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COUNTRYFILE

An essential market-by-market guide to the worldwide content business.

A new chapter opens for Spanish IP

With all eyes on Spain as country of honour at Mipcom this week, we look at how local players are battling against the odds to bring bestsellers to the screen, as fees for book rights soar and international players muscle in on Spanish-language literary IP.

DLO has adapted Miguel Sáez Carral’s book Ni una más (Raising Voices)

Demand for Spanish-language content is booming as both broadcasters and international streamers capitalise on the success of hit shows such as Netflix’s La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) and Élite (Elite).

Research by analytics outfit Omdia reveals Spanish-language programmes are now the third most-watched in the world – behind content from the US and Brazil – with 13.5 million hours watched by global viewers by June this year.

It’s a trend happening against the backdrop of the Spanish government’s ‘Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe’ strategic plan. Launched in 2021, the scheme will see more than €1.6bn (US$1.8bn) invested to transform the domestic screen sector by 2025.

In turn, the explosion in popularity of Spanish content has led to a hunger for TV projects based on literary IP, as risk-averse buyers seek to commission shows with built-in fanbases from bestselling book franchises.

Scenic Rights is a major player in this space. Founded over 20 years ago by Focus Group, the agency specialises in the sale of TV and film adaptation rights to literary works. With offices in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as LA, Mexico City and Prague, Scenic Rights brokers deals between authors, publishers and literary agencies and the producers who want to bring their books to the screen.

High-profile shows in which Scenic Rights has been involved recently include Reina Roja (Red Queen), the thriller series adapted from Spanish author Juan Gómez-Jurado’s bestseller for Amazon’s Prime Video, and upcoming Netflix psychological thriller La última noche en Tremore Beach (The Last Night at Tremore Beach), based on Mikel Santiago’s book.

Sydney Borjas

“Spanish-language literary IP is going through a golden period,” says Sydney Borjas, CEO of Scenic Rights. “In Spain, there is high demand for thrillers, comedies and books based on real events, such as biographies and true crime.

“In the case of Reina Roja and other series from Spanish-speaking markets, at the request of the producers themselves, we take charge not only of the sale of the adaptation rights but also of the hiring of the development team, aiming to create synergies between the books’ authors and the scriptwriters of the series.

“We always operate under the principle that the client requests these services, and in such cases, we also act as agents for the creatives. Additionally, thanks to our business and legal affairs team specialising in the audiovisual business, we have provided support in negotiating coproductions with investors we’ve brought into projects.”

Scenic Rights’ role as a conduit between the worlds of production and publishing is exemplified by Catalan prodco Isla Audiovisual’s plans to adapt the Kraken detective books by Planeta Prize-winning writer Eva García Sáenz de Urturi.

Scenic Rights represented author María Dueñas when she created the Vix Original dramatic comedy Los Artistas Primeros Trazos (The Artists: First Strokes), coproduced by Isla Audiovisual and 360 Powwow in 2022. Borjas was so impressed by Isla’s work on the series that he personally endorsed the prodco during negotiations to adapt Urturi’s hugely successful Kraken books.

Securing the rights to the Kraken series, which has sold four million copies and been translated into 20 languages, was a major coup for a modest-sized outfit like Isla Audiovisual. “Finding literary IPs is usually very complicated for a little company like ours because it’s usually just too expensive,” says Manuel Sanabria, creative director of Isla. “It was a complete surprise that the rights were available to Kraken. It was great luck for us that Sydney spoke positively about Isla to reach an agreement with Eva García.”

Isla is developing the first of the novels, The Black Book of Hours, into a 6×45’ series for an as-yet-undisclosed platform but hopes to build the project out into a long-running franchise, taking inspiration from later Kraken books such as The Angel of the City. Sanabria says having access to such well-established IP could be transformational for Isla.

“It could travel around the world, because the Kraken books are very universal mainstream thrillers, like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code,” he says. “We know the power of literary IP for the platforms, so when we started pitching the project it immediately created a great deal of interest.”

José Manuel Lorenzo, chairman and founder of Banijay-backed DLO Producciones, is a veteran of literary adaptations. La caza, Monterpdido (The Hunt, Monteperdido) premiered in 2019 on Spanish broadcaster RTVE and was created by noir fiction novelist Agustin Martinez, based on his book Monteperdido. There have since been two sequels: The Hunt, Tramuntana and The Hunt, Guadiana, while French commercial network TF1 is developing a local-language version, titled Rivière-Perdue, with Banijay France’s Terence Films and Gétévé Productions.

DLO also produced Movistar+ and Peacock’s 2020 historical drama Dime Quien Soy (Tell Me Who I Am), inspired by Julia Navarro’s epic international espionage book, and Disney+’s Las Largas Sombras (Past Lies), a female-led thriller based on Elia Barceló’s novel.

Most recently, DLO adapted Miguel Sáez Carral’s book Ni una más (Raising Voices) for Netflix. The series, about a teenage girl who claims she was raped by someone at her school, recently rated in the top 20 of Netflix’s What We Watched engagement report, which ranks the streaming giant’s most-viewed titles. Much like 13 Reasons Why, based on Jay Asher’s novel, the success of Ni una más proves that the young adult genre lends itself to small-screen reinterpretations.

José Manuel Lorenzo

“Platforms and channels are always very keen to target the younger demographic,” says Lorenzo. “It’s very difficult to attract young viewers to TV because they’re more connected to TikTok and social media platforms, but when you hit them [with the right TV project] they’ll follow you to the end.”

In the literary adaptation space, DLO is currently producing a fourth season of La caza, as well as developing an ambitious adaptation of Javier Cercas’ non-fiction book Anatomía de un instante (Anatomy of an Instant). Lorenzo advises producers to develop passion projects from their favourite novels rather than chase the rights to overpriced bestsellers.

He says: “I’m advised about novels that are due to be published, but to be honest, most of the books I acquire the rights to are the ones I’ve bought to read myself and am passionate about. The most important thing [with projects based on literary IP] is being successful in our own country, then from Spain you can conquer the world.”

In April, at the last MipTV market, TV executives bemoaned the sudden escalation in the cost of licensing books for adaptation, noting that the literary sector is cashing in by demanding higher fees for rights. In his role as content executive at Banijay, Steve Matthews helps the group’s producers develop titles with global appeal, with literary IP playing a pivotal role.

Matthews told delegates in Cannes: “The book market has immediately shot up crazily. It’s in response to the conservative nature of buyers. They’re looking for more proof of concept than they were a few years ago when they were prepared to take on more risk.”

It’s a similar situation in Spain, where the competition is so fierce, literary rights are often snapped up before books are even published.

“The prices are going up and if you want to go after a popular book you have to be very aggressive in terms of your offer,” says Iván Díaz, head of international at producer and distributor Filmax.

“Nowadays you must be involved at a much earlier stage. You can’t wait until a book has sold a particular number of units before trying to get the rights, because it will already be too late by then.”

Barcelona-based Filmax has adapted numerous books for both the TV and film markets. In 1999, the company produced horror film The Nameless, based on Ramsey Campbell’s book, and is now developing a TV series inspired by the same IP.

“At Filmax, we’re keen on adaptations because it helps to start with IP that has already proven its value,” Díaz says. “Sometimes a buyer has read a book we’re pitching and has a connection with it. That makes it easier to make a deal because you don’t have to explain anything about the project – they already see the potential.”

Spanish prodco Unicorn Content recently acquired the rights to Mira a esa Chica (Look at that Girl), winner of the Tusquets Editores Novel Prize in 2022 and written by Cristina Araújo Gámir. The Madrid-based prodco, owned by Mediterráneo Group, will adapt the work with screenwriter Estíbaliz Burgaleta, while Begoña Álvarez, Unicorn’s director of fiction, will lead development.

In an increasingly cutthroat environment, Unicorn’s strategy is to build close relationships with authors and cut out intermediaries such as brokers and agents.

“We do it all by ourselves because it’s important to get a real emotional connection with the author,” says Víctor García Martín, general manager at Unicorn Content. “If possible, we try to go directly to a book’s author or publisher.

“In the case of Look at that Girl, which is about the victim of a gang rape, it was about communicating with Cristina and starting a creative journey with respect and collaboration. Unicorn’s experience in producing current affairs and documentary content convinced the author of our vision for this project. Money matters, of course, but it’s not always the most important thing.”

The hunt for IP sometimes sees Spanish prodcos look beyond their own borders. Madrid-headquartered Secuoya Studios produces Spanish-language swashbuckling series Zorro, based on the exploits of the masked vigilante created by US pulp writer Johnston McCulley in 1919. Commissioned by Prime Video in the US, Latin America and Spain, the show has been sold into 28 territories, with buyers including France’s M6, Italy’s Mediaset, Belgium’s VTM and Hungary’s RTL Klub.

“Once we got in front of the right partners, the power of this iconic IP dating back over 100 years was absolutely key,” Sergio Pizzolante, president of commercial and distribution at Secuoya Studios, told C21 at SeriesFest in Denver in May. Secuoya is now adapting Javier Cercas’ novel Terra Alta for Movistar Plus+.

Gabriel García Márquez’s classic One Hundred Years of Solitude

With 500 million Spanish speakers globally, it’s little wonder that international players are investing heavily in content for Spanish, Latin American and US Hispanic audience. Netflix spent US$50m adapting Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez’s classic work One Hundred Years of Solitude into a 16-episode epic, produced by Bogota-based prodco Dynamo and scheduled to stream later this year.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude is kind of the white whale – people have been trying to adapt it for years,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the Royal Television Society London Convention in September. “It’s one of the big-swing bets that our teams have been making around the world and I can’t wait for people to see it.”

Spanish-language studio Exile Content, which has offices in LA and Mexico City, adapts literary IP from both Spain and Lat Am. The Candle Media-owned outfit is currently developing a scripted feature based on an upcoming book by Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell. It details the incredible real-life story of four children who survived a plane crash and 40 days in the Amazon rainforest before being rescued by Colombian special forces last summer.

Nando Vila, head of studio at Exile Content Studio, says Spanish producers shouldn’t worry about being outbid for Spanish-language IP by deep-pocketed global streamers and studios.

“Obviously the Spanish-language market has grown a lot since the emergence of the streamers, with hit shows such as Money Heist travelling far beyond Spanish markets,” he says. “IP – a way of distinguishing your project in the marketplace – is now at a premium. The case of One Hundred Years of Solitude shows the global streamers are now looking to adapt iconic Spanish-language IP.

“However, the Spanish-language literary IP sector has not been as cannibalised as the English-language market, where powerful studios scoop up potentially lucrative book rights. There are still many opportunities for producers in our market. If you’re clever, you can still find some good stuff.

“Fundamentally, at the end of the day, the best content [based on Spanish-language IP] comes from a local sensibility. Making IP work in local countries is the best recipe for success, then hopefully the content can travel beyond its own borders.”


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