ITV

Tag: Christian Gockel

  • Beta Film adds shows to its successful Spanish series slate

    CANNES: After the tremendous success of its Spanish slate of Velvet, Grand Hotel and Embassy, Beta Film is further extending its engagement in the Iberian series sector by boarding two new Atresmedia/Bambu-shows as international co-producer. The epic historical drama Morocco – Love in the Times of War (WT), for which13 episodes have already been greenlighted, and the drugs&crime-series Farinia – Snow on the Atlantic (WT), both based on true events and characters, are set to begin shooting in spring and expected to be delivered later this year.

    Both series are the next stage of the long-standing partnership between Beta and Atresmedia. With their unique blend of emotion and suspense based in a combination of lush, often historic settings with trademark dramatic storytelling, the shows have been sold to more than 100 territories around the globe with multiple remakes in various countries.

    Beta Film’s EVP Acquisitions & Sales Christian Gockel: “With Morocco – Love in Times of War (WT) and Farinia – Snow on the Atlantic (WT), Atresmedia and Bambu have raised the bar yet again by taking the unique blend of romance and drama we know so well from outperforming predecessors like ‘Velvet’ to true-to-life characters and dramatic historic backdrops. We are extremely proud of being partners in this ongoing success story from its early days through to today.”

    Atresmedia Television director of acquisitions and sales Mercedes Gamero said, “After the international success of “Grand Hotel” and “Velvet” we at Atresmedia are very proud of this agreement with Beta Film for these projects. We are confident Series Atresmedia continues its international development as a label of quality, presenting universal stories around the world as a leading factory of Spanish content.”

    Morocco – Love in Times of War (WT) is set in 1921s war-torn Spanish Morocco where a group of young, upper class nurses seeking to find valid cause in their lives clash with their lower class but more achieved colleagues already on the scene. Arriving in the northeastern Moroccan city of Melilla, they find the city assaulted by local rebels and retreating Spanish troops in need of medical care. Among the new arrivals is 25 year-old Julia who, devoid of any nursing experience, has conned her way to Morocco search for her fiancé Andrés and brother Pedro, both missing in action. Love triangles and dramatic downstairs-upstairs conflicts abound among nurses and doctors, soldiers and locals in a lush and dramatic setting where love and life are won and lost by the whims of fate.

    The idyllic countryside of northwestern Spanish Atlantic Coast provides the backdrop of new the crime series Farinia – Snow on the Atlantic (WT). Framed by the 1990 true-to-fact razzia of almost the entire Galician drug cartel, the show depicts the dramatic transformation of simple but sly fisherman Sito into the prosperous, blood-stained, cocaine smuggler he became by providing the South American cocaine czars with the much desired entry gate to Europe for their packets of white powder resembling so much, in appearance, the locally produced flour, Farinia – Snow on the Atlantic (WT).

    Morocco – Love in Times of War (WT) and Farinia – Snow on the Atlantic (WT) will be presented to the international audience by Beta at this fall’s MIPCOM in Cannes.

  • Movistar+ & Telefonica partner with Beta on first originals

    CANNES: The Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and its premium Pay-channel Movistar+ partner with Beta Film on their first original productions, The Zone and the Velvet-spinoff Velvet Collections.

    The prestigious, high-budget series The Zone is plays out in a post-Fukushima-like mid-sized community and rural area in the North of Spain whose struggle for a return to any semblance of normalcy is severely hampered by a sudden series of gruesome killings in the no-go zone. Velvet Collections takes the best of the ratings-hit into the next generation, when the Marquez-clan opens a glamorous shopping palace in Barcelona.

    The Zone and Velvet Collections are the latest productions in the cooperation of Beta Film and Telefonica, which also includes the Tom Tykwer event-series Babylon Berlin, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Same Sky and Sky Italia’s political thriller-series 1993.

    Beta Film’s EVP Acquisitions & Sales Christian Gockel: “We’re extremely proud and bullish about this new installment of our long-standing, successful partnership with Spanish broadcasters and media houses, further underpinning BetaFilm’s position as an essential partner in helping to bring great Spanish TV product to the screen and international marketplace. We are thrilled to be a part of this groundbreaking effort of taking the already high standards of Spanish storytelling and production quality to the next phase.”

    Written, directed and produced by Jorge & Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo, the Zone (eight hours) follows Inspector Hector Uria, the only survivor among those who were the first to help after the meltdown in the nearby nuclear power plant and his quest to conquer not only the killer but the demons of his own past. Physically recovered but mentally far from it, Hector is drawn into the investigation of the killings which show traces of cannibalism. The eight hour, highly ambitious series marks Telefonica’s first venture into Spanish domestic production and will be delivered at the end of the year.

    Velvet Collections from the Spanish production powerhouse Bambu follows in the footsteps of its outperforming Free-TV-predecessor, sold to more than 100 territories worldwide including a format-deal to the U.S., when the clan sets his sights on the Catalan capital Barcelona where new opportunities call. Telefonica has scheduled ten episodes of the glamorous series for its PayTV-platform Movistar+.

    Both series are currently in pre-production and will be presented by Beta at MIPCOM 2017 in Cannes.