The studio is working on fourteen fiction productions, co-productions and originals, including adaptations of El zorro and The School of Americas.
Spanish company Secuoya held a press event on Thursday to officially launch Secuoya Studios, which will produce fiction, unscripted and film content in Spanish for the main platforms, producers, operators and broadcasters in the US, Latin America and Spain.
Along with the presentation, in addition, the first confirmed projects were revealed, among which a new adaptation of the mythical El zorro stood out.
As explained, it is backed by producers such as Andy Kaplan, John Gertz and Jesús Torres.
Likewise, the renewed series area is also working on The School of Americas, Lesley Gill’s novel, and a Kevin Grevioux comic about a Latin superheroine. In addition to these series and a dozen other co-productions, in the unscripted area, there is an international adventure reality for an international platform, new formats with figures such as Carlos Saura and José Andrés for the national market, and, in the cinema division, five films (El Test, Heroínas del barrio, Todos lo hacen, Solos and the adaptation of Botas de colores para días de lluvia), in pre-production and shooting in 2021.
As previously announced, the Secuoya Studios are led by James Costos from the headquarters in Los Angeles. The studio also has six other international bases: Miami, Mexico City, Bogotá, Santiago de Chile, Peru and Madrid.
In addition to its original and third-party productions, new cross-cutting areas were presented such as production service, joint ventures and tax incentives “to compete at the highest level with a true value offer in a constantly evolving market.”
“All this is supported by an ambitious business plan with the aim of participating in the production of 35 projects with an annual budget of 125 million, figures that will be achieved in the coming years. Over the last year there have been projects in all the areas covered by the study for a value of more than 40 million”, they highlighted.
“In this sense, its strategic plan has as a priority to bet on the creation through the development and ownership of large IPs in Spanish, with the aim of reaching a wide portfolio of projects financed by the producer itself. Likewise, the new studio will generate strategic relationships with leading international industry partners for the creation, development, co-production and distribution of entertainment, fiction and film formats, which will expand existing projects with operators, platforms and distributors,” they added.
14 FICTION PROJECTS
In addition to El zorro and The School of Americas, Secuoya Studios are currently working on Supernormal, an original series for Movistar+ directed by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro; a project around the first voyage of Christopher Columbus based on The loss of paradise, by José Luis Muñoz, in addition to the series of books by the Galician writer Domingo Villar about the curator Leo Caldas and the announced La mala leche, an adaptation of the comic screenwriter Henar Álvarez.
The area of original IPs is led by David Martínez, who works with renowned talents such as Carlos Portela, Javier Ruiz Caldera, Jaume Balagueró and Carmen Fernández Villalba, among others.
In the co-productions section, in addition to La isla with Tiki Pictures, there is an original project with Morena Films directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera and created by Carmen Fernández Villalba and Carlos Portela, as well as a horror series starring Álvaro Morte with Jaume Balagueró in the direction with Infinito Films.
Also, a youth series in co-production with Argentina and Italy is already in development, and a comedy about the universe of women’s football with the scriptwriters and directors Teresa Bellón and César F. Calvillo.
The series area will be focused mainly on the markets of Europe, the US and Latin America, as well as the rest of the divisions of the study. In this clear international vocation, the experience of Sergio Pizzolante, former president of Sony, as representative of Secuoya Studios for LatAm / US will be key.
MORE THAN 20 UNSCRIPTED DEVELOPMENTS
In addition to the series and cinema areas, there is also the unscripted formats department, which generated more than 1,500 hours of television in 2020.
“Aware of the enormous weight of streaming in new consumptions, the area of documentaries, news and entertainment implements the development of new television formats for the national market with such important figures as Carlos Saura and José Andrés, and begins an exciting stage with their arrival in Latin America, with its own teams at the headquarters in Mexico, Chile and Colombia”, they highlighted.
“In addition, the unscripted area has with 20 projects in different phases of development after signing agreements with reference partners such as Universal Music, Starlite and Cultura Inquieta. In this sense, it is preparing a new international adventure reality for a world-wide platform, which will begin recording throughout this year ”, they completed.
