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This bundle will let you enjoy top soap opera titles for a price of less than $25 per month.

Soap operas have a way of transporting viewers like few other genres can. Soaps can provide a completely different level of escapism with their outlandish plotlines and absurdist characters, and there’s little wonder that some shows in the genre have lived on for decades. With that in mind, we’ve decided to put together a streaming bundle of top soap operas to tantalize fans of soap operas — whether they like to watch in English or Spanish! Best of all, this bundle will cost you less than $25 per month. If you want to be a soap completist, you can add Hulu to the bundle and watch “General Hospital,” but that streamer can be a bit pricey. Check out our picks below!

What’s the best budget streaming bundle for watching soap operas?...

An accident left local gardener Elmer void of emotions, making him the perfect lackey for his strict mother, who runs a murder-for-hire business. But when he unexpectedly falls in love with his next target, his mother struggles to keep him on track. Created by Miguel Sáez Carral (Raising Voices), The Gardener stars Álvaro Rico, Cecilia Suárez, and Catalina Sopelana. This series was co-written by Carral and Isa Sánchez (The Ministry of Time), and directed by Mikel Rueda (Veneno) and Rafa Montesinos (Perdida).

Stream all six episodes now.

Check it out at the top of this page.

Elmer (Álvaro Rico) works at a garden center run by his controlling mother. He’s unfazed by her demands, however: A car accident when he was a kid left him without the ability to feel emotions. It’s a bonus for his mom, La China Jurado (Cecilia Suárez), because her business is a front...

Spanish public broadcaster Rtve, alongside Mediacrest and Mediacrest El Clásico Aie, will tease the highly anticipated Spanish police procedural “Internal Affairs” (“Asuntos Internos”) at Berlinale’s Series Market Select showcase Spanish Thrillers, organized by Iberseries & Platino Industria.

The buzz title, created by Pedro García Ríos and Rodrigo Martín Antoranz, follows Clara, among the first female detectives in Spain, after she’s accepted to a seedy Madrid precinct just as a heroin becomes readily available in Spain.

A fresh-faced and naive young new hire, her empathy and moral compass fast prove a detriment as she navigates the tough demeanor of her male peers with her unquenchable thirst for a justice predicated on equity, a fair shake.

Directed by María Togores (“Entre tierras”) and Samantha López Speranza (“No Traces”), the series jolts to an adrenaline-filled start as Clara lies breathless in the back of an ambulance-being rushed to the hospital after being attacked.

Since Spain has become a leading European production hub for global streamers, little wonder that the country’s most regular content suppliers for major players receive a spotlight at this week’s Content Americas 2025 in Miami.

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, some of the most awaited Spanish scripted productions will take center stage at the Miami-based TV market toplining the event Spain Upfront. Best of Spain’s New Content.

The Spain Upfront reunites key executives from four top Spanish distribution houses: Rosalía Alcubilla, head of global clients at pubcaster Rtve; Silvia Cotino, deputy director of sales and business development at Mediaset’s Mediterráneo; Miguel García, sales director of Atresmedia Sales, and Onza Distribution’s general manager Carlos Garde.

Audiovisual from Spain, operated by Spanish government export and investment org Icex, hosts the meet, moderated by Gloria Saló, director of content and production consultancy at Madrid-based firm Geca.

Saló will also unveil key...

Un viaje a Lisboa se convierte en un juego de detectives para unos turistas. © Disney Plus+

Disney Plus+ ha anunciado el inicio del rodaje en Lisboa de “Si es Martes, es Asesinato”, una nueva serie original dirigida por Salvador Calvo y Abigail Schaaff (“El Ministerio del Tiempo”).

La serie de comedia cuenta la historia de un grupo de turistas durante un viaje organizado a Lisboa. Un grupo de lo más diverso: jóvenes, parejas, solteros, adultos… y apenas tienen cosas en común. Cuando uno de los turistas aparece muerto la mañana siguiente de su llegada, cuatro de ellos, aficionados a las novelas policíacas y de misterio, comienzan a investigar si uno de ellos podría ser el asesino.

“Si es Martes, es Asesinato” está protagonizada por Álex García (“Antidisturbios”), Inma Cuesta (“La Novia”), Ana Wagener (“Te Estoy Amando Locamente”), Pedro Casablanc (“Extraña Forma de Vida”), y Biel Montoro (“Mano de Hierro”). El...

Una comedia gamberra dirigida por Fer García-Ruiz. © Filmax

Se ha publicado el tráiler oficial de “Mala Persona”, una nueva comedia española, dirigida por Fer García-Ruiz (“Descarrilados”).

“Mala Persona” sigue a Pepe (Valls), querido por todos sin excepción. Es el ángel del barrio. Ese ser humano al que te llevarías a casa. Pero un día recibe la terrible noticia, esa que nadie quiere recibir: le quedan pocos meses de vida. Pepe, “fenomenalmente” aconsejado por su mejor amigo, decide pasarse al lado oscuro de la conducta humana. Una historia gamberra que narra cómo Pepe decide convertirse en un ser deleznable para que su familia y amigos no lo echen de menos cuando ya no esté.

La comedia está protagonizada por Arturo Valls, Malena Alterio (“Que Nadie Duerma”), Julián Villagrán (“Operación Camarón”) y cuenta también con la colaboración especial de José Corbacho. Completan el reparto Víctor Benjumea (“El Ministerio del Tiempo”), Teresa Lozano...

The Ministry of Time debuts in May 2024, and the sci-fi book offers a fresh and fun premise. Kaliane Bradley's debut features one of the most unique time travel romances since Outlander. Like Outlander, The Ministry of Time sets itself apart by blending multiple genres into one compelling story.

An exciting new sci-fi book came out this May, and the 2024 release offers one of the most unique time travel romances since Diana Gabaldon's Outlander first debuted. There is no shortage of highly anticipated science-fiction books hitting shelves in 2024, and all of them are worth adding to the Tbr pile. However, many of this year's science-fiction releases feature recognizable premises, from the impact of climate change to the threats of technological advancements.

While these stories are more relevant than ever and each likely puts its own spin on these topics readers looking for a different sort of sci-fi story are in luck.

This May, readers can expect romance, adventure, and suspense with new releases from popular authors like Veronica Roth and Ruth Ware. Exciting debuts like The Ministry of Time and The Honey Witch offer unique genre-bending stories that promise a gripping read. Non-fiction lovers can look forward to Kathleen Hanna's memoir, while fans of horror can enjoy Stephen King's new short story collection in May 2024.

There are so many exciting book releases slated for 2024, and some of the year's biggest novels are hitting shelves in May. From highly anticipated thriller books to long-awaited fantasy releases, a wide range of novels are making their debut. There's something for every type of reader, whether they enjoy trope-filled romances or outlandish sci-fi stories. And some of May's releases are already getting positive reviews from early readers, boding well for their success.

Big-name authors like Veronica Roth and Ruth Ware have new books...

Quite a few compelling sci-fi books have already come out in 2024, including Those Beyond the Wall and Ghost Station. Several more intriguing sci-fi releases are slated for the remainder of the year, including some from well-known authors. The upcoming sci-fi releases explore themes like climate change, artificial intelligence, and more.

Several great sci-fi books have already hit shelves in 2024, and there are more exciting releases on the horizon — some even rivaling the upcoming fantasy books in terms of premise and the hype surrounding their debuts. Whether it's in reference to the best sci-fi movies or the best books in the genre, this type of storytelling has the capacity to explore the future and what could become of humanity. Sci-fi narratives also look at how technology can evolve over time, as well as how the environment might progress in relationship to living things.

Needless to say, sci-fi stories offer necessary explorations...

Descubre cómo Lola y Bruno enfrentan un giro inesperado en sus vidas en esta película que ha cautivado al público en el SXSW. © Filmax

Se ha publicado el tráiler oficial de “Mamífera”, la tercera película dirigida por Liliana Torres. En su estreno mundial en la Sección Oficial del prestigioso Festival de Cine South By Southwest (SXSW) de Austin, la película recibió una aclamada acogida por parte del público y la crítica.

En la película, Lola (Maria Rodríguez Soto) disfruta de una vida feliz con su pareja, Bruno (Enric Auquer), hasta que un embarazo inesperado revoluciona todos sus planes. Aunque Lola siempre ha tenido claro que lo de ser madre no va con ella, ahora se siente cuestionada por las expectativas sociales y se enfrenta a sus temores internos. Durante los tres días que tienen que esperar hasta que llegue su cita en la clínica, Lola se acerca a sus amigas...

Top Spanish Titles brought to market at MipTV:

“Dating in Barcelona,” (Filmax)

Produced by Filmax’s Arca, Catalan public broadcaster 3Cat and Prime Video in Spain, a first season of “Dating in Barcelona” bowed last year in Spain to big ratings, both on its first-window debut on 3Cat and on Prime Video, where it became one of the streaming service’s most-watched debuts. A modern take on romance and sex in an online age, “Dating in Barcelona” also reflects a swing in TV towards a lighter, more episodic fare, whether in crime thrillers or other categories. Each episode features two dates which, as Variety has observed, play off each other. Powered in creative terms by Pau Freixas, behind iconic series from “Red Band Society” To “I Know Who You Are” And “Todos Mienten,” All Produced By Filmax, “Dating In Barcelona” features a top-tier cast, this time round in Season...

In the run-up to MipTV and MipDoc in April, Spain’s Onza Distribution has pounced on a troika of sports documentaries produced by Wakai and Prime Video Spain: “Marc Márquez: All In,” “Simeone: Living Match by Match” as well as the announced “Fc Barcelona: A New Era.”

“We’re very glad to be distributing Wakai’s sports titles, considering how close these productions are to these talented athletes,” said Béatrice Nouh, Head of Sales at Onza Distribution.

“Wakai demonstrates how committed they are with quality in their productions. And that allows us to work with prestigious titles within the international market every time,” she added.

“Fc Barcelona: A New Era,” spanning two seasons, embarks on a “New Era,” battling through turmoil to reclaim its former glory. Under Xavi’s leadership, bolstered by top signings and young talent, the team aims for victory. Fans rekindle excitement with successful seasons in...

Five upcoming Spanish TV fiction projects, involving top local production and distribution companies, feature in Coming Next from Spain, a showcase of series unspooling March 19 at Series Mania.

Atresmedia TV’s “Sanctuary,” Movistar+ Plus’ “Fine Arts,” Filmax’s “Dating in Barcelona” Season 2, The Good Mood-Mediawan’s “The Other Life” and Onza Distribution’s “Heartless” will be presented at the event, proving once more that Spanish fiction production is in good health.

Six years after high-end Spanish TV series lifted off on the global market, championed by hit series such as “Money Heist” and “Elite,” Spain has become one of the steadiest suppliers for worldwide platforms.

The successful trend continues as of today, with Mediaset España and Alea Media series “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” whose Seasons 1, 2 and 3 have reached the top 10 of most watched non -English TV fiction shows on Netflix for the period March 4-10, 2024, cumming 41.6 million hours viewed.

BBC has ordered a wide variety of new dramas and among them, a TV adaptation of the National Theatre’s Dear England.

Featured image credit: Marc Brennar

The BBC unveiled its 12 upcoming drama commissions yesterday (21st February), as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Among those is a commission from one of the most prolific – and trendy – studios of our time, A24.

BBC has asked A24 to adapt Kaliane Bradley’s highly anticipated debut novel The Ministry Of Time into a six-part series for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Alice Birch will be in charge of the adaptation and A24 will distribute the series internationally.

The Ministry Of Time will follow Commander Graham Gore who’s swept from his 1845 reality to the present in a time travel experiment. He’s then stuck in a flat share with a woman and has to quickly learn his way around the contemporary world.

Also...

The BBC has unveiled its biggest drama slate in years featuring a TV version of James Graham play Dear England starring Joseph Fiennes from The Crown producer Left Bank, Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood’s debut writing project and a Rebecca Hall-starrer from Poor Things maker Element.

Unveiled at a glitz London do for press and producers, the 12-strong roster, which features some of Britain’s best and brightest talents, is the first from new Drama Director Lindsay Salt, who took over from A24’s Piers Wenger 18 months ago.

Scroll down for the full slate below, which features an adaptation of Sherwood creator Graham’s Dear England about the England soccer manager Gareth Southgate – the play of which has taken London by storm and recently transferred to the West End. Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) will reprise his role as Southgate and Graham will pen the TV version, which...

The BBC have unveiled a new slate of star-studded dramas including the TV adaptation of James Graham’s football play “Dear England” starring Joseph Fiennes, a new co-pro with “Euphoria” producer A24 and the screenwriting debut from “Sex Education” star Aimee Lou Wood.

Director of BBC Drama Lindsay Salt revealed the 12-strong slate – which adds up to 66 hours of top TV – at a press event in London, U.K. on Wednesday evening. It includes two more series of Belfast-based police drama “Blue Lights.”

“Inflation, content and platform saturation, streamer retrenchment, the writers’ strike… It’s all fed a serious slowdown,” Salt said as she unveiled the diverse slate. “Five years ago, everyone was willing to make brave choices, to experiment, to try something a little unorthodox. I worry that risk-taking is becoming a dirty word… And that, in less than a decade, the industry might be moving from ‘peak TV...

Buenos Aires-based sales outfit FilmSharks has closed major territories on dark comedy “Lobo Feroz,” from director Gustavo Hernández (“La Casa Muda”), and on “The Forgotten Killings,” the latest from Ines Paris (“Miguel and William”).

Produced by Uruguay’s Mother Superior, FilmSharks and Spains’ Bowfinger Intl. Pictures, “Lobo Feroz” is a remake of Israeli film “Big Bad Wolves” from Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado.

Bingo Films picked up “Lobo Feroz” rights for the U.K. following prior sales to Av Jet for Taiwan, Palace Films for Australia, AMC for Eastern Europe and Nashe Kino for Russia. Netflix picked up Spanish rights via Filmax, ViX will take Latin America and the U.S.

Negotiations for Korea, Japan, France and Germany are underway. FilmSharks handles remake sales for “Big Bad Wolves.”

“We’re very happy with the international performance of ‘Lobo Feroz.’ IP and film have proven outstanding and deals always bring more deals.

Filmax has boarded “The Monster of Many Noses,” which marks yet another feature debut of a Barcelona-based female director, Abigail Schaaff, here in a movie which blends fantasy genre and local lore to large social point.

Filmax, which also handles distribution in Spain, will show first images of the film at the American Film Market.

Connecting 1960s Spain to its 1930s, the decade of Spain’s Civil War whose atrocities were silenced as the price of transition to democracy in 1970s Spain, “The Monster of Many Noses” (“L’home dels lassos”) is set in 1968 in a small village in the mountains.

Three children try to escape the so-called Man of Many Noses, a figure in Catalan lore who hunts down children who have told too many lies on the last day of the year. “But the children aren’t the only ones who fear him. Lies from the past can also be smelled,...

Stars: Pedro Casablanc, Víctor Clavijo, Ruth Díaz, Moisés Ruiz, Manuel Morón | Written and Directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez

Writer/director F. Javier Gutiérrez returned to his native Spain to make his third film La Espera, or, in English, The Wait. It’s a title that refers not just to the passage of time but to the ten hunting stands on the estate of Don Francisco. They are watched over by Eladio, who lives on the remote property with his wife Marcia, and their son, Floren (Moisés Ruiz).

At the start of the 1973 hunting season, he’s told by Don Carlos, Don Francisco’s right-hand man, to surreptitiously add three more. At first, he refuses, saying that would crowd the hunting parties and be unsafe due to the risk of crossfires. Eventually, he relents, a decision he soon regrets when Floren is killed in a freak accident leading to Marcia’s suicide.

Spain’s Onza Distribution, with offices in Madrid and Miami, has seized international rights to mini-series “Allende, the Thousand Days,” released this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Chile’s first socialist president, Salvador Allende, and sadly, the military coup that kickstarted general Augusto Pinochet’s brutal regime.

Lead produced by Chile’s Parox, in collaboration with Mediterraneo Media Entertainment, Aleph Media, 1010 Mente Colectiva and HD Argentina, the mini-series premiered Sept. 7 on Chile’s Tvn, which reported stellar audience ratings.

The four one-hour episode series is the first fictional series attempt to explore the period of time when Allende’s Popular Unity party was in power and the challenges it faced. It is told from the point of view of a fictitious Spanish political science student who eventually becomes Allende’s closest advisor.

Allende, played by an unrecognizable Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”), is front and center...

Today, Prime Video released the official trailer for the highly anticipated Spanish Original sci-fi film ‘Awareness’ directed by Daniel Benmayor and starring Carlos Scholz, Pedro Alonso, María Pedraza, Óscar Jaenada and Lela Loren.

Awareness will be screened during the Sitges Film Festival and will premiere on October 11 exclusively on Prime Video

Ian, a rebellious teenager living on the outskirts of society, can manipulate minds with his ability to generate visual illusions. He uses this power to survive running small, indiscreet, scams. When one of his cons goes awry, his abilities publicly spiral out of control and Ian becomes the target of two rival organizations, each seeking to exploit his powers.

Awareness is produced by Federation Spain, led by Juan Solá and Nacho Manubens, with Mark Albela as executive producer and Dbenma Content with Daniel Benmayor as producer and director. Benmayor is also in charge of the script alongside Iván Ledesma.

Today, Prime Video released the official trailer for the highly anticipated Spanish Original sci-fi film ‘Awareness’ directed by Daniel Benmayor and starring Carlos Scholz, Pedro Alonso, María Pedraza, Óscar Jaenada and Lela Loren.

Awareness will be screened during the Sitges Film Festival and will premiere on October 11 exclusively on Prime Video

Ian, a rebellious teenager living on the outskirts of society, can manipulate minds with his ability to generate visual illusions. He uses this power to survive running small, indiscreet, scams. When one of his cons goes awry, his abilities publicly spiral out of control and Ian becomes the target of two rival organizations, each seeking to exploit his powers.

Awareness is produced by Federation Spain, led by Juan Solá and Nacho Manubens, with Mark Albela as executive producer and Dbenma Content with Daniel Benmayor as producer and director. Benmayor is also in charge of the script alongside Iván Ledesma.

Ahead of its debut at the 2023 Sitges Film Festival and on Prime Video on October 11, upcoming Spanish science fiction movie Awareness has unveiled its full trailer. Acclaimed director, writer, and producer Daniel Benmayor, responsible for the Netflix thriller Welcome to Eden, helms Awareness, which follows a young outcast who possesses the strange skill to create illusions in people's heads, manipulating the reality they see. He lives without thinking about the future, and survives by scamming people with his abilities. But when his powers are exposed, he will have to escape two criminal organizations that want him for their own benefits.

Prime Video unveiled the full trailer for the movie that stars Carlos Scholz, Pedro Alonso, María Pedraza, and Óscar Jaenada:

Check out the official synopsis and poster for Awareness:

"Ian, a rebellious teenager living on the outskirts of society, can manipulate minds with his ability to generate visual illusions.

Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre’s son Daniel Sancho Bronchalo has pleaded guilty for the murder of his boyfriend Edwin Arrieta Arteaga and has been charged with premeditated murder and concealing and removing body parts to cover up a death. According to The Mirror, the 29-year old was arrested last week and when presented to court he pleaded guilty to the murder of his boyfriend Arteaga.

Bronchalo was charged with dismembering his boyfriend, whose remains were found strewn across multiple locations on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand.

He also told the Spanish news agency Efe that his late boyfriend had taken him “hostage” and that he was obsessed with him. His guilty plea comes less than a week after Sancho filed a missing people report at a Koh Phangan police station.

Authorities back on August 3 had said that Daniel went to a Koh Phangan police station to report Arteaga missing...

A couple months ago, we shared some first look images from The Wait, the latest film from F. Javier Gutiérrez, the director of the apocalyptic drama Before the Fall and Rings, a 2017 sequel to the 2002 horror remake The Ring. Now a poster for the film has been unveiled, and you can check it out at the bottom of this article.

Written and directed by Gutiérrez, The Wait is described as being “a sinister folk horror tragedy that takes place in the dark, magic and forgotten Andalusian countryside — a place marked by ancestral traditions.” The film has the following synopsis: Eladio (Victor Clavijo), hunting estate keeper, takes a bribe from a veteran hunter. Weeks later, his whole life falls apart. What looked like the opportunity of a lifetime, turns into a macabre descent to hell when he finds out that his misfortune might not be entirely by chance.

Clavijo (The Ministry of Time...

Toledo, Spain — Warner Bros. Discovery has announced the greenlight and start of production of its first new Spanish series for Max, crime thriller “When Nobody Sees Us,” whose eight episodes will be directed by Spain’s Enrique Urbizu (“No Rest for the Wicked”). The produced by “Elite” producer Zeta Studios.

Based on the same title novel by Sergio Sarria, “When Nobody Sees Us” has been written by lead writer Daniel Corpas heading a writing team with the collaboration of Arturo Ruiz and Isa Sánchez.

Set against Spain’s 2023 Holy Week celebrations, “When Nobody Sees Us,” is set in Morón de la Frontera, south east of Seville in Andalusia’s deep Spain, next to a U.S. Army Air Force base. There, Lucía Gutiérrez, a Spanish Civil Guard sergeant, investigates the bizarre suicide of a neighbour and strange events at the first Holy Week float processions.

Meanwhile, Magaly Castillo, a U.S. army...

Citas Barcelona is a television series by Pau Freixas starring Clara Lago, Carlos Cuevas, Pablo Rivero and Manuela Vellés.

Have you heard of the popular dating app that we won’t mention by name? Well, Prime Video has a show about it!

The series is about the ups and downs of online dating. The show is a mix of comedy, romance, and drama, and it’s produced by TV3. It’s a fun and entertaining series that is very much in line with the latest Spanish cinema.

So if you’re looking for a show that will make you laugh, cry, and feel all the emotions in between, this is the one for you!

Storyline

The world of apps, online dating and more changes radically when the protagonists go from being a picture to having a real face. A series about people looking for a relationship, just sex or simply...

Berlín will introduce several new characters to the Money Heist franchise as the spinoff has added a number of talented stars to the cast list. A prequel to the hit Antena 3 and Netflix series, Money Heist, the Berlín spinoff sees Pedro Alonso reprise his role as the eponymous jewel thief as he plans another grand heist in Paris, France. While the world knows him as the bank robber Berlín, the spinoff makes him a bit more complex by exploring his backstory and allowing viewers to see what an ingenious criminal he is.

However, while Berlín is known for having successfully pulled off twenty-seven robberies, that doesn't mean he hasn't had any help along the way. With several new and talented actors joining the Money Heist franchise after being cast in Berlín, the spinoff will introduce a brand new crew who will prove themselves to be just as iconic as the original.

Spanish public broadcaster Rtve has struck a VOD deal with Walter Presents to bring noir thriller series “Sequía” (“The Drought”) to the U.S, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Canada.

The suspense series is co-produced by Spanish and Portuguese public broadcasters Rtve and Rtp, in collaboration with Atlantia Media and Coral Europa.

“The Drought” is set in a small submerged village on the Spanish-Portuguese border that re-emerges from a huge dam built in the 1990s after a severe drought. Two skeletons are also unearthed, revealing evidence of a bloody crime.

The action switches between the 1990s and the present day, against the backdrop of climate crisis and corporate skullduggery.

Actors Elena Rivera (“Inés del Alma Mía”), Rodolfo Sancho (“The Department of Time”), Marco D’Almeida (“Fatima”) and Miguel Ángel Muñoz (“Presunto culpable”) take the leading roles in the series.

Walter Presents, the video-on-demand service dedicated to hand-picking prestigious foreign-language dramas from around the world,...

The Mediapro Studio is teaming with Spanish director Jorge Dorado and author Cuca Canals on detective thriller “The Young Poe” in a bid to build a second English-language international franchise on the heels and of the scale of “The Head,” sold to 90-plus territories and Tms’ biggest breakout hit to date.

Enrolling one of the biggest IPs in literary history, Edgar Allen Poe, the series adapts the hit novel saga of Spain’s Cuca Canals, co-screenwriter of Bigas Luna’s celebrated “Jamón Jamón” movie trilogy.

Canals’ novels imagine Poe as a precocious, irrepressible, neurotic and highly Gothic 11 or 12 year-old in 1820 Boston, grounding in true events of Poe’s childhood the extraordinarily analytical and morbid mind which Edgar Allen Poe brings to his fiction – whether 1841’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” commonly regarded as the first modern detective story, or the horror short stories such as “The Fall of the House of Usher.

The battle for success on the new drama series scene is the battle for talent, led by screenwriters. Following, portraits of Spanish TV scribes or creators, sometimes writing teams, who’ve made an impact, or look set to do so:

Fran Araujo

2022 was Araujo’s year. He co-wrote Berlin Competition’s “One Night, One Day” and “Rapa,” Movistar+’s biggest 2022 bow. “Offworld,” a collective series he coordinated, was a Variety’s International TV Show of the Year. An iconoclast – “if I do the same thing, I get bored,” he says – who tears up the rule book.

Aina Clotet

Best known for acting, winning at Malaga for “The Wild Ones,” but a driving force as co-creator, director and star behind “This Is Not Sweden” a €1.5 million grant recipient and groundbreaking Spain-Scandinavia-Germany co-pro, turning on a couple who think they’ve found a model lifestyle. But “there are no guarantees,” says Clotet.

Lionsgate+, formerly known as Starzplay, has set March 3 as the premiere date of its darkly comic original series ‘Nacho’ across all Latin America.

The news comes as Atresplayer Premium in Spain has announced that “Nacho” will bow on its service on March 5 as an Atresplayer Premium Original, in other words an exclusive in Spain on the adventurous service whose recent Originals include “Cardo,” produced by Los Javis.

Bowing its international trailer exclusively on Variety, the eight-episode series stars Martiño Rivas (“Cable Girls”) who plays the legendary Nacho Vidal whose notable physique makes him a star in Spain’s incipient porn industry in the ‘90s.

“Proving his talents reach far beyond his most infamous 25 cm [9.8 inches], Nacho changed the rules of the game in the 1990s when he became an international superstar,” the synopsis goes.

Shot in Spain, “Nacho” tells the story of the people behind the country’s porn industry, which...

Carlos Garde, director of Onza Distribution from 2019, has been promoted to Onza general manager as part of what Onza, producer of “The Department of Time,” “Little Coincidences” and “Parot,” describes as a further phase of expansion at the Spanish production-distribution house.

Details of Garde’s new role come as Onza has also unveiled its lineup for next week’s new Miami-based market, Content Americas,

In its biggest move to date, in the run-up to 2021’s NATPE, Onza announced Onza Americas, a Miami beach-head for expansion into Latin America and the U.S. Latino market.

In his new role, Garde will work with Onza CEO to further growth in these territories. Beatriz Nouh, a former sales manager for Europa at The Mediapro Studio Distribution, has meanwhile been tapped as head of sales at Onza Distribution.

Carlos Rodríguez, ex-senior legal and compliance counsel at NBC Universal, has joined Onza’s legal & business affairs department.

Spain’s Onza Entertainment, producer of “The Department of Time,” “Little Coincidences” and “Parot,” is joining forces with outfit Intrépidus to develop and co-produce TV fiction and films for the Spanish and the international markets.

With the deal, Onza continues putting creative talent at its core and strengthening its creators network.

Recently launched by Fernando J. Múñez, writer and creator of Atresmedia and Netflix period TV series “La Cocinera de Castamar,” actor Rodolfo Sancho and executive producer Esteban Zabala, Intrépidus specializes in screenplay creation and audiovisual contents’ development and production.

Early TV series projects developed under the alliance take in period family drama “Antes se secará la tierra,” based on a novel penned by Múñez, scheduled to be published by powerhouse Editorial Planeta in February, and “Canalla,” based on a still to be published book by writer Pilar Pascual Echalecu.

Onza and Intrépidus are also developing supernatural thriller “Umbrales,” co-created by Múñez and Pascual Echalecu,...

Globoplay, the streaming platform of Latin American TV giant Globo, has picked up Brazilian rights to police noir thriller series “Motel Valkirias,” a Spain-Portugal co-production handled by Onza Distribution.

Created by Ghaleb Jaber Martínez, writer-producer of Netflix’s Galician TV drama hit “O Sabor das Margaridas,” the series is directed by Álex Sampaio (Schibare”) and Jorge Quiroga (“Atras das Nuvens”).

In post-production, the eight episode 50-minute “Motel Valkirias” is set in a cross-border motel between Galicia and Portugal, following three women with financial and personal problems who get in serious danger after joining forces to get their hands on some valuable merchandise from a guest in the motel.

The skein toplines Lisbon-born Maria João Bastos (“The Casanova Variations”), Goya Award winning actor Chechu Salgado (“Las leyes de la frontera”) and “O Sabor das Margaridas’” Maria Mera.

Jaleb Martinez’s Galician outfit CTV co-produces “Motel Valkirias” with SPi, the Portuguese partner...

Exclusive: London’s Blackbox Media and Latin American firm Eo Media have paired up to develop a drama series based on a novel about the origins of famed Spanish video game company Dinamic Software.

The pair has optioned Jesús Martínez del Vas’ La History de Dinamic from Madrid-based agency Scenic Rights and has signed Javier Olivares, know for creating Tve and Netflix time travel comedy series El Minister del Tiempo (The Ministry of Time), as showrunner.

Del Vas wrote the novel in association with the Ruiz brothers, who as teenagers created a video game empire from their parents’ home in the early 1980s as Spanish tech companies began to boom internationally, before it crashed into bankruptcy. Del Vas spent ten years researching his book and interviewing those involved with creating Dinamic.

The 1980s became known as ‘the Golden Era of Spanish Software,’ with Dinamic’s rise occurred alongside Spain’s...

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,...

“Bosé,” the highly anticipated Paramount Plus Original, has wrapped production. The announcement comes as Paramount Plus has also confirmed the remainder of the internationally recognised cast of the six-part series, a biopic of Spanish singer-songwriter Miguel Bosé.

Two behind-the-scenes images, shared in exclusivity with Variety, also hint at the production ambitions of the series, one of the biggest Spanish-language series to date at Paramount Plus, which turns on one of the most resonant figures in recent times in Spain. Resonant for his hits, which span a remarkably long six-decade career, and for his life story, which charts Spain’s emergence from more oppressive times to hard-won freedoms in democracy.

Produced by Vis, a division of Paramount, in collaboration with Shine Iberia, part of Banijay Iberia, Pepe Baston’s Elefantec Global and Legacy Rock, “Bosé” will premiere exclusively on the Paramount Plus International streaming service in the coming months, Paramount Plus also confirmed Tuesday.

Very few The Mediapro Studio shows, indeed very few Spanish series in general, have lit a fire on the open market like “The Head,” an Antarctic-set thriller which lifts off as a murder mystery to constantly evolve into other realms.

Starring Álvaro Morte, “Money Heist’s” Professor and Japanese pop idol Tomohisa Yamashita, written by Alex and David Pastor and directed by Jorge Dorado, “The Head” broke viewership records on co-financiers Hulu Japan and HBO Asia and sold to over 90 countries including HBO in the U.S.

The Mediapro Studio retained IP. “Sales opened doors to new markets and clients with whom we hadn’t worked before,” said Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of The Mediapro Studio. It also began blazing a trail for Tms’s drive into English-language series, one of its biggest ambitions.

Yet a sequel was, by any measure, a tall order. Season 1 was always conceived as a limited series , notes Ran Tellem,...

Barcelona-based indie sales outfit Filmax has taken international sales rights to Jorge Dorado’s noir thriller feature “Objetos” (“Lost & Found”), starring “Money Heist” actor Álvaro Morte.

Filmax is launching the film onto the market with a first promo at this year’s European Film Market.

Shot October-November at several locations in Spain and Argentina, including Madrid and Jujuy, the film is currently in post-production.

“Lost & Found” is produced by Cristina Zumárraga and Pablo Bossi at Tandem Films, the Madrid-based production company, whose recent titles include award-winning comedy “Rosa’s Wedding” and toon feature sales hit “Turu, the Wacky Hen.”

A Spain-Argentina-Germany co-production, “Lost & Found” also teams Spain’s Setembro Cine (“A Fantastic Woman”), Argentina’s Pampa Films (“Chinese Take-Away”) and In Post We Trust (“Unknown Origins”), plus Germany’s Rexin Film, with the participation of Spanish pubcaster Rtve, Amazon Studios and Germany’s Zdf.

Written by top Spanish scribe Natxo López,...

Entering into a post-“Money Heist” phase, the Spanish TV fiction industry is immersed in international growth strategies as it promotes at home new and original voices that create TV stories with universal appeal.

Key production-distribution TV companies such as The Mediapro Studio, Onza Entertainment, Secuoya Studios and Buendía Estudios are building beachheads in the Americas to strengthen the standout place in the sun of the global TV drama business that the Spanish TV industry already occupies.

As by far the biggest part of a 600 million people Spanish-speaking community around the globe, Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic represent the most obvious market for growth.

However, a common ambition for Spanish companies eyeing the Americas is to develop projects in the region but aimed at the global market, which are also increasingly based on IP. And the most natural formula is to bet on international co-productions, which allow projects...

Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio, the high-end drama production-distrubution arm of media giant Mediapro, has kicked off pre-production on Season 2 of “The Head,” whose first season was a massive global hit for the company which has already released in 90 countries.

Continuing with the show’s key themes of isolation and the struggle between good and evil, often highlighting the grey areas in between, Season 2 will relocate from the South Pole to an ocean freighter on a scientific mission.

Set at a remote polar research station in the dark of winter, “The Head” Season 1 utilized tricks of time and perspective to slowly uncover the details of a grizzly series of murders, started by a decapitation, at one of earth’s most isolated human habitats, an Antarctic research station over the winter months. When the summer staff flies off to leave a skeleton crew behind all is well, but after an unexpected radio silence,...

Transatlantic production label El Estudio has acquired the rights to author Fernando Gamboa’s hit novel “The Last Crypt,” and will work with powerhouse Spanish showrunner and “The Ministry of Time” creator Javier Olivares to develop the book into a high-end TV series, executive produced by Eulogio Romero (“Mitos y leyendas”).

“The Last Crypt,” the first in a three-book series, kicks off when diver Ulises Vidal discovers a small bronze bell buried in a coral reef near the Honduran island of Utila. With help from medieval history professor Eduardo Castillo, they learn that the bell is a Templar artifact, an impossibility unless all the history books are wrong and the Templars did in fact cross the Atlantic centuries before Columbus set off from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera in 1492.

With hopes of finding the fabled Templar’s treasure, the two join forces with Mexican archaeologist Cassandra Brooks...

The Mediapro Studio is teaming with “The Department of Time” and “Isabel” creator Javier Olivares to develop a new bio-series about former Spanish King Juan Carlos I in the style of Netflix’s “The Crown,” according to a report by Spanish paper El País and confirmed to Variety by The Mediapro Studio. No channel or platform is attached at this time.

A local authority on adapting historical, or at least history-based, content for film and TV, Olivares has already plotted out a three-season arc for his latest project, “El Rey,” featuring parallel biographies of Juan Carlos I and of Spain as a whole during the time of the king’s reign.

The idea behind “El Rey” has been on Olivares’ back burner for years, but the heat turned up with the publication of Catalan journalist Pilar Eyre’s novel “Yo, el Rey,” last year. Inspired by the book, Olivares and Javier Pons,...

Madrid-based Onza Distribution, producer of “The Department of Time,” has acquired international distribution rights to four-part doc series “Palomares: The Atomic Bomb Fiasco,” a stranger than fiction doc thriller about how in 1966 the U.S. Air Force accidentally dropped four hydrogen bombs on Spain.

Directed by Alvaro Ron, “Palomares” details, partly through an interview with its reserve pilot Major Larry G. Messinger, how on Jan. 17, 1966 a B52 bomber of the U.S. Air Force collided in mid-air with a Kc-135 tanker plane during a re-fueling mission. Four hydrogen bombs with 75-times the destructive force of Hiroshima fell to earth around a picturesque fishing village in eastern Spain, Palomares.

Some 1,600 military personnel from the most modern army in the world suddenly descended on Palomares, a village with gravel roads and no TV. Three bombs, undetonated, are found quickly.

But two, whose casings are broken, release plutonium dust into the air.

As the U.

Warner Bros International Television Production has appointed Bruno Henriquet to lead its operations in France. Henriquet will be based in Paris, joining the company on June 1 and will report into Ronald Goes, EVP and Head of Wbitvp. Henriquet was most recently Deputy Managing Director in charge of Development at Fremantle France where he was responsible for format adaptations such as Family Feud, Password, and Game Of Talents as well as locally developed programming. Recent original IP creations include All Your Wishes, Battle Of The Judges and The Artisan, along with late-night show The Farmer Wants A Wife: Rewind. Prior to joining Fremantle in 2008, Henriquet spent five years at Studio 89, was Editor in Chief for Morning Live on M6 and worked as a journalist for Canal+.

Channel 4 has commissioned a feature-length documentary from Caravan and Quicksilver Media exploring the origins and growth of the anti-vaccination movement, and its impact on...

Building its presence in Europe, ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) has closed a deal with on-the-rise Spanish production company Fasten Films to co-produce “Pastor,” a social-issue drama.

Created and written by Natxo López, the creator of “Stolen Away” and writer for Mediaset España banner series “Caronte,” “Pastor” will be directed by Spanish film-tv helmer Jorge Dorado, acclaimed for his work on “The Head,” but with credits reaching back to “Anna” and “The Department of Time.”

Billed as “a story of anger, pride, revenge but mostly of love, which will bring the viewers to question where the boundaries between good and bad lies,” the 10-hour “Pastor” turns on a socially-committed and controversial priest who, enraged at injustice, ends up crossing the line to protect his parishioners.

“With ‘Pastor,’ I want to create an overwhelming visual experience to disrupt and move the audience’s conscience. I want ‘Pastor’s’ images to be smelled,...

At one of its increasingly regular presentations, on Thursday Netflix Spain unveiled seven new projects including “If Only,” a Spanish adaptation of the Netflix Turkish original canceled before shooting by Turkish authorities.

Where once Netflix would host its presentations early in the year and announce its ambitions for the next 12 months, the platform’s original Spanish programming pipeline has grown to an extent that Thursday’s showcase only covers the next few months and hinted at plenty more to come in late 2021.

In both level and volume of production, the day’s announcements confirm Netflix as one of if not the, foremost investors in original Spanish series and movies, at the same as its talent pool is expanding to include ever more of the principal producers in Spain. New Netflix originals are now being produced by now-regular partners Nostromo, producers of “The Minions of Midas”; “Élite” producers Zeta Studios; “Money Heist...

Madrid-based Onza, producer of hit Spanish series “The Department of Time” and Amazon Prime Video romantic comedy “Little Coincidences,” is expanding into the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets, establishing a Miami-based subsidiary, Onza Américas.

CEO and co-founder of Onza with its executive president José María Irisarri and Nicolás Bergareche, Gonzalo Sagardia has been named Onza Américas CEO.

A reaction to “the proliferation of content platforms” avid for Spanish-language content, Onza announced Tuesday in a press statement, Onza Americas is launched in partnership with former Fox Television Studios president Emiliano Calemzuk, and Vincenzo Gratteri, ex-content director at Patricio Wills’ Miami and Mexico-based W Studios.

Calemzuk and Gratteri will both become minority partners in Onza Americas, the still-highly connected Calemzuk serving in a non-executive role as chairman of the advisory board, and Gratteri taking up the position of SVP of development and production.

Onza Américas will be introducing itself and...

In today’s Global Bulletin, The Mediapro Studio’s “The Head” lands on Starzplay in the U.K. and Germany and Zdf Enterprises finishes shooting on post-wwii documentary “Lawless,” A+E Networks U.K. announces a new factual series with Denise Welch, and Denmark’s Cph:Dox reschedules its hybrid 2021 edition.

Distribution

The Mediapro Studio Distribution has closed a deal with Starz that will land South-Pole murder mystery series “The Head” on the broadcaster’s streaming platform Starzplay in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and German-speaking regions of Switzerland and Luxembourg on Feb. 7.

One of the most significant steps into scripted drama production by Spanish producer The Mediapro Studio, “The Head” was executed in partnership with Hulu Japan and HBO Asia. It was written by Alex and David Pastor (“Hogar”) and directed by Jorge Dorado (“The Department of Time”)

“The Head” uses tricks of time and perspective to slowly uncover...