The Department of Time’s’ Onza Touts ‘Sattva,’ a Political Drama Series with Luis Gamboa, Ruben Sanz (EXCLUSIVE)

Anna Marie de la Fuente
·2 min read

In its continued bid to create more premium content for the Latin American market under its Onza Americas banner, Madrid-based Onza Entertainment – behind such hit series as “The Department of Time” and a collaborator on Dopamine’s historical drama “Hernan” – is developing political drama series “Sattva.”

Created by Spanish actor Ruben Sanz (“El Dragon”) and written by Int’l Emmy-nominated Luis Gamboa (“Promesas de Campaña”), the series is conceived as a transatlantic production between Mexico and Spain.

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Onza is presenting “Saatva” at Iberseries & Platino Industria’s new Co-Production & Financing Forum on Sept. 28.

The abundance of streaming platforms –  and their insatiable demand for content – that allowed shows to circulate across more territories has encouraged more content production, said Valentina Pozzoli, Onza’s director of development & international co-productions. The success of such Spanish-language series as “Money Heist,” (“Casa de Papel”) “Dark Desire” (“Oscuro Deseo”) and “Elite” has also been a motivating factor. “We’re developing a variety of series in different genres, including sci fi, family and police dramas,” she noted.

The eight-episode series follows police officer Axel who is focused on organized crime prevention but whose delinquent past catches up with him when a young woman he’s always cared for has been kidnapped. As he runs into more obstacles to find her, he will have to pay the price for his unsavory past.

Onza Americas, headed by Los Angeles-based Harvey Grisalez, is in production on “Isla Brava” with TelevisaUnivision’s new SVOD, ViX+. The melodrama, set in a hotel resort, is actually being filmed in the Canary Islands in order to tap the islands’ generous incentives.

The new ViX+ Original series stars Fernanda Castillo, Erik Hayser, Flavio Medina and Bárbara López, among others,

Created by Esther Feldman and helmed by Pitipol Ybarra, “Isla Brava” kicks off on the night that Lucía (Fernanda Castillo) confesses to her husband Alfredo (Flavio Medina), the owner of a high-end resort, that she is in love with his younger brother Bruno (Erik Hayser). That same night, Alfredo vanishes. A detective with a rather unorthodox working style comes to solve the case. The search for Alfredo will reveal a sordid past fraught with greed, blackmail and a pile of gambling debts.

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