U.S. HISPANIC
RTVE: Co-producing has become a must if you want to be competitive
Maribel Ramos-Weiner| 20 de octubre de 2023
EN VIVO Jose Pastor RTVE Iberseries
South International Series Festival, being held for the first time in Cádiz, kicked off with the screening of the miniseries La Ley del Mar, based on the true story of a fishing boat that rescues some Eritrean refugees from a raft on open seas, triggering a diplomatic conflict. It is a co-production of RTVE with the public TV of Valencia, À Punt Mèdia, and Studio60. Directed by Alberto Ruiz Rojo and starring actors Luis Tosar and Blanca Portillo, it is available in Latin America for all windows.
José Pastor, director of Film and Fiction at RTVE, said in an interview with EN VIVO with Ríchard Izarra that the three-episode miniseries will be broadcast weekly and have few episodes because what matters is to adapt to the consumption habits of viewers.
“We will have to work with series with fewer episodes to ask less loyalty from the viewer or with stories like classic sitcoms in which you can skip an episode and return whenever you want. Reducing episodes is a move seen on open TV as in other media because, in the end, producing many represents a greater risk due to costs,” he explained.
He noted that co-producing has become a must to be competitive because the costs per episode have skyrocketed, and they are always trying to find financing alternatives. “In this sense, other regional television stations help because we have the same interests, values, and obligations as public service,” he said.
Tax incentives can contribute to a larger budget, as what happened with La Ley del Mar.
He commented they have received many projects, and RTVE promotes fiction in Spain. They try to work with independent producers as much as possible. They currently have several projects in the writing, production, or post-production phase, so they are well covered for 2024 and 2025.
In Latin America, they co-produced the series Los 1000 Días de Allende with the Chilean company Parox and are very happy with its results. They recently received several projects.
“What matters is to have a party always leading the production, and that is what we are looking for in this type of project.”
Currently, RTVE is working on all genres: dramedy, stories based on factual events, and biopics, looking for variety so no project is the same as the other.
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