The eighth edition of Spain’s Conecta Fiction & Leisure, one of Spain’s leading TV development and production panels, was held in the historic city of Toledo from 18 to 21 June.
Known for the grand Cathedral, the Alcázar fort and the outdated and outdated avenue, history carries great weight in Toledo. However, there was nothing mysterious about Conecta Fiction that captured the current contradictions of the global television industry. 10 lessons:
A Busy and Busy Connected Fiction from 2024
Conecta Fiction in 2024 was busy and hectic. The causes are abundant. “The end of Peak TV is severely exaggerated”, proclaimed María Rua Aguete, from Omdia, in a presentation on World Developments at Conecta Fiction. At more than $40 billion, the original spending of the four main US companies – Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney – it is the second biggest year on record, surpassed only by 2022. There is still a huge global demand for Spanish TV. As of April 2024, more hours of original Spanish-language content were watched in the US (22.5 million) and Brazil (18.1 million) than in Spain (13.5 million). The meeting was boosted by a large participation of major TV players from Brazil and Portugal, with their lists full of new projects.
This year’s mantra: efficient value
But the big challenges facing the TV industry also impacted the meeting.
The television industry continues to undergo an ongoing transformation, argued Omdia’s Rua Aguete. This eliminates a multitude of methods, but one of the main drivers is a major shift to cheaper visualization and production. Almost as far as the audience is concerned, this is seen in the rise of Instagram, now with 1.5 billion users, and the rise of free ad-supported streaming TV channels (FAST), especially in the US and Brazil, where surpassed conventional pay TV providers.
Manufacturing: Suppose Co-Manufacturing, Delicate Money
The associated pricing crisis occurred at Conecta Fiction, as players activated ways to deliver high-quality programs without losing their shirt. A practical example, “Weiss & Morales”, highlighted by Conecta Fiction. Germany’s ZDF, ZDF Studios and Nadcon Movie co-produce with Spain’s RTVE and Portocabo. The crime drama, exploring family and success, is being filmed in Gomera and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, which offers tax incentives of 45% to 50%. “Co-production and taking advantage of some of the biggest incentives in Europe allows broadcasters to secure rights for their home markets at a fraction of normal prices, without harming production levels,” said Peter Nadermann of Nadcon. Selection with a smile. Furthermore, companions share IP.
The Age of Realism
What kind of budget will SkyShowtime deal with? Kai Finke, content director at SkyShowtime, was invited to this Conecta Fiction talk. “We need to be practical about funds, although we are certainly trying to order a wide variety of tasks out there,” he responded. Any viewers hoping for Max’s homegrown epics in Spain, released April 21, may also be left disenchanted. Max will target adult audiences with brands – such as “Pekin Categorical”, “Bare Attraction” – or IPs, stories based on real-life events, given their impression in the media, and Spanish stars, said Alberto Carrullo, head of Max Iberia and Italy. 2025 will see many smaller tasks, a Conecta Suppose Tank predicted. Many titles launched this year at Conecta Fiction corroborated this prediction.
SkyShowtime Lecture
Courtesy of Conecta Ficção
The Great Thing About Smaller Sequels
There are different explanations why smaller collections could also be in favor. “We are very open to producers who need to maintain IP, our only concern. It’s about maintaining exclusivity for Spain”, said Susana Herreras, from Movistar Plus+, at Conecta Fiction. Global streamers are buying only local rights – Max, for example, of the Iberian eco-thriller “Lume” and the Spanish “Favoritix” – opening the door for producers to expect them to occupy a standard 1 pay window, covering a large portion of budgets . In large fund collections, producers still need a streaming partner that covers 100% of the funds and receives 100% of the IP, when IP retention is the order of the day.
Shunt towards the Mainstream
Netflix shocked the world between 2107 and 2118, releasing massive plays across the globe that were high not only in production values but also in creative ambition. Imagine “Cash Heist” with its unreliable narrator, or the “Darkish” play with the Higgs boson models. Those days are over. Originality today simply comes from how far series deviate, differentiate and mix from classic formats, often in stories set in new contexts. The results will be exciting, as in “Crimson City”, one of the great discussion titles on the forums. But Conecta Fiction has noticed the shift towards simple genres – more than 60% of the titles featured in Conecta Fiction’s Co-pro and High-Finish titles can be described as procedurals or thrillers, or both. Many missions, however, uncover gigantic social issues.
Transfer of Brazilian producers to intellectual property and co-manufacturing
While Conecta Fiction welcomed Brazilian producers as a nation in focus, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revealed plans at Rio Quanta Studios last week to invest R$1.6 billion (US$295 million) in Brazilian films and collections in 2025. The sector is already receiving US$516 million in funding from the Paulo Gustavo Regulation, in a measure given the green light before Lula entered power. A global funding quota for steamships, now under fierce debate in Congress, would pour hundreds of thousands of additional dollars into the industry. Brazil is already making bold series – “Senna”, from Netflix, for example – and films – “100 Days”, by Carlos Saldanha – and fair offers to become the new cinema-TV locomotive in Latin America. Many exhibits can be introduced into the open world market. “Our overarching goal is to retain intellectual property. Our future is to be IP holders”, advised Tiago Mello, from Boutique Filmes Selection. Many different producers share this sentiment.
A transfer to “lighter” leisure
Conecta Fiction was won by two musical titles about young people pursuing their desires, whether or not they compete in the pop folk Balkavision Music Contest, – the extravagant musical comedy-drama “The Adventures of a Turbo-People Princess”, winner of a prize of €50,000 (U.S. $53,500). ) Council of Europe Sequence Co-Manufacturing Improvement Award – or become a Kpop star, as in “Ok-Dream”. The series needs to be lighter,” says Nadermann, exemplifying his own “Weiss & Morales,” an episodic procedural set on the spectacularly lush Canary Islands of Gomera and Gran Canaria, whose landscapes provide viewers with “escapism,” he argued.
Weiss Morales
Credit score: Fernando Torres
Portugal: Land of Alternative
A shout out to Portugal. A decade ago, I did home series and soap operas. This year at Conecta Fiction, the greats of the new Portuguese television scene arrived in the city with new programs, from broadcasters RTP, TVI and SIC to producers SPi, Caracol Studios, Coral Europa, Plural Ent., Fado Filmes, Glaz, Shine Iberia Portugal and Ukbar Filmes and authors Edgar Medina and Leonel Vieira. Portugal has an expansive and bold international trade. It has the lowest price for 1 minute of TV in Western Europe, it has experience and a government that supports it, “a substitute for the American/Brazilian markets (for companies) trying to produce great content in a cheaper way”, said Carolina Alckmin from Glaz. Selection.
Business Information
Offers and business information at Conecta Fiction:
*Israel’s Sure has embarked on “Crimson Metropolis,” from “Lupin” co-creator François Uzan and Ofer Seker, behind HBO Max’s “Uri & Ella,” a neo-Western set in 1957 Israel about how its South was conquered.
*Dominic Barlow, from “The Last Kingdom”, is teaming up with writer-EP Brendan Foley on “The Angolan Clan”, one of the highlights of this year’s Conecta Fiction pitch classes.
*Brazil’s Ventre Studio and Disney are about to begin production on Carlos Saldanha’s live-action epic, “100 Days”, shaping up to be one of the greatest Brazilian films of all time.
* Studiocanal launched extra sales of “The Vow,” a pioneering premium daily series from Bambu Producciones (“Velvet,” “Cable Ladies”) and RTVE, which energized the Spanish publisher’s ratings.
*Also part of Conecta Fiction’s Focus Brasil, the production company ‘3%’ Boutique Filmes broadcasts “Sete Meninas”, with the Portuguese SP1, as well as a new science fiction program by the creator of 3%, Pedro Aguilera.
*Glaz Entretenimiento, based in Portugal and Brazil, is teaming up with Boat Rocker to develop the Azores-set fantasy thriller series “Human Nature”, Glaz’s entry into the English script, Glaz presented at Conecta Fiction.
*Greta Molas, creator of the original Argentine version of The Cleansing Woman”, has signed with Madrid-based Hispánica Audiovisual and Uma Movies in Córdoba, Argentina, to develop “Escorts” set in a world of luxurious sex workers and arranged crime.
*In additional information from Conecta, Ventre revealed “Coligay”, a scripted series about an unprecedented example of courage and resistance, the flamboyant collective of homosexual football fans of the title, who flourished under Brazil’s military dictatorship. Catnip for companions around the world.
*Secuoya Studios launches a European sales and worldwide co-manufacturing division, hiring María García-Castrillón as its director.
*Germany’s Pixable Studios has embarked on the TV series “Finiterra”, which Portuguese producer Take It Easy spoke about on Conecta Fiction.