Spanish Sales Insights: The Mediapro Studio’s head of distribution & int’l, Marta Ezpeleta

Express

TBI has partnered with Audiovisual From Spain to get the low-down from some of the biggest names in Spanish distribution on the latest sales trends and areas of growing interest in the country.

In this instalment, we speak to Marta Ezpeleta, head of distribution and international offices at The Mediapro Studio, about the growing interest in Spanish productions, the demand for thriller content and why women-led dramas are flourishing.

Marta Ezpeleta

What has been the stand-out trend around scripted series so far this year?

I think thriller, horror and fantasy are setting quite a trend. The Mediapro Studio has just presented The Other Side, at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, a series produced by El Terrat for Movistar Plus+ and with a very innovative combination between terror and comedy. We are presenting Romancero at this year’s Sitges Festival, which is a supernatural horror series, a new original from Amazon Prime Video, directed by Tomás Peña and written by Fernando Navarro. In addition, the second season of Yosi, The Regretful Spy, an espionage thriller created by Daniel Burman, and also an Amazon Prime Video original.

Our slate for distribution includes thriller highlights such as The Head, Express and Chromosome 21, a Wild Sheep Content production, a company owned by The Mediapro Studio, not to mention fantasy titles such as Paraíso.

Along with thriller, another trend we see as ever-growing in popularity is that of scripted fiction featuring women in the leading roles, and series of this kind from The Mediapro Studio Distribution starring strong female roles include the aforementioned Express and the film Hunting Ava Bravo, a survival thriller starring Kate del Castillo, directed by Gary Auerbach, who is also responsible for another of our feature films, the suspenseful thriller Give Me Your Eyes, which features two leading female characters.

Women also feature as the protagonists of drama series that vindicate the female figure, case in point being that of Pelotaris 1926, a co-production between The Mediapro Studio and VIX, inspired by the true story of the first female athletes, Basque pelota players, who fought for their rights and to be independent in the early years of the twentieth century; Las Bravas, a series produced for HBO Max in Latin America, set around women’s football, and Consuelo, a new co-production with VIX, a comedy that recreates Mexico’s high society of the 1960’s with a protagonist who is well ahead of her time.

Which types of buyers are you seeing most demand from?

It depends on each case and each content. We have clients from all the major players in the industry worldwide: major streaming platforms, television platforms, free-to-air channels, etc. For us they are all equally relevant and we try to adapt to each client’s needs and to meet their demand for content.

Are there particular regions that are buying more Spanish fiction than before?

This is not something new for us, given that our company has been producing and distributing scripted fiction content around the world for 30 years, long before the boom in Spanish content. For example, very popular Globomedia series such as The Serranos, The Boat and Paco’s Men, had an enormous international impact, even with countries making their own versions in markets in Northern and Eastern Europe.

Now I think there is an even greater interest than before both for titles produced in Spain, as well as those from Latin America, where The Mediapro Studio has grown exponentially in recent years in teams and offices with production centers in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay and series like Primate or the aforementioned Yosi, The Regretful Spy, Consuelo and Las Pelotaris 1926, among others.

Spanish fiction is hugely diverse, but which genres are proving most popular?

As I mentioned before, thrillers and series about and with women are also the ones that stand out most among Spanish scripted fiction content, and here at The Mediapro Studio we have what it takes in this area.

How do you expect the market to change next year?

Ours is a sector in permanent change and here at The Mediapro Studio, we have what it takes to adapt to these changes and to meet our customers’ demands. I think we should be optimistic because if there’s one thing that has been demonstrated time and time again in recent years, it’s that the interest of audiences to see fresh content does not decline.

What are your key three shows at the moment?
The Head, Las Pelotaris 1926 and Express.