Spain’s independent production scene is leaning into a familiar playbook — strong creators, distinctive local stories and plenty of hustle — while looking for new ways to make those stories travel.
Globomedia’s entertainment slate remains closely tied to comedy, a genre that director general Maria Jose Rodríguez said is embedded in the company’s DNA. The company has been behind influential Spanish TV titles including “Sé lo que hicisteis” and “Caiga quien caiga” — shows that, she argued, helped reshape the country’s television landscape.
“Comedy is the best tool we have to entertain, generate critical thinking and connect with one another,” Rodríguez said.
For 100 Balas, real-life stories and creator-driven fiction are at the heart of the strategy. Director General Alejandro Flórez described the company as “a production company with stories, with origins and with authors,” pointing to real cases, investigations and creators capable of building their own worlds.
The company is also betting on the second season of “Celeste,” created by Diego San José and starring the ever-popular Carmen Machi, who was honored with the prestigious National Film Prize at San Sebastian Festival, as a tax inspector who delves again into tax evasions, money and powerful interests.
On international expansion, Flórez said: “We don’t make series thinking about traveling,” he said. “You shouldn’t be afraid of being local.” For Flórez, a distinctly Spanish voice can be precisely what gives a series international legs.
At Big Bang Media, meanwhile, live television remains a major part of the DNA. General manager Carmen González pointed to “Malas Lenguas,” which has evolved across RTVE’s La 2 and La 1, different time slots and different presenting teams.
“It’s a typical example in television,” González said of the show’s ability to move between channels and audiences while retaining its identity.
“We’re looking for creators who have a lot to say, as well as literary titles that we believe can make an important leap to the screen,” González said.
“Cimarrón is also a mixture,” López said. “We started as a mix of two countries and are now a mix of five countries, of very different formats and projects, but above all of very different people.”
That mix is increasingly feeding original development. López said that five years ago, roughly one in five projects was created in-house; today it is one in three, with the company aiming for one in two.
“There is no territory that thinks while the others simply execute,” López said. “We try not to make the stories smaller. We make the project possible so that the story can be possible.”
Its latest feature, “5 minutos más,” produced with Ikiru for Movistar Plus, premiered at San Sebastián, where Javier Cámara won the Silver Shell for supporting actor. The Berto Romero-scripted film, directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera, mixes comedy, thriller and apocalyptic elements.
Across all five companies, the message was remarkably consistent: the market may be crowded, budgets may be tight and production increasingly complicated, but distinctive voices still matter.
For Esteve, the formula comes down to “talent, irreverence, risk, passion, honesty and play” — plus one decidedly unglamorous ingredient: “the desire to work, because without work none of this is possible.”
