News

Spanish TV fiction producers are finding ways to navigate the rocky international scene thanks to increasing interest from foreign producers looking to co-finance in Spain, leveraging the country’s generous tax incentives.

Apart from streamer financing — which accounts for over 50% of total Spanish content investment, the highest in major European markets — the peak TV bubble has burst. Moreover, distributors worldwide are paying smaller minimum guarantees, broadcaster buyers are taking fewer risks and many players are commissioning fewer titles.

Solutions raised by Spanish companies include establishing beachheads in America, developing English-language productions and selling on the open market.

“Zorro” producer Secuoya Studios will develop and produce large-scale projects in English as part of its international expansion strategy, recently unveiled by CEO Brendan Fitzgerald, a former Sony executive.

The studio, presided over by James Costos, will operate multiple production fronts simultaneously to speed up timelines without compromising quality.

“We want to become language-agnostic and begin with English,...

Movistar Plus+, the biggest Spanish SVOD/pay TV operator, has revealed four new scripted series for 2025, including a special on Pedro Almodóvar and struggling mother dramatic comedy “Yo siempre a veces” produced by “Veneno” and “La Mesías” creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo at their busy Madrid-based shingle Suma Content.

Also in the mix is “Los sin nombre,” from Pau Freixas and Filmax, a series spin-off from the movie, “La Canción,” a new title from “Hierro” co-writers and “Rapa” co-creators Pepe Coira and Fran Araujo, and espionage thriller “El Centro.”

News of new series comes as Movistar Plus+ scored in September both at Venice and San Sebastián, screening Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The New Years” at Venice’s series selection, alongside Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ Series “Disclaimer,” Joe Wright’s “M. Son Of The Century” and Thomas Vinterberg’s “Families Like Ours.”

Alauda Ruiz de Azua’s “Querer” was hailed...

Spanish cinema is expanding, opening up attractive film avenues to reach the worldwide market, driven by upscale commercial projects, blending of genres and a new generation of emerging female directors.

The country’s filmmakers landed three Oscar nominations: Juan A. Bayona with “Society of the Snow” (inter- national feature and makeup and hair styling); and Pablo Berger with “Robot Dreams” (animated feature). Also, four of Netflix’s top five most-popular non-English films ever are from Spain.

“The boom in talent is making for a unique and very diverse cinema,” says Guillermo Farré, Movistar Plus+ head of original films and Spanish cinema.

“The great foreign perception of Spanish cinema is driven by the productions’ quality and their international diffusion,” says Elástica Films’ María Zamora, producer of Carla Simón’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner “Alcarrás.”

“Spanish cinema is evolving with the appearance of new voices especially female and new ways of narrating,...

The Match Factory is set to handle international sales on a new film by “Fire Will Come” director Oliver Laxe, headlined by Sergi López, star of Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Having begun production, shooting in Spain and then Morocco, the untitled Oliver Laxe project is a Movistar Plus+ original film produced with Pedro and Agustín Almodovar’s El Deseo, Laxe’s Galicia-based label Filmes da Ermida, Oriol Maymó’s Uri Films in Barcelona, and Paris’s 4 A 4 Productions.

The latest from Laxe follows Cannes wins for all his first three features. 2010’s “You Are All Captains,” Laxe’s debut feature, walked off with a Directors’ Fortnight Fipresci Award; 2016’s “Mimosas” scooped the Critics’ Week top Grand Prize, “Fire Will Come” a 2019 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.

Co-written with “Matadero” director Santiago Fillol, also a co-scribe on “Fire Will Come,” Laxe’s next turns on a man...

Gabriel Guevara, the breakout star of the huge hit film saga “My Fault” (“Culpa Mía”) on Amazon Prime Video, is now set to lead Atresplayer’s new series, “Mar afuera.” This project marks a significant collaboration between Atresmedia TV and Beta Fiction Spain, taking on the adaptation of the smash Italian series “Mare Fuori,” (“The Sea Beyond”) which added 300,000 new subscribers to Rai Play when Season 3 launched, and sold to over 20 territories.

The eight-episode series follows the life of Álvaro, played by Guevara, a young seventeen year old from an affluent background whose life spirals after an accident finds himself in a juvenile detention center.

Amidst the loss of his privilege and outside passions – such as his beloved piano – he is thrust into a new reality with the diverse clientele of the detention center. A reality hostile to him. Set against the backdrop of a juvenile correctional facility by the sea,...

“I’m Nevenka,” a Movistar Plus+ original film and the awaited next feature from Spain’s Iciar Bollaín, has closed its earliest pre-sales, struck by Film Factory Entertainment, including a bellwether deal in France.

The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.

Daniel Chabannes’ Epicentre Films, a classic 30-year-old distributor and producer of non-English language art pics, especially from Europe and Latin America, whose recent acquisitions take in San Sebastian Gold Shell winner “The Rye Horn” and Amos Gitai’s “It’s Not Over,” has acquired French rights.

A distributor of both big Cannes winners – “Triangle of Sadness,” “Rosetta,” “The Child” – and slightly more out-there propositions, such as Pablo Berger’s silent movie “Blancanieves,” Xenix Film Distribution has clinched rights to Switzerland.

Iciar Bollaín: A Broader Audience Auteur

The early pre-sales are hardly surprising. Since her big breakout,...

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...

Telefonica’s Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest pay TV-svod operator, is set to co-produce new movies from Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Iciar Bollaín, Alberto Rodríguez, Óliver Laxe and Ana Rujas. It’s a move which sees the high-end Spanish TV powerhouse become one of Spain’s most significant movie players.

Titles in the slate are backed by top Spanish producers such as Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García at El Deseo – backing Laxe’s next – and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo at their high-flying new production house Suma Content, producing what will be Rujas’ debut feature as a director.

The acclaimed “La Mesías,” the latest series from Los Javis – as Ambrossi and Calvo are known – will have its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it will the only European series at this year’s event.

In a fillip for Spain’s box office, still 26% down on pre-pandemic levels, Movistar Plus+ will...

Fresh off the selection of “La Mesías” as the only European series at this year’s Sundance Festival, “Veneno” creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – Los Javis – are set to produce Netflix original series “Superestar,” created by Spain’s Nacho Vigalondo, writer-director of 2016’s Anna Hathaway headed “Colossal,” Neon’s first pick-up for the U.S.

The six-episode series is directed by Vigalondo and Claudia Costafreda, co-creator of “Cardo,” an uninhibited portrait of Spain’s young generation eager for a quick fix of sex or drugs for want of a larger sense of direction in life, which was chosen by Variety, as “Veneno,” as one of the best international TV shows of the year.

Set up at Los Javis’ Suma Content, their indie Madrid-based label, “Superestar” is written by Vigalondo, María Bastarós, Paco Bezerra and Costafreda.

Oscar-nominated for his short, “7:35 in the Morning,” Vigalondo is best known for sci-fi comedies and thrillers such as,...

In a deal unveiled at Mipcom, Movistar Plus+ International, the prominent Spanish pay TV/SVOD platform’s sales division, announced a key sale to HBO Latin America of series “La Mesías,” hailed as the buzziest title at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September.

The series is written, directed and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo of Suma Content, best known for their series “Veneno,” an HBO Max U.S. pickup, as well as “Paquita Salas,” sold to Netflix.

“La Mesías” marks the return of this creative duo, three years after their last release as directors and screenwriters, according to Movistar Plus+ Int’l.

Described as the most ambitious and complex project from the creative duo, widely known as Los Javis, “La Mesías” follows a family torn apart by the matriarch’s religious fanaticism.

Across seven gripping episodes, each with a runtime of just over an hour, the story spans various time periods,...

As other major European broadcasters, Spain’s Atresmedia is making a large bet on its VOD content offer, focused around the high-profile streaming service Atresplayer, which ambitiously re-launches July 5.

Just until a few years ago, European TV giants treated their streaming operations to bedrock linear lineups. Those days have gone. At Annecy, BBC and France Télévisions were talking up their streaming services as their future. ITV and Germany’s Rtl are bowing their biggest plays on Ott operations, Itvx and Rtl+, respectively, powering up strong subscriptions’ hikes.

Belgium’s Vrt currently estimates “almost a 50/50 split” in its acquisitions budget as it focusing on “finding unique series that viewers wouldn’t expect from a public broadcaster for its streaming service,” Sven Van Lokeren, head of international fiction series acquisition at Belgium’s Vrt told Variety at February’s London TV Screenings.

In Spain, leading broadcaster Atresmedia is no exception. Atresplayer represents...

Toledo, Spain — Adding to its bullish line-up of primetime dramas, Spain’s Atresmedia TV is set to adapt “Angela Black,” its second ITV drama makeover from “The Missing” creators, Harry and Jack Williams, after the Spanish commercial broadcaster’s reversion of “Liar.”

Currently casting and set to go into production this fall in Bizkaia’s Bilbao, “Angela,” as the Spanish redo is known, is produced by Buendía Estudios Vizcaya with the participation of Atresmedia TV.

An original idea of the Williams’ Two Brothers Pictures, “Angela Black’s” international distribution is handled by All3Media International.

Buendía Estudios is behind “Veneno,” “Cardo” and “The Cook of Castamar.” “Angela” is directed by Norberto López Amado, who has helmed episodes on some of the biggest hits on Spanish TV in the last 10 years, such as “The Time in Between” and “El Príncipe” as well as two episodes of “Liar.”

In now well-established windowing, “Angela...

“Veneno” writer-director-creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – have dropped an international trailer for its sequel, “Vestida de Azul” (“Veneno 2: Dressed in Blue”) sharing it in exclusivity with Variety.

Sold to HBO Max for the U.S., where it aired to acclaim, “Veneno” was picked as one of Variety’s best international series in 2020.

This time round, Los Javis produce through Suma Content, the Madrid-based label they launched in 2021, where they also serve as its creative directors. The series is its fourth production after “Una navidad con Samantha Hudson,” a Christmas special, “Cardo,” and “Cardo 2.” An Atresplayer original series, “Vestidas de Azul” is produced for Atresmedia Television in collaboration with Suma Content. Atresmedia TV International Sales handles international distribution.

The trailer begins two years after “Veneno” with Valeria, her figure inspired by the real-life Spanish journalist Valeria Vegas who penned La Veneno’s memoirs, returning...

The best received of Spanish series at last month’s Málaga Festival, “Nights in Tefía” (“Las Noches de Tefía”) hit the festival with already strong buzz. The latest from Spain’s Buendía Estudios and SVOD service Atresplayer Premium whose titles also include “Veneno” and “Cardo,” “Nights in Tefía” proved a critics’ favourite. Written and directed by Miguel del Arco, a distinguished Spanish playwright and theater director, it turns on Airam Betancor who, living in Tenerife in 2004, recognises an old man shuffling down the street: Robles.

He’s the same man who, 42 years before, as a prison guard at the euphemistically named Tefía Penitentiary Agricultural Colony on Fuerteventura, another Canary Island, had beaten and tortured Airam as a teen inmate of the Francoist labor camp designed as a dumping ground for undesirables, from political dissidents to the socially unruly and homosexuals.

The sight of Robles, who has moved into Airam’s...

Spanish titles at MipTV:

“The Argonauts and the Golden Coin,” (Rtve)

A live action kids adventure, targeting 8-12s, from national public broadcaster Rtve and Galician powerhouse Portocabo as Rtve drives into regional co-production. Set over a summer in Galicia and inspired by the spirit of “The Famous Five” and “The Goonies,” translated to the 21st century.

“The Caravan,” (Cabal Films)

Selected for the inaugural MipDoc International Buyer Screenings, a first-person account of an eight-month pregnant woman in a caravan of Central American immigrants heading to the U.S.

“Dating in Barcelona,” (Filmax)

The latest from Filmax, behind “The Red Band Society” and “They All Lie,” following different romantic encounters of people who have met online.

“Dover: Die for Rock & Roll,” (Begin Again Films)

Doc feature on the Seattle/Jean Jett-inspired Spanish band, behind “Devil Came to Me,” and icon of late ‘90s Spanish alternative pop rock.

“Greenpeace,” (Zona Mixta...

In Álvaro Carmona’s award-winning short, “The Treatment,” Miguel, a middle-aged man unhappy with his baldness, visits a clinic that promises to reverse his hair loss with a new remedy, but with a potentially problematic side effect.

The black comedy is a satirical critique of the vanity that is so celebrated in today’s social media-drenched society and it has struck a chord with festival goers, so far picking up 67 domestic and international awards. It’s was also one of four Spanish works shortlisted for this year’s live-action short film Oscar.

“Everything arises from trying to play with the idea of this obsession with aesthetics that has become somewhat accentuated in recent years in the modern world,” Carmona tells Variety.

The filmmaker also examines the question of cost and the prices people are willing to pay for “perfect aesthetics.”

“I began to look at what dilemma you could have.

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,...

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.

Atresplayer Premium, the burgeoning Ott service behind HBO Max hit “Veneno,” has renewed “The Gypsy Bride” (“La novia gitana”), whose Season 1, from “Penny Dreadful” director Paco Cabezas, world premieres at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Atresmedia Television will produce with Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, producer of Netflix hit “Heirs to the Land.”Produced by Vis with the participation of Atresmedia Television and the collaboration of the Diagonal TV, the first season of “The Gypsy Bride” will bow on Atresplayer Premium on Sept. 25.

Directed in its totality by Cabezas, whose credits also include “American Gods,” Season 1 is set in a gypsy community on Madrid’s humble outskirts as homicide inspector Elena Blanco, is called in to investigate the torture and assassination of a young woman just before her wedding.

Channelling echoes of a Lorca tragedy, the series, shot with large visual ambition by Cabezas – mixing bold panoramics and hand-held camerawork...

In an alignment of two of the most powerful forces in Spanish- language fiction, Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, creators of “Veneno” and producers of “Cardo,” have joined forces with Movistar Plus, the pay TV/SVOD of Telefonica, to develop and produce a new series, “La Mesías.”

Presented on Tuesday in Madrid, like “Veneno,” the series has been written by Los Javis – as they are popularly known in Spain – and, according to Javier Ambrossi, the scale of the series marks the natural “next step” in the growth of Suma Content.

A Movistar Plus original series, the series will be written, directed and produced by Ambrossi and Calvo and made in collaboration with Suma Content, their new production label launched last year.

Movistar Plus International will handle international distribution of what rates from the get-go as one of the hottest Spanish series which will be brought onto the global market this year.

Universal International Studios has struck a first-look deal with “Call My Agent!” and “Parallèles” writer Quoc Dang Tran as it continues a charm offensive directed at international creators.

Uis has inked a first-look deal with the French-Vietnamese writer and showrunner who will develop and produce English and French-language television projects with the studio for the global market. French-language series will be co-produced with the “Marianne” writer’s recently formed label, Daïmôn Films.

“He really leads from themes that speak to his heart versus responding to the industry, so we’re excited to do business with a creator who listens to their gut instead of just what the network is mandating,” Beatrice Springborn, president of Universal International Studios, tells Variety ahead of a keynote at French TV festival Series Mania.

“That has helped him stand out as someone with a real point of view, [who] is a real visionary.”

Dang Tran added:...

Universal International Studios has struck a deal with one of the hottest players in Spanish-language programming, Buendía Estudios.

Under the deal, the company, whose recent credits include the hit dramas “Cardo” and “Veneno,” will co-develop and co-produce Spanish-language series with Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Formed in 2020, Buendía Estudios is a joint venture between Atresmedia and Telefónica’s Movistar Plus, and incorporates the in-house player formerly known as Atresmedia Studios.

The company, which is led by CEO Ignacio Corrales, told Variety earlier this year that, in addition to producing for Spain and Latin America, it’s looking to develop projects from the region that are global-facing, in the vein of international Spanish-language triumphs like “Money Heist” and “Velvet.” A slate of around 40 projects across various genres and formats is currently in the works.

The Universal International Studios pact will see the two studios partner on a slate of original programming,...

Spain’s trendiest twosome, Claudia Costafreda and Ana Rujas, are co-creators of “Cardo,” the series on everyone’s lips since launching last fall on Atresplayer, the Ott platform run by Spanish media conglom Atresmedia, last fall and one of Variety’s best international TV shows of 2021.

Rujas stars in the furious tirade against external, bogus beauty standards and Costafreda directs with Lluís Sellarès also heading two episodes. “Cardo” is co-produced by Atresmedia’s production arm Buendía Estudios and Suma Content (formerly Suma Latina), the outfit setup by iconic multi-hyphenate partners Los Javis (“Veneno”), selected by Variety as talents to track, as was Costafreda.

“Cardo” offers a raw, deeply disinhibited portrait of almost 30-year-old María, a character who rebels against her own attractiveness, as the actress herself ­– formerly a model– did on stage in the acclaimed production “The Ugliest Women in the World,” written by Rujas and Bárbara Mestanza. María, distraught and confused,...

As other European TV giants such as the Rtl Group, Spain’s Atresmedia, owner of the Ott service Atresplayer Premium, is finding the sweet spot between auteur and broad audience shows.

Launched two years ago, Atresplayer Premium boasts fast growth in terms of subscriptions – reaching 400,000 users in Spain alone – and content production volume, readying some 20 new TV projects for this year.

Promoting original voices, the platform is winning international visibility. Iconic original series “Veneno,” created by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, “Los Javis,” successfully launched on HBO Max in the U.S. and Latin America, with a strong impact on the international media, which contributed to strengthening the Atresplayer brand.

Now, “Cardo,” from creators and writers Claudia Costafreda and Ana Rujas, executive produced by Los Javis after becoming one of the hottest indie series of last year for TV critics and audiences, is close to an important international distribution deal.

Spanish production giant Atresmedia has appointed Miguel García to head its international sales department. García joins Atresmedia from Mediapro, where he has been The Mediapro Studio’s international sales manager for Latin America, the U.S. and Mena for the past five years.

Prior to his time at Mediapro the Madrid native held various positions at Mediapro Group’s Imagina International Sales in the company’s distribution offices. He has also worked for Grupo Editorial Vocento and Spanish broadcaster Rtve. In addition to his private sector work, García is also a professor at Madrid’s prestigious Ecam school where he teaches in its master’s program for distribution and audiovisual business.

“I am very excited about joining this team,” García told Variety. “Atresmedia has a great catalog that we want to continue showing to the world. The Atresmedia Series seal has proven to be a guarantee of quality and success both nationally and internationally.

The biggest product in Spain of the M&a boom which looks set to power much future entertainment growth in Europe, Buendía Estudios, a joint venture of Telefonica’s Movistar Plus and Atresmedia, is fast driving into second-phase expansion in Latin America.

In one move last November, Buendía tapped former Telemundo Global Studios exec Ana Paula Valdovinos as director of production and development for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic.

Valdovinos will be based out of Mexico, Latin America’s “nerve and talent center,” she said, as the country also accounts for approximately 70% of the 70 million Latinx population in the U.S.

In another development, Buendía has confirmed to Variety further details on its first Latin America project, “Swift as Desire,”

Billed as a fantasy romantic drama, the series “Swift as Desire” is structured as a six-part, 50-minute adaptation of a hallmark novel by Mexico’s Laura Esquivel, published in...

Hailed in its day as Spain’s own “Downton Abbey,” period espionage drama “The Time In Between” (“El tiempo entre costuras”), a huge hit in Spain, has been sold to South Korea in a deal between Atresmedia International Sales and Germany-based distributor Jung Consulting.

The series will air this January in South Korea on Smile TV Plus, TVasia Plus and WeeTV.

“We are delighted to be distributing such a successful Spanish series in Korea, together with Atresmedia. We trust the Korean audience will enjoy the series, and that it will allow us to bring more international Spanish series to Korea,” said Woojae Jung, Jung Consulting managing director.

An Atresmedia TV original series about a spying seamstress first released in Oct. 2013, “The Time in Between” went up against “The Voice” and historical hit “Isabel,” averaging an extraordinary 25.5% share and almost 5 million viewers on Antena 3. It made a star out of Adriana Ugarte,...

One of Reed Midem’s most successful TV events, the fast growing MipCancun has stood out for its efficient one-to-one meeting coordination, a carefully curated conference program and the bigger picture of an exploding premium series production sector in Latin America, offering as sense of real commercial opportunity and larger artistic ambition.

As MipCancun director Bénédicte Touchard de Morant reminded delegates on Tuesday night at this year’s inauguration, MipCancun remains in essence a mass networking event. Its very setting, at just one part of a monumental all inclusive hotel on the shores of the Caribbean, in itself encourages ad hoc encounters, as do its drinks events and parties. So delegates will benefit immensely from an on-site MipCancun, after last’s year online edition. Compared even to Nov. 2019, the sector’s moved on dramatically, however.

Below, key takes on this year’s MipCancun reunion:

The New Big Picture

Since the...

Geneva-based TV ratings analysis company The Wit has presented at MipCancun what it deems to be the current and potential buzz titles in Latin America.

Speaking to Variety, The Wit’s managing director Caroline Servy identified at least three trending themes: Empowered women, socially conscious stories and edgy elevated fiction, predominantly made by streamers, that “cuts through the clutter.”

Also ruling the field are bio-series with the latest led by “Maradona: Blessed Dream,” which broke recent records on Argentina’s Canal 9 before bowing worldwide on Amazon Prime on October 29.

Turkish series are wildly popular in the region but not as widely distributed by the major broadcasters in Brazil and Mexico, which are prodigious telenovela producers themselves, Servy noted. Expectations are high for Turkey’s number one show “Yargi” (“Family Secrets”), distributed by Madd Entertainment, which pits a defense lawyer against a prosecutor in a murder case involving their respective families.