My Latin love affair with Conecta
By Siobhan Crawford
20-06-2025
Siobhan Crawford left her heart at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in Spain this week and came back more aware of the potential of the Lat Am market and with some tips for the organisers.
Let me tell you a story about a faraway (two-hour shuttle!) medieval village on the top of a (steep) hill. A place where everyone is so goddamn lovely, where cultures blend and don’t clash, where the temperature is so hot the story might end with someone actually melting. A place where we unite because we truly understand that connection is the only way to buy and sell in the media industry.
The place name is unimportant for the story – because it changes every few years to another delightful oldy-worldy Spanish town with regional tourism euros to spend – but this magical place is Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, and it just so happens this year the event was held in Cuenca.
The lowdown
You know my heart belongs in Cannes but last year I fled London in need of a safe haven and luckily Geraldine and Veronica provided it in the little town of Toledo at Conecta. From that first attendance in 2024 I was hooked. Now it has become my annual pilgrimage, for as long as the event lasts.
Conecta is now in its ninth year. It is a three-day conference plus a one-day think tank that unites mostly the Iberian and Latin markets. But it actively welcomes internationals with instantaneous translation systems and English-language sessions and it provides a deep dive into the Spanish market with new countries of special interest each year, this time France and Canada.
Conecta provides a deep dive into the Spanish market
The focus is fiction, and let’s be honest, you can tag ‘and Entertainment’ on to a name but it needs the substance to back it up and that is still not there. But I depart (emotionally) richer than when I arrived: my connections are deeper, my reach globally is further and my admiration for colleagues in different sectors of this industry grows.
But also, I like to think that the local markets appreciate that this English girl continues to be committed to learning and showing up. I set no sales goals as historically there have been no stands to sell from. However, in 2025 this has been an addition to the market that I am on the fence about, but thankfully it does not detract from the event as I only used them to attend the copious number of drinks parties.
The think tanks have been my favourite part as they bring together 100 industry professionals from different areas and take the temperature of the market from a day of talking on different subjects whilst rotating tables. This year, unfortunately, it was a damp squib as we challenged professionals to consider creativity and put it to use in different ways. I think reverting to the 2024 model would do everyone the world of good, but also we need to start with The Wit presentation, since MD Caroline Servy did such a brilliant job of analysing the market and any good think tank should start from a place of knowledge.
The two and a half days of sessions are still plagued by the dominance of fiction (yes, I am THE original format girl) and while we did have a rich collection of fiction commissioners from different countries, including Brazil, Finland, Italy, Brazil and US Hispanic plus the whole gamut of Spanish, this was not reflected in the entertainment slate, where the broadcasters don’t really attend to talk to us.
And keep in mind that Spain is the home of format acquisitions, with local deals for Trivial Pursuit, Race Across the World and Baggage all announced within a week (and rumours of The Box too). Just imagine how incredible it would have been if Televisión Española had been there to explain this windfall.
The lessons
I am here to learn, and we hope Conecta will too:
• Cuenca is too far. Let’s move to a medieval city closer to a beach and transport please.
• Sessions require moderation to keep them on point.
• Think tanks can be task-based but they need to be focused on growing connections.
• You can be fed too many nibbles – there is such a thing as too generous.
• We need the Spanish channels to attend for all genres, meaning we need to bring this back from losing the battle against Iberseries and yes, entertainment is that way!
• Fiction buyers are romantic people – the love they have for their genre is evident in how they speak of their projects and the way their companies operate. Big love to Globoplay, Rai and YLE, you pulled at the heart strings. And Bell Media, wow, I am blown away.
• North America, Central America and South America – Mexico is not South America. Yes, some of us Europeans are ignorant but come to Conecta and you will be enlightened on how to and how not to speak about the countries.
• Amazon’s Oscar Prol [head of unscripted originals in Spain] said something profound, I thought: Amazon creates content that is unique, people pay a subscription fee and so Amazon cannot be creating content that can be watched for free elsewhere. That hits.
• Conecta does not need to reduce the number of attendees to control quality, they need to open it up to bring in more people. A smaller market this year was felt (and seen in the auditoriums).
• Street meeting walks are guided tourism organised for you, and it is Conecta’s superpower to think of the people, not just the business.
A toast to Conecta – opening cocktails in Cuenca
The Latins
It is the rise of Latin America. We cannot ignore this any longer. They have all stood up (individually, unfortunately) and said they have studios and tax incentives and hubs and want to be seen as a solution to the problems. We have opportunities for coproduction in fiction, certainly, and for unscripted we know that countries like Peru and Colombia want to make use of the monster studios, plus they have successful formats that we did not even know existed.
We know their economies are in different states, the strength of production varies by country and infrastructure is different. OK. But now is the time to embrace the fact the region wants to buy and produce – just look at the fact that Portugal’s Quiz With Balls is being produced in Argentina. Plus, honestly, us Europeans need the warmth of these spicey people, and it has honestly warmed my soul to speak with them and develop connections that leave me with open invites to visit.
In a nutshell, come (but not you international distributors – I don’t want to share my beloved spicey people). This is a market for loving who you are with and not who you know, so connect jaja!
