Spanish fiction as a cultural engine of the audiovisual industry, under debate

The Academy of Television and Audiovisual Sciences and Arts, with the collaboration of the Madrid City Council, brings together a group of renowned professionals to talk about the social and economic impact of Spanish fiction inside and outside our borders at the conference Spanish fiction: the cultural engine of the audiovisual industry.

Participating in the debate, held this Wednesday, October 20, in the Borau Room of the Cineteca, were Diego Ávalos, vice president of Netflix Content in Spain and Portugal; Domingo Corral, director of Original Fiction at Movistar+; Javier Olivares, screenwriter and executive producer; Ana Pastor, journalist and producer; Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, directors, producers and screenwriters. The journalist Concepción Cascajosa, professor of Audiovisual Communication at the Carlos III University of Madrid, was in charge of moderating the meeting.

En la actualidad las historias que contamos trascienden la pantalla y generan conversación, impulsan tendencias, asientan usos y costumbres, ayudan a potenciar el turismo y promueven cambios y avances sociales. Bajo estas premisas, un grupo de profesionales conversó sobre el impacto positivo de nuestra producción audiovisual como motor cultural y sobre la huella de la ficción española dentro y fuera de nuestras fronteras.

To Diego Avalos de Netflix, “uno de los cambios más importantes que se ha dado en la ficción es la democratización de la producción. Un contenido puede ser creado en un país y visto en todo el mundo al mismo tiempo. Recuerdo los primeros acuerdos que hicimos con España para series como Velvet, Gran Hotel, Vis a vis, Águila Roja… Series that began to succeed in Latin America. That gave us the clue of the great talent of this country and that is why we decided to bet on The Cable Girls. Después han venido fenómenos como Élite o La Casa de Papel que han roto la barrera del idioma”. “La diversidad y el talento que tiene este país en sus historias, en su geografía y en sus culturas es algo de lo que tenemos que estar orgullosos en esta industria. No podemos ignorar el puesto privilegiado que tiene España, comparte idioma con 500 millones de personas y conecta el espacio que existe entre Europa y Latinoamérica. No hay otro país que pueda decir esto en el volumen y en el impacto”, destacó Ávalos.

Por su parte, el académico Javier Olivares He stated that "regarding culture and series, I do not give so much importance to the fact of making history series. I am a scriptwriter, I am a writer and I tell stories... And I told these stories, Isabel, Victor Ros o The Ministry of Time because Spain was not talked about in the series. I wanted to talk about us and I didn't imagine that they could have such a projection." Regarding fiction as a cultural engine of the industry, he pointed out that "there is a culture of series that we have to start defending and I think that series have reached a point of artistic expression that can be studied like the history of art or medicine. The evolution of language, the authors, the industrial impact... In the end, they have become an emotional school, a sentimental school, taking a stance on life because we have seen ourselves reflected on the screen. "It is not necessary to make cultural series, it is necessary to make good series to reach people."

High level of demand

To Ana Pastor from Newtral, "an entire generation is learning the history of Spain, the history of humanity through the series. What has that meant for us as a team? A very high demand because it has to be done in such a way that people learn, with rigor. When the team talks to me about The Crown o Chernobyl, and there is fiction there, the first thing we have learned is that we are addressing an audience that intends to learn from what we do. The second thing is that we have a very high level of demand because people have a very high audiovisual culture. The third learning is the coexistence between the two worlds, traditional television with platform equipment. And the fourth thing, which seems wonderful to me, about this new world is that we are professionals, some of us are newer, that we know each other, we respect each other and we are helping each other. I have always believed that competition is good because it demands more from all of us.”

Sunday Corral de Movistar +, señaló que “nosotros empezamos con un proyecto muy ambicioso que fue La Peste. Con ella introdujimos un tipo de serie que no se hacía en España. Intentando traer autoría a la ficción, que puede venir del cine o la televisión. Lo importante es tener una visión original de la historia, saber lo que se quiere contar y dotar de los recursos que hacen falta a los proyectos. Otra cosa que hemos intentado hacer es contar nuestro país. Tengo en la cabeza Fortune, que es la serie que acabamos de estrenar, pero nuestra ficción es itinerante, movemos equipos por localizaciones de toda España. Y esa veracidad puede verse en historias como las de Hierro, Vengüenza o Anti-disturbances”.

Los directores y productores Javier Calvo y Javier Ambrossi, creators of series like Paquita Salas o Cardo, they talked about their experience with international phenomena such as Poison: "We wanted to break down the belief that LGBT series are niche. We wanted to make a great series for everyone about the story of a trans woman. Whenever a series on this topic was thought of, it was thought to be small and we wanted it to be accessible to everyone," said Calvo. "On the other hand, we did it responsibly. Having the actresses who had to be there and having people from the group in each department. The USA, the awards, the people have happened, but I have not forgotten the social responsibility of fiction. We still have a lot to achieve but I feel very proud to have brought to the table the concept of empathy, responsibility and opportunity for new talents. What will never go out of style is the impact of how we do things," explained Ambrossi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skYTNvY9Cyg