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Dutch drama series The Night Watch has prevailed in the Mia Market drama development category in Rome, as the tenth edition of the Italian fest drew to a close.

The show, written by Steven Friedman and produced by Edvard van’t Wout for Continent Studios, was a winner of the Mia Development Awards at the Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum, along with the Guillermo de Oliveira-directed Death in Your Eyes, which landed the film project award. Reborn-Perfect Love took the doc prize and Belgian-Polish-French co-produced animation Big Bang Parade won in the kids category. Over 600 projects were received this year in total.

The winners were announced as Mia revealed more than 2,800 attendees for the 2024 edition, up 10% a year ago.

The Night Watch is billed as a tale of magic, friendship and mysteries buried beneath the city of Amsterdam. The jury — composed of France Télévisions’ Head of Cinema and Young Adult & International Fiction Manuel Alduy,...

Fleabag and 100 Foot Wave producer Joe Lewis has called independently-financed television production “the solution” to many issues facing the industry.

The former scripted development chief at Amazon Studios told delegates at the Mia Market in Rome that his experience producing era-defining shows such as Channel 4 and Amazon dark comedy Fleabag had taught him that change was necessary. He now leads Amplify Pictures out of LA, with a focus on financing shows without networks, streamers or distributors.

“In 2018, I produced a handful of programs, including Fleabag, which was an incredible show and I really thought was as good as producing could get, but doing that I realized there wasn’t a sustainable [model]. We were fortunate to see the tremors then. Even doing Fleabag, which I am endlessly proud of, I realized that was not a model for living a life and having a producing career.”

The former Comedy Central,...

Hulu has shared the official trailer and key art for the Spanish drama series Fleeting Lies, which will make its U.S. debut on the streaming service on Thursday, October 10. Pedro Almodóvar produces the show.

When Lucia, an executive at a high-tech beauty company, goes to work expecting a promotion and winds up accused of corporate espionage and unceremoniously fired, she goes to great lengths to hide her shame and clear her name.

Also known as Mentiras pasajeras, the series stars Elena Anaya, Pilar Castro, Hugo Silva, Quim Gutiérrez, and Susi Sánchez. The guest stars include María Botto, Pedro Casablanc, Estefanía de los Santos, and María León.

One month before her wedding and the day of her supposed big promotion, Lucía is accused of corporate espionage and fired from her job. Suddenly, Lucía’s life and future take a drastic turn for the worst, as she ponders how to tell her fiancé,...

Two Spanish female stars who have broken out to huge global audiences in Netflix hits – “Nowhere” and “A Perfect Story” lead Anna Castillo and Ester Expósito, highly prominent in “Elite” in early seasons – are set to star in dramedic vampire thriller “Death to Love,” (“Que muera el amor”), the first series created by “Piggy” director Carlota Pereda, who will also serve as its showrunner.

“If there are two actresses you can believe are immortals, with their out-of-this-world allure and talent, it’s Anna and Ester. I can’t wait to explore this world of darkness, joy and Eternal Love with them,” Pereda told Variety.

With that talent package, and the backing of two Spanish powerhouse producers, Morena Films and Buendía Estudios, “Death to Love” is shaping up as one of the hottest packages to come to market from Spain after it emerged from February’s Berlinale Series Market as one...

Former top Vis exec Laura Abril has been appointed EVP of scripted and global business development at Buendía Estudios, producer of “Veneno,” “Cardo” Season 1 and “Offworld,” in a move which signals the large international ambitions of one of Spain’s key production powerhouses.

Abril will report to Ignacio Corrales, Buendía Estudios CEO.

Rising through the ranks at Viacom from 2009, Abril crowned her career at the studio as the highest-ranking international TV executive in Spain named in 2019 as head of ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Launched in August 2020, Buendía Estudios has already scored heavily in creative terms, producing a Variety Best International TV Show in 2020 (“Veneno”), 2021 (“Cardo” Season 1) and 2022 (“Offworld”). In volume, in 2022, it produced seven series for streaming services, more than any other production house in Spain, according to a study by Madrid-based consultancy Geca.

Six of these were, however, for either Atresplayer Premium,...

Seismic shifts in the world’s entertainment industry have thrown a global spotlight on Spain’s film and TV industry as never before.

Foreign productions are flocking to Spain, spending €263 million (266 million) in 2021, double the 2016-19 average, according to a ProFilm study. International inward investment in national productions has also grown on an unprecedented scale.

All the big streamers have beached in Spain. Reed Hastings cut the tape on Netflix’s first European Production Hub, in Madrid’s Tres Cantos, in 2019. Viacom Intl. Studios (Vis) Emea and Asia and AMC Networks Intl. Southern Europe have set up production operations in Spain. Other players — Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max and Starzplay — run offices in the country.

Capitalizing on such a massive presence, in March 2021 the federal government announced an Avs Hub plan aimed at sinking 1.6 billion into the entertainment industry. It is designed to turn Spain into one of the...

Standing in a secluded lane just off Madrid’s main motorway to North-West Spain, the chalet, with its well-trimmed garden, black slate roof and tall, spiked-fence wall, looks as if it would be more in place in a rural estate rather than in a metropolitan city. It also instantly signals a home of the very well-heeled establishment under dictator Francisco Franco.

It now serves as a key set on Paramount Plus’ “Bose,” a six-part series that follows the impressive decades-long career of barrier-breaking Spanish singer-songwriter Miguel Bosé, produced by Vis, Banijay Iberia subsidiary Shine Iberia, Pepe Baston’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock.

One of the first – and biggest – barriers that Bosé had to break was his own upbringing, showrunner Nacho Faerna (“La Fuga”) explained on a set-visit to this highly anticipated Spanish-language series, which wrapped production mid-April.

Growing up in the Somosaguas neighborhood, a suburban bastion of the Francoist upper-middle class outside Madrid,...