Category: iWorld

MUMBAI: 11 October marked a new way of program scheduling for Disney+. The streamer dropped five episodes of drama series Return to Las Sabinas on its service  in Spain and all over the world  (in India, viewers can watch it on Disney+Hotstar ) and on Hulu in the US. So what’s new about this? 

What is new about Return to Las Sabinas is the gutsy decision that Disney+ Spain vice-president original production Sofía Fábregas  has taken. Episodes of the telenovela drama are being dropped  daily weekday morning for the next 65 days for the 70 episode series. (For diehard melodrama viewers: in India daily episodes are being introduced Monday to Friday at 12:30 pm with English subtitles .)

While that is pretty déjà vu for television viewers and programmers in India, for the Spaniards to use the television daily drop routine on an OTT platform is pretty daring. 

“It’s yet to be confirmed if it’s going to be a success or not, but Disney was willing to take the risk to be the first with something that was both established, but because nobody had tried it [in streaming], also very new,” Fábregas told Deadline.  “We wanted to take something that the audience was accustomed to and put it in an unexpected place.”

But with Fábregas confessing that it is a big risk, she’s taken steps to at least reduce it by hiring the best to put their might behind the production as well as innovating on production  values. For one, she hired  Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal production company to do the job. Then she roped in  experienced  show runner and creator Eulàlia Carillo  as its executive producer while bringing on veteran Jordi Frades  to helm the show. 

Instead of the tacky indoor studio sets that telenovelas are normally shot in, she decided to film it on natural outdoor and indoor locations in and around Barcelona  to make it look premium. Each 45 minute episode was shot over two and a half days with two cameras giving it a cinematic look instead of the one day given to normal daily dramas. Post production was also allocated twice the amount that normal dramas get to make the output on screen look snazzy. Writing was given two and a half  years so that the right hook points, cliff hangers could stand out and bring viewers back daily. 

The series stars top Latino actors like Celia Freijeiro, Andrés Velencoso, Olivia Molina, Natalia Sánchez, Nancho Novo, and María Casali. 

The story follows two sisters, Gracia and Paloma, who return to their childhood home in Las Sabina to care for their father. Gracia reconnects with her first love, Miguel, who is now engaged to Ester. However, his brother Tano, is still in love with her and refuses to back down. Paloma takes over the family lands and clashes with landowner Paca Utrera, who has a nefarious plan for the town. In the meantime, the girl’s father, Emilio, attempts to reconcile with his daughters, but a hidden secret complicates his efforts. 

Sounds familiar? Like many other telenovelas or drama series? 

Frades told Deadline that the idea is not to have a very different plot. “We want the people to find love, passion, drama, comedy and everything they like in a daily show, but maybe with a little upgrade.”

Even Carillo accepts that. Speaking to Deadline he said:  “It starts, as any other fiction does, with a question: What would you be willing to forgive? The series is about forgiveness and second chances. It’s also about first love and how it impacts on our lives, and also new loves and how we find love even when we don’t expect it.”

Fábregas  told Deadline that she’s going by her gut. She said:  “I would say it’s a bet, and let’s see if we win,” she noted. “It is a bet because we haven’t done it yet, not us or not the other streamers. We’re programming against other streamers. Could it change the rules? Potentially, yes. Maybe in five years all the streamers will have programming like this.”

Or could it happen earlier?