With his Prime Video series Her Majesty debuting last week, Borja Cobeaga, screenwriter of Spanish comedy hits such as Pagafantas and Ocho Apellidos Vascos, highlights the role that streaming platforms have assumed in Spain as a ‘refuge’ for auteur comedy.

Streaming platforms have become the “refuge” for auteur comedy in Spain in the face of the increase in the number of remakes that have starred local cinema and television talent, says Spanish screenwriter and director Borja Cobeaga.

Cobeaga is one of the most recognised comedy authors in Spain, with titles such as the short film Éramos Pocos (2005), which won an Oscar nomination, and films such as Pagafantas (2009) and Ocho Apellidos Vascos (2014), the highest-grossing film in the history of Spanish cinema.

Cobeaga’s latest series Her Majesty debuted on February 27 on Prime Video, from his production company Sayaka Producciones in coproduction with 100 Balas, part of The Mediapro Studio. It was written with his usual partner Diego San José, and is about a wayward princess who must take over the position of her father, accused in embezzlement crimes.

“I consider myself very lucky because most of the projects I have written have been made,” says Cobeaga, who regrets, however, the lack of original ideas in Spanish cinema today.

“It’s curious, because I think things are moving very quickly. Around 2010, the media talked about the new Spanish comedy scene: talent such as Javier Ruiz Caldera, Daniel Sánchez Arévalo… titles like Tres Bodas de Más, Primos… It’s a shame, but that has disappeared. The production companies, and above all the television stations, have been more concerned with remakes,” he adds.

“Last Christmas there were four Spanish comedies on the billboards and all four were remakes. I find it very sad,” he says regarding titles such as Al Otro Barrio, the adaptation of the 2019 French film Jusqu’ici Tout va Bien; Un lío de Millones, adapted from the 2021 French comedy Mes Très Chers Enfants; and Sin Instrucciones, from the 2013 Mexican movie No se Aceptan Devoluciones.

“I have been offered many, many adaptations and I have not done any of them. I always say that there is no child who dreams of being a screenwriter just to adapt the French comedy of the year,” Cobeaga says.

Ocho Apellidos Vascos was the highest-grossing film in the history of Spanish cinema

While cinemas fill with remakes, the streaming platforms have become, according to Cobeaga, the medium where auteur comedy is currently flourishing in Spain. Examples include the series Vida Perfecta by Leticia Dolera; Celeste by Diego San José; Mira lo que has Hecho and El Otro Lado by Berto Romero; all on Movistar Plus+, and A Muerte by Dani de la Orden on Atresplayer.

“Streaming has been the refuge,” he says about the situation of Spanish comedy today.

Cobeaga himself wrote the series No me Gusta Conducir for TNT Spain and directed episodes of Justo Antes de Cristo for Movistar Plus+ and Vamos Juan for HBO Max. And now, with Her Majesty, he breaks a taboo until recently unthinkable in Spain: talking about the monarchy.

“It’s a project that has been in development for quite a few years now and perceptions in 2018, when we started thinking about it, were very different. The subject has opened up a lot now. Maybe in fiction not so much, but there are a lot of documentaries that talk in a stark way about the scandals of King Juan Carlos.”

He adds: “That clicked for us, because we couldn’t write something that was too tame or too soft. One of the fears we had was just falling too short and society being eight steps ahead,” he adds, acknowledging that this series is easier to fit in 2025 than it was 15 years ago.

However, the writer points out that comedy is not easy to sell to streaming, which usually ventures into the genre with broader proposals.

“In general, the streaming platforms want to have a commercial comedy framework that works and after that some more auteur comedy. That’s why they all have a series from the Caballero brothers, because they want to form a first line of comedies that have a lot of popularity. And, if those are successful, that allows them to make more different variants,” he says about the creators of titles such as La que se Avecina on Mediaset España and Prime Video; Muertos SL on Movistar Plus+; and Machos Alfa on Netflix.

The streamers’ openness to auteur comedy, however, also has its limits. And although his record opens the doors to production companies and platforms alike, Cobeaga reveals that there is a project he has in development that so far has been impossible for him to get off the ground.

“There is something that I have been trying to sell for I don’t know how long and I can’t get it greenlit. Lately I always write about fatherhood, and I have one project called Mi Luchita, which is about a father who realises that his son is the incarnation of Hitler. It’s a little bit like We Need to Talk About Kevin mixed with The Prophecy, but I just can’t seem to get it off the ground. Why is that?”