‘Sister Death’ Producer El Estudio Names ‘Servir y Proteger’ Showrunner Tirso Calero as TV Contents Director, Spain (EXCLUSIVE)
Buoyed with Paco Plaza’s “Sister Death” riding high in Netflix non-English film global rankings for a second week running, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Madrid-based El Estudio has named seasoned Spanish showrunner Tirso Calero, creator and script co-ordinator on “Servir y Proteger,” “Bandolera” and “L’Alqueria Blanca,” as TV contents director in Spain. He is based out of Madrid. His incorporation coincides with the creation of a TV division at El Estudio, which Calero will head up.
Taking effect from last week, the appointment makes large strategic sense. El Estudio founders and chiefs Enrique López Lavigne and Pablo Cruz are among the top and most cosmopolitan film producers in the Spanish-speaking world, Cruz ranking as Mexico’s best-known arthouse/crossover movie honcho and a driving force behind modern-day Mexican cinema when heading up Canana; and López Lavigne rating as one of Spain’s most innovative producers, seen most recently in Hombres G musical “Voy a pasármelo bien,” backed by Sony, Amazon and RTVE.
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Cruz has a long and building history of TV production out of Mexico and the U.S., backing pioneering premium series “Soy tu fan” and “Niño Santo” and producing two seasons of “Luis Miguel.”
El Estudio has recently scored with “Marea Alta,” aired and backed by TelevisaUnivision streaming service ViX and written by Anton Goenechea and directed by Roger Gual.
The missing part of the puzzle for El Estudio has been producing TV series in Spain at a time when the country rates with the U.K. as Europe’s leading production hubs for streamers, both producing 39 scripted series for platforms in 2022. Over 2015-22 Spain produced 113 series for global streamers, only bested by the U.K.’s 129. That compares to 75 in the Nordics, 69 in France, 63 in Germany and 62 in Italy, according to European Audiovisual Observatory research published this month.
Here, Calero brings a lot to the table. Breaking out by writing on 2007’s “L’Alquimia Blanca” and creating and writing “Bandolera” (2011-13), like “Money Heist’s” Alex Piña and “Cable Girls’” Ramón Campos, Calero has been trained in the the toughest of professional schools: Seeking to maintain viewers’ attention over 60-70 minute episodes, often on daily soaps.
A screenplay coordinator on the Campos-lead “Gran Reserva” (2010) and “Amar para Siempre,” running 2013 to date, and a writer on “Remember When,” which premiered on 2001, few if any of Spain’s creator-writers have been associated with so many modern classic daily series, Calero also creating and serving as show runner and executive producer on police drama soap “Servir y proteger,” which ran to 881 episodes over 2017-23.
Calero comes to El Estudio from The Mediapro Studio where he served as a screenwriter and executive producer, forming part of its salaried creatives team. He took up his position last week With Calero on board, El Estudio is developing three series projects, with different subjects and settings, but “with the common denominator of always thinking about the public,” Calero told Variety. “We want to produce accessible series, for a wide audience, departing from an interesting storyline premise and a novel and attractive framework,” he added.
El Estudio will also explore non-fiction. “Documentary series are on a roll and we’re very interested in them. In fact, we’re working on a project in this line,” Calero added.
His appointment also comes as the Bambu-produced “The Vow” (“La Promesa”), a Studiocanal-RTVE co-production, has helped La1, public broadcaster RTVE’s biggest TV channel, overhaul Telecinco as the second most-watched TV service in Spain, while breaking out first sales abroad.
“Given my career, it would be logical to produce a daily series. As everyone knows, they’re highly appreciated by production houses and obtain large channel fidelity,” said Calero. “Fortunately, global streamers have also realized the value of telenovelas: Netflix hit “Café con aroma de mujer” is an excellent case in point. El Estudio has a global vision of TV fiction, and, of course, series with dozens of episodes is in our objectives.”
“It’s difficult to find anyone in Spanish fiction registered in letters of gold in the design and writing of so many classics. For us it’s an honor to count on the experience and expertise of Tirso Calero, which completes our strategy in fiction with new titles in development made by premium talent,” said López Lavigne.
“Counting on Tirso Calero as part of El Estudio as our new TV director for Spain is a privilege. I’ve known him for some time and followed his career closely. For a trans-Atlantic company as El Estudio we know that his presence will be a marvellous journey,” Cruz added.
Calero added that international co-production is “part of our DNA.” “It’s increasingly common to team up with writers and directors from other countries. Based out of our office in Mexico, we have a big international project, a historical fiction inspired by a novel from a really well-known writer, which would bring together talent from both sides of the Atlantic.”
Going forward, Calero’s appointment is a “clear bet on TV in Spain,” El Estudio said Monday in a written statement. “With three films in development for the next two years, the company aims to combine movies, series and TV documentaries, at the same time as addressing new challenges and opportunities which the sector currently presents,” it added.
“After a slightly tumultuous last couple of years, with an audiovisual bubble, I think the market will now gradually settle down. Spain will go on being a fiction TV production powerhouse, as well as a large consumer. Also, we can become a European gateway for many international co-productions,” Calero said.
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