Yahoo Movies Netflix Spain Unveils Plans for Early 2021, Including Seven New Film and TV Originals
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.
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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” and “Sky Rojo” producers Vancouver Media; and Bambu Producciones, producers of Netflix’s first original series in Spain, “Cable Girls.”
“As you know, it is our goal to bring the best in original entertainment to the households of our members so they can discover and enjoy the diversity of our offerings,” said Diego Avalos, VP of original content at Netflix.
He added: “We are proud to work hand in hand with great national and international creators, and eager to start working with new partners. At Netflix we will continue to support Spanish fiction from both established talent and that yet to be discovered, so that it continues to grow and remain a global benchmark.”
Notably, Netflix is continuing to reinforce its reality offerings with two new titles announced for the coming months in a couples’ elimination game show about honesty “Amor con fianza” (“Guaranteed Love”), and “Georgina,” the behind-the-scenes story of model, influencer, mother and girlfriend of Cristiano Ronaldo, Georgina Rodríguez. In its first three years in Spain, the streamer stuck exclusively to scripted production but has increasingly branched out into other formats in an effort to provide content for all types of subscribers.
New production runs a broad gamut, with several appealing to a core YA audience including the light fantasy romantic comedy film “Eres tú” and action thriller “Baruca,” unspooling over a chaotic night at a psychiatric prison.
Netflix also shared updates on several already-announced projects and returning originals.
“House of Flowers” creator Manolo Caro’s highly anticipated and star-studded musical series “Érase una vez… pero ya no,” began filming on April 5. Caro has proved a leading figure in pan-Atlantic Spanish-language content creation, having found the Midas touch for programming which crosses the historically difficult border between Spain and Latin America.
A teaser for “El Inocente,” a new mini-series from Spanish genre master Oriol Paulo (“Mirage” “The Invisible Guest”), stars this year’s Spanish Academy Goya-winner for best actor Mario Casas (“Cross the Line”), Aura Garrido (“The Ministry of Time”), Alexandra Jiménez (“The Distances”) and Jose Coronado (“No habrá paz para los malvados”). The series will premiere worldwide April 30.
It was also announced that the second and final season of superhero comedy series “The Neighbor,” starring Quim Gutierrez (“DarkBlueAlmost Black”), Clara Lago (“A Spanish Affair”) and Fran Perea (“The Last Circus”), will launch on the platform May 21.
A final release date announcement was made for “Murder by the Coast,” a docuseries about the Wanninkhof-Carabantes case 20 years after the grisly murders shocked the world. The series will launch globally on April 23.
In total, the streamer unveiled three new series, two films and a pair of reality programs on the day, detailed below.
SERIES
“Intimidad” (“Intimacy”)
Lead by a Mount Rushmore of leading female Spanish actors including this year’s Spanish Academy Goya Award winner for best actress Patricia López Arnaiz (“Ane Is Missing”), Itziar Ituño (“Money Heist”), two-time Goya winner Emma Suárez (“Julieta,” “The Dog in the Manger”), Verónica Echegui (“Trust”) and Ana Wagener (“Biutiful”), “Intimidad” starts with a politician’s sex tape being leaked and focuses on the aftermath and how it affects four women close to the political scandal.
“Baruca”
This action thriller created by Verónica Fernández (“Hache”) and Laura Sarmiento (“La Zona”) unspools its six episodes over just one night as a group of criminals surround the Monte Baruca psychiatric prison, cut off all lines of communication and demand that one of the inmates, a dangerous serial killer, be released. Although giving in to the group’s demands would likely end the siege, prison director Hugo refuses, enlisting several inmates to join his limited security forces and form a defense against the incursion. Alberto Ammann (“Narcos”) and Luis Callejo (“The Fury of a Patient Man”) star, with Óscar Pedraza (“Patria,” “Sky Rojo”) directing.
“Si lo hubiera sabido” (“If Only”)
Now set in Spain, the series adapts into Spanish the original Turkish scripts written by famed Turkish screenwriter Ece Yörenç for a Turkish Netflix original whose production was refused a shoot permit by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture. The reason, Yórenç says, is the presence of a gay character in the series. Now showrun by Spanish screenwriter-playwright-actress Irma Correa, the woman-centric second chance drama turns on Emma, 30, married unhappily to Nano for the last 10 years. She realizes that, if she could turn back the clock, she’d never have married him in the first place. Suddenly transported back to 2008, with her 30 year old mind trapped in a 20-year-old body, she has the chance to reflect on who she was and wants to be, knowing what happens in the next decade.
FILMS
“A través de mi Ventana”
Shooting is already underway on this feature adaptation of Ariana Godoy’s eponymous best-selling novel, produced by Nostromo Pictures. Godoy started telling her story on Wattpad, where it became an overnight success. In the film, Raquel falls hopelessly in love with her neighbor Ares, despite never having spoken with the man, and formulates a plan to win his affections. Marçal Forés, whose 2012 feature “Animals” played in competition at San Sebastián, directs.
“Eres tú”
Once again sticking with a trusted partner in “Élite” producer Zeta Studios, this romantic comedy turns on Javier who, at 16 and on the milestone of his first kiss, realized he could see his own romantic future anytime he kisses a girl for the first time. A blessing and a curse, things get weird when he accidentally kisses his best friend’s girlfriend.
REALITY
“Amor con fianza” (“Guaranteed Love”)
Having found major success with recent reality programs such as “Nailed It: Spain,” “Sing On Spain” and the hype of its upcoming dating program “Insiders” – influenced by but not a local version of “Too Hot to Handle” – Netflix is going back to the unscripted well with “Amor con fianza,” hosted by superstar singer Mónica Naranjo and produced by Fremantle. In the show, six couples are whisked off to an exotic location and have their seemingly solid relationships put to the test using lie detection technology, with the most honest couple left as the last ones standing.
“Georgina”
Netflix will profile superstar influencer, model, entrepreneur, dancer and mother Georgina Rodríguez in a detailed and emotional look beyond the photos and her public relationship with superstar boyfriend Cristiano Ronaldo. The series proposes to uncover a Georgina Rodríguez, born in Argentina and raised in Spain, never before seen on social media or in the headlines.
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