Italian and Spanish film and TV producers long used to exploring the political, social and cultural in their countries as storytellers have come up with a strategy to maintain creative freedom in an era of algorithms and global streamers.
“We have to take risks. If you don’t take risks, you will repeat and repeat the same. And that won’t lead you to the right place,” Corral told the MIA Market on Monday during a panel entitled Can Excellence Survive the Mainstream.
The former MovieStar exec and producer of Cannes breakouts Sirat and La Bola Negra, argued Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s gay epic featuring Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz was an example of a film not likely to inspire confidence among film commissioners, but has emerged to score at the box office in Spain and quite possibly at the Academy Awards.
“La Bola Negra is a film about queer love, about civil war, all the words that a commissioner would tell you, ‘it’s going to be failure.’ Well, this was one of the best films at Cannes and it’s one of the contenders for an Oscar,” Corral argued.
La Bola Negra, the Spanish-language epic that Netflix acquired out of Cannes for an awards season push, has been given a long platform theatrical release in U.S. theaters starting on Oct. 16, before streaming on Dec. 2.
Having just signed a deal with HBO Max for his Good Day Productions banner, Corral said producers and programmers have to support the creative and origional vision of filmmakers, and give them enough resources to make films that play at home and internationally. Belén Atienza, a producer with Spain-based Suspense Entertainment, said she expected streamers to do exactly that by taking more risks to reach audiences craving fresh content.
“Suddenly the big players realize they can make a lot of money at the box office. But they need to take that risk. And specifically in Spain, that is happening,” Atienza argued. While financing indie movies remains a challenge, the Spanish and Italian producers agreed there was still room for bold, distinctive storytelling among streamers chasing mainstream audiences.
Fernando Bovaira, a Spanish producer a Mod Producciones, argued tax breaks and subsidies for domestic producers in Spain had led to creative stability. “That’s important for producers because it’s not always easy to finance films,” Bovaira told the conference.
He added streamers should continue to support original voices, even as they chase mainstream audiences, to ensure a competitive edge. “I’m optimistic that the platforms will embrace more creative risks. If you make a film for a platform, you enter into a closed circuit, and the life of the film or series will only be in that circuit,” Bovaira added. “We are working well with the platforms.”
For María Zamora, a producer with Elastica Films in Spain, the streaming platforms have become key to offset falling license fees from traditional broadcasters as they embrace films with both commercial and critical potential. “There’s this will from the platforms: They want it all and they want excellence,” Zamora argued.