Carrillo \u2013 came to an intricate understanding which allowed Spain\u2019s 1970s passage from dictatorship to democracy.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s how to be relevant, accurate, bring something a bit different, taking risk but bringing some nuance in a world which is so polarized, so radical that you just need a little bit of elements to understand or to switch point of views,\u201d says Piel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a brick of knowledge that we all need in Europe just to understand where Spain is today,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThanks to Su\u00e1rez and Carrillo\u2019s ability to understand each other\u2019s point of view, pact and be flexible, they facilitated Spain\u2019s transition,\u201d said Domingo Corral in April, when still Movistar Plus+\u2019s director of fiction and entertainment content.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCo-production brings more money to the table than a simple licensing deal, and pares risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus\u2019 is a local operator without the magnitude of global services and \u201cAnatomy of an Instant\u201d is \u201can expensive series,\u201d said Corral. \u201cHaving a parter like Arte France allows us a lot at a economic level but also because of its creative vision,\u201d said Corral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSince it bowed its first shows in 2017, the largest achievement of Movistar Plus+ has been to attract some of Spain\u2019s biggest creative talents as many creators in Spain have seized an opportunity to make series of the same level of artistic ambition and cinematographic execution as in cinema. As the Series Mania double suggests, this younger generation is ever more on France\u2019s radar. Sorogoyen won France\u2019s best foreign film Cesar for \u201cThe Beasts\u201d in 2023. Winning two prizes at last year\u2019s Series Mania, Los Javis \u201cLa Mes\u00edas\u201d was greeted with rave reviews in France when released last November on Arte: \u201cOne of the most beautiful series of the year,\u201d said Lib\u00e9ration.<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo Spanish films \u2013 Oliver Laxe\u2019s \u201cSirat,\u201d Carla Simon\u2019s \u201cRomer\u00eda\u201d \u2013 have now been selected for Cannes competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus+ and Arte France now hope to co-develop series together, says Piel. In April, that looked to spell well for the Spanish operator\u2019s bottom line and international creative reach.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn late April, however, Corral, the main architect of Movistar Plus+\u2019 artistic ambition over the last decade, supported by Sergio Osl\u00e9 as Movistar Plus president and then CEO of Telef\u00f3nica Espa\u00f1a, was dismissed as Movistar Plus+ director of fiction and entertainment content by its parent Telefonica, itself under new management. 150 prominent figures from the Spanish entertainment sector have signed a public letter expressing their gratitude and consternation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe most obvious way to interpret his Corral\u2019s removal is that Movistar Plus+ will now pursue a different production strategy. Other operators remain bullish about Spanish TV talent. It remains to be seen whether Spain\u2019s consecration in France now mark halcyon days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At France\u2019s Series Mania in April, now firmly consolidated as Europe\u2019s biggest TV festival, Spain scored a historic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,48015,48016,48017],"class_list":{"0":"post-104242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-la-screenings","12":"tag-movistar-plus","13":"tag-series-mania"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114513378292667102","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}