 LATAM | DISTRIBUTION |
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| Zasha Robles: "We Are Signing Deals in the US and Latin America" |
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Spiral International's director spoke to ttv about the distributor's newest titles, including TV series Le Grand, starring Jean Reno, directed by René Balcer.
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Spiral International, directed by Zasha Robles, represents SevenOne International's content in Latin America. At this year's LA Screenings (May 15-23, Los Angeles, US), the distributor presented several new additions to its portfolio, such as the movie The Greening of Whitney Brown or TV series Los Kennedy, premiered at MIPCOM 2011 and distributed in 50% of Latin America.
THE MAIN DISH
The company's biggest production for the Latin American market is series Le Grand (8 x 50'), officially presented at MIPTV 2012, starring Jean Reno (The Da Vinci Code). "TV series Le Grand is Jean Reno's big TV debut. It's an eight-episode series for primetime, with a US$ 2.5 million budget per episode," said Zasha Robles to ttv. The series will be shot in July in Paris (France), and take close to five months until it's premiered during the first part of 2013.
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Le Grand has several strong points. For instance, it's the first time a star such as Jean Reno is the lead in a TV series. In addition, the director and writer is showrunner Rene Balcer, who's responsible for over 300 episodes of Law & Order and over 150 episodes of Criminal Intent. "It's the first time he steps away from these two series to do something different within the same genre," he said.
Meanwhile, the series also stands out for taking a story similar to the Da Vinci Code to the small screen, where there's a crime at the beginning of each episode that has some connection to monuments, historic events or symbols, with Paris as its backdrop. "90% of it is filmed on outdoor locations. There's almost nothing done in a studio. Filming will be done in sunny Paris," said Robles.
As far as the budget goes, the executive explained 90% of it is covered by European sales. "We are currently negotiating with the US and Latin America. It's been accepted well since it's a model that worked so well with The Da Vinci Code; it's a story with a series of amazing facts. In addition, the series will be shot entirely in English; it won't have a European feel," he said.
LATIN AMERICA: ACTIVE MARKET
Lastly, the executive spoke about the Latin American market, where he believes SVOD is gaining ground: "It was a very busy first half of 2012. There's great movement in this market," he said. "And we are very excited since we have genres for all types of needs: formats, animated content, action movies, dramas, romantic comedies, series, miniseries and documentaries. It's an assorted catalog that's both large and current, and that's a great asset," he said.
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