Spanish production house Dlo/Magnolia, owned by the giant Banijay Group, has revealed an ambitious TV drama slate, led by psychological thriller series “La Caza. Monteperdido,” a TV adaptation of Agustín Martínez’s best-selling novel “Monteperdido.”
Filming in the Aragonese Pyrenees, the eight-episode, 70-minute high-concept TV drama is scheduled to premiere on RTVE’s flagship channel La 1 in first quarter of 2019.
Under managing director José Manuel Lorenzo, Dlo/Magnolia is upping the ante on TV fiction, underscoring the Banijay Group’s aim of building its scripted offering in Spain, as the superindie continues acquiring production assets to increase its TV drama footprint worldwide.
“After many years focused on TV entertainment, Banijay is betting very seriously on TV fiction. As a traveling companion, I could not find a better one, they help you get the projects moving forward,” Lorenzo said.
“Monteperdido” marks the first step in this new era at Dlo/Magnolia, in which fiction takes on a more leading role, although it will continue combining this with the production of TV entertainment (“Cosas de la edad,” “Radio Gaga,” for Movistar + channel #0) and feature films (“Los Japón,” with Atresmedia Cine). Further news related to Dlo/Magnolia’s burgeoning TV drama slate takes in:
Related
*Eduard Cortés, the showrunner on Catalan TV drama “Merlí,” a Netflix worldwide pickup, is attached to write “Dime quien soy” (“Tell Me Who I Am”) a Movistar + Original series which adapts Julia Navarro’s same titled best-selling novel. The project, who is entering in pre-production, was previously linked with director Fernando González Molina.
*Dlo/Magnolia is in advanced negotiations with Telemundo to produce “El inmortal,” a TV drama project written by “Fariña” co-scribes David Moreno and Diego Sotelo.
*Agustín Díaz Yanes, director of features such as “Oro,” “Alatriste” and “Nobody Will Speak of Us When We Are Dead,” is developing fiction series “Primera Página,” set against the background of Spain’s ‘70s transition to democracy as seen from the newsroom of flagship newspaper “El País,” with feature references such as “The Post” and “All The President’s Men.”
*Dlo/Magnolia has also tapped Argentina’s Mario Schajris (“Los Roldán,” “Patito Feo”) to write “Líbranos del mal,” an impossible love story between two young people set in the world of Catholic Church.
*Initially written by Roberto Giménez, “Heridas” is a thriller series project that follows three women cons allowed out of jail to work at a hotel where a crime occurs.
“We are most certainly growing our investment in fiction production, especially in development and talent,” said Lorenzo, who founded Dlo in 2011, and joined the Banijay Group in 2013, merging last year Dlo with Banijay’s Magnolia, giving rise to Dlo/Magnolia.
“Being part of a global business like the Banijay Group, operating across 16 territories, we have access not only to a great international distribution arm for both sales and remake rights, but also to share ideas and know what the group is producing around the world,” Lorenzo added.
Produced by Lorenzo, “Monteperdido” rolls from early September to mid-October in the town of Benasque at the foot of Spain’s highest Pyrenee massifs. It will continue in Madrid locations. Salvador García Ruiz (“Isabel”) and Álvaro Ron (“Velvet Collection”) direct.
Megan Montaner (“No Identity,” “The Embassy”), Alain Hernández (“Plastic Sea”) and Francis Lorenzo (“Red Eagle”) star in the TV thriller, who turns ON the disappearance of two eleven-year-old girls from a town in the Pyrenees, WHO left school but never got home.
Five years later, one of the girls is founded, disoriented and wounded, after the wreckage of a car crash in a nearby mountain pass, alongside a man’s body.
Two agents specialized in missing persons and a high-ranking Civil Guard officer will work together on the investigation, that soon reveals a labyrinth of crime, endangering their own lives in a race against the clock to discover if the second girl is alive. The series is written by Martínez, Antonio Mercero, Miguel Sáez Carral, Jorge Díaz and Luis Moya.
“Unlike other series, ‘Monteperdido’ has a unique plot, which develops all the characters and the different milieu in the town. It’s aserial, in line with titles such as ITV’s ‘Broadchurch,’” said Lorenzo.
He added: “The Benasque Valley contains all the magic described in the novel, becoming one more character in the story.”
The novel has been sold to 16 countries, including Germany, U.K. and France.
If “La Caza. Monteperdido” works, it would become the start of a TV franchise under the title “La Caza,” where Megan Montaner would star as an agent pursuing crimes in different locations across Spain, Lorenzo concluded.