Seven popular Spanish projects lined up for the ECAM forum

Seven popular Spanish TV projects still in their infancy will make their debut at the ECAM Forum’s first co-production market, taking place in Madrid from June 10 to 14.

Six projects from emerging writing talent were chosen from more than 150 entries by a team of writing experts, including International Emmy nominee Luis Gamboa (“Promesas de Campaña,” “Control Z”), Estibaliz Burgaleta (“You’re Nothing Special” , “Cable Girls”), Gorka Magallón (“Los hombres de Paco”, “Tad, The Last Explorer”) and Susana López Rubio (“The Time in Between”, “Presumed Guilty”).

The remaining project, “Fortuna Mineshaft” (“Pozo Fortuna”), the only one from a seasoned Spanish professional writer-director-producer – ​​José Antonio Quirós, Goya nominated for “Ashes from the Sky” – was invited to participate are presented to the ECAM Forum Series through an agreement between the Spanish film school ECAM and the Spanish copyright collective DAMA.

Gamboa, who together with Magallón also heads the master’s program in TV writing at ECAM, said the quality of the script was the main criterion in the selection of the six TV projects. “We didn’t look for a specific genre or evaluate the credentials of the writers. We all choose the most compelling and interesting stories.”

With genres ranging from drama-comedy to surreal neo-noir, social drama, biopic and children’s animation, stories are both rooted in the national and regional zeitgeist and widely distributed.

“Fortún” (“La isla de Celia”), For example, the Spanish writer Beatriz Arías of “Skam” is a biopic about Elena Fortún, one of the most famous authors of Spanish children’s literature, creator of the unruly female character “Celia” in her book series. It is also the story of a queer novelist forced to remain in the closet by the social conventions of the time – Spain in the late 1920s.

“When I was a child, I saw on RTVE a TV series based on the stories of “Celia,” Arías said of her project. “That character fascinated me. I identified with that rebellious and mischievous girl. I read the rest of Elena Fortún’s stories and fell in love with them.”

“As I grew up,” she continues, “I realized that I was more interested in the author than the character, so I started looking for information about Elena Fortún. Who was she? The more I learned about her, the more convinced I became that she deserved a TV series.

Arías, who researched the iconic novelist’s life, particularly in Tenerife, and interviewed Florinda’s son (the little girl who inspired the character Celia), won DAMA’s Best TV Screenplay award for the project and Movistar Plus+ on the last IsLABentura Canarias.

Another LGBTQ+-themed series, ‘Leather’ (‘Cuero’) by San Sebastian native Iñigo Alkorta, is set in the sports arena, with the main character Aitor as a Basque pelota champion.

“Cuero” addresses issues of sexual diversity, new and old masculinity, identity and sense of belonging. I want to tell a story about characters with very specific socio-cultural particularities (it is set in the Basque countryside), who face universal and much-needed changes in the story of our (still) hetero-patriarchal world, to which some latch on. and from which others want to escape,” said Alkorta Variety.

Social stigma and the difficulty of belonging are also tackled: ‘She and Me, But Mostly Her’ (‘Ella y yo sobre todo ella’) is about mental health, through the story of Claudia (30), who would rather lie to her friends and to the world, rather than accept her brother’s bipolar disorder.

Spanish-French creator Marta Ambel Meyer, who has visited several European serial labs including Eureka Series, MediaproLabs and DAMA Ayuda, has described her six-part series as a “trauma” or “sad comedy” about mental health, “particularly anxiety and bipolar disorder. , and their impact on individuals and those around them.”

“The idea for this series came from personal experiences and observations about mental health issues. “I want to bring it to the screens to raise awareness and understanding of these challenges, presenting them with a balance of humor and sensitivity,” she said.

Rooted in a childhood trauma experienced by Asturian-born creator José Antonio Quirós (at the age of 10 he was forced by his father to end up in a mine as punishment), ‘Fortuna Mineschacht’ (‘Pozo Fortuna’) is a social drama , located in the heart of the Spanish mining region of Asturias. Set in 1995, it follows a tragic mining accident, its impact and the secrets surrounding it, from the perspective of a group of widows. “It is inspired by a real-life accident that killed 14 miners,” says Quirós, who plans to serve as concept director and will look for a producer and financiers at ECAM Forum.

On a lighter note, although cast as neo-noir, “The Hive (“La Colmena”), written by Álex García-Castellano Gerbolés, is a surreal thriller set in 1992, on the eve of the Olympic Games. Private investigator Ulises Parra investigates some ‘very, very twisted murders’. References for the show include Robert Altman’s ‘The Long Goodbye’, Howard Hawks’ ‘The Big Sleep’ and the series ‘The Americans’ created by Joe Weisberg.

The creator, who has worked as a property developer for Mediacrest Entertainment and at Media Solutions Partners, said: “I wrote the series for two main reasons. I love classic film noir and I wanted to transfer its ‘essence’ into a Spanish setting. I also wanted to delve into the history of Barcelona, ​​a magical city that always carries an aura of mystery.”

Lighter, brighter and under the sun of Benidorm, the female-led drama series ‘Estrella del Green’ is also the only project with a foreign partner on board. Creator and director Denise Moreno is actually part of the London-based collective Common People Films, behind the Netflix/Universal Pictures music doc series “Once in a Lifetime Series.”

The company’s Head of Scripted & TV, Jonathan Duncan, serves as producer for the upcoming show, who was present at the latest Torino SeriesLab.

Moreno, who was named by HBO Access as one of the 25 best emerging directors of 2020, said she got the idea for the series while on holiday in Benidorm, heavily pregnant. The story revolves around an unlikely duo: a pregnant millennial and a bankrupt diva in her seventies, who set up a weed empire in Benidorm.
“It’s ‘Hacks’ meets ‘Breaking Bad,’ a gritty black drama set on the Mediterranean, inhabited by Almodovaresque women,” the logline says.

Fun for children and the whole family: the latest entry in the ECAM Forum Series, “Dibus”, is an animated series for preschoolers.

Jose Antonio Vaca Cerezo, who worked as creative director for the animation studios Futurum and Amuse, serves as co-creator together with motion graphics specialist Adrián Andújar. The adventure comedy for children tells about Nico (6) who comes up with thousands of adventures for himself and his friends when he gets bored and starts drawing.

“With ‘Dibus’ we want to encourage children to continue drawing, not only as a means of artistic expression, but also as a basic and fundamental way of expression for people, regardless of their technical quality, and above all to have fun!” said the co-creators who are looking for animation producers, studios and partners.

In addition to the pitching sessions, the seven series will participate in a four-day training program during ECAM Forum. In addition, they will compete for a Series Mania Award and a Serielizados Award, which will grant them access to the two leading series festivals.

Overview of the ECAM forum series:

“Dibus” (José Antonio Vaca Cerezo, Adrián Andújar)
Genre: animation
Size: 52×7′

Nico is a 6-year-old boy with a great imagination and love for drawing. When he is bored at home, he takes out his pencil and dives into the world of drawing. There he will experience a thousand adventures together with his special friends Moni, Bato and Chan.

“Estrella del Green” (Denise Moreno)
Genre: Black drama, thriller
Size: 8×30′

We follow two unlikely business partners in Benidorm – a pregnant zillennial and a bankrupt diva in her seventies, as they try to set up a cannabis empire, to the rhythm of reggaeton, trap and Remedios’ romantic ballads from the ’70s.

“Fortuna Mineshaft” (“Pozo Fortuna”, José Antonio Quiros)
Genre: social drama
Format: 5-6 episodes, 40-50 minutes

A firedamp explosion kills several miners. The tragedy causes shock, reveals secrets and has insurmountable consequences. In the spotlight are the widows of the miners who confront those they blame for the accident.

“Fortun” (“La isla de Celia”, Beatriz Arías)
Genre: Historical biopic, drama
Size: 6×50′

After losing her son, Encarna is forced to move to Tenerife, where she meets a little girl named Florinda, whose adventures will inspire her to create the character ‘Celia’ and become the successful children’s writer Elena Fortún.

“Learn” (“Cuero”, Iñigo Alkorta)
Genre: LGBTQ+ Drama Comedy
Size: 8×45′

Aitor is flamboyant and Mikel down to earth. Born in the same city, they are the greatest Basque pelota players and rivals, as well as best friends who maintain a secret love affair. Ultimately, they will have to overcome the prejudices of their sexist and homophobic environment to accept who they really are.

“She and I, but especially her” (“Ella y yo sobre todo ella”, Marta Ambel Meyer)
Genre: Drama or “Traumedy”
Size: 6×60′

It is the story of Claudia, a woman in her thirties with many fears, who struggles to keep her life built on lies afloat while facing the harsh reality of caring for a brother with bipolar disorder .

“The Hive” (“La Colmena”, Álex García-Castellano Gerbolés)
Genre: Thriller mystery, surreal neo-noir
Size: 6/7 x 45-50′

About a detective, Ulises Parra, a ‘Philip Marlowe’ with a Renault 19 and a Barça T-shirt, who has to solve some very, very twisted murders in Barcelona before the 1992 Olympic Games start.