Paramount shutters Spanish local productions team

Días Mejores

Paramount Television International Studios has shuttered its production operations in Spain and dispensed with almost all of its team in the country.

The team has been slowly pared back over the course of 2023, and the three remaining production executives departing at the start of July, with those exits including development exec Tomás Silberman, who left on 7 July, shortly after attending Conecta Fiction for the company in June.

These departures follow a steady train of others over the first quarter, including Cristina Alcelay, who exited in May to join Garbo Produzioni; Maria Cerveza, who was appointed as head of content at Cattleya Producciones; Laura Abril, who moved to Buendía Estudios, and Berta Orozco, who joined Mediacrest as head of international sales and co-productions.

The changes come as the studio shifts its strategy to focus on producing content for Paramount+ and not for third parties. Paramount+ has not launched in Spain, with the company instead maintaining a presence in the country via Showtime, its joint-venture with Comcast.

According to Audiovisual451, which first reported the story, Sebastián Vibes, VP of sales and co-productions at Paramount Television International Studios, will remain in Spain with a remit to promote the studio’s commercial agreements throughout Europe and supervise co-productions with Latin America.

Paramount Television International Studios, which launched as Viacom International Studios in April 2019, has produced several scripted co-productions in Spain, including La Novia Gypsy, with Diagonal TV for Atresmedia and Días Mejores, with Zeta Studios, for Prime Video and Mediaset España.