Globo marks Spanish drama first

Brazilian giant Globo is moving into Spanish-language production for the first time with a drama that lulls viewers into the belief they’re watching a reality show.

Globo’s Raphael Corrêa Netto, filmmaker Daniel Burman and Ricardo Scalamandré

Supermax, a thriller unveiled at Natpe this week, is being produced in-house at Globo Studios with Argentinian filmmaker Daniel Burman onboard as showrunner.

The Brazilian broadcaster has coproduced shows in Spanish previously with Mexico’s Azteca and US network Telemundo, but Supermax will be the first Spanish-language original produced and financed solely by Globo.

The 10-part series will be sold by Globo Internacional and has already been picked up by Azteca in Mexico.

Production starts in April, with the series following eight characters who travel to a remote prison to participate in a reality show.

“We’ve taken a strategic look at the market and worked out how to leverage our creative capabilities,” said Globo’s exec director of international business Raphael Corrêa Netto. “We wanted to develop and produce the first show ever for Globo totally based on our thinking for the global market – from script development to production and design.”

He added that Globo will continue to coproduce longer novelas, with the new show an “expansion” of the international strategy.

Ricardo Scalamandré, Globo’s head of international business, added: “This project is an evolution of our long presence in the Latin American and Hispanic markets and the value of Globo’s content to these countries’ audiences has stimulated the development of this production.”