14 eight years ago, and the first edition took place in 2017 in Santiago de Compostela, where it remained for two years. Conecta then moved to Pamplona for three consecutive events, including the two pandemic years (2020-2021). Last year it went to Toledo, where it will be held again this year, for its seventh incarnation, June 26-29, 2023. The timing of Conecta Fiction reflects the reemergence of Spain as a major content producer and exporter. After a few years of somnolence, the country has arisen as a powerhouse — at par with the U.K. and Turkey — leaving behind countries like France, Italy, and Germany. Even Latin America, which at one time eclipsed Spain, is now bowing to Spain, having been left with only a handful of meaningful production and sales outlets in Brazil (Globo and Record) and Mexico (Televisa). Via a videoconference call from her Madrid base, Eva Zalve, Conecta’s Communications and Press manager, explained to VideoAge that even during the pandemic, Conecta held in-person events, but in September instead of its traditional June, while the June event took place online. “Naturally, the in-person events, dubbed ‘Conecta Fiction Reboot’ were smaller, but still well received”, she said. This year, the event will add a screenings showcase in the mold of February’s London Screenings in February, March’s Series Mania (in Lille, France), and October’s MIA Market (in Rome, Italy), with Conecta organizers inviting a select number of buyers to come for free. From 3,500 participants (pre-pandemic), last year’s Conecta attracted some 8,000 professionals from the ranks of showrunners, directors, screenwriters, producers, distributors, and content buyers. “The core of Conecta is its pitching sessions”, reported Zalve, “and now we’re adding the screenings.” The business model of Conecta is based on public funding, especially from the local entities that house the itinerary event, and, Zalve explained, “from sponsorship, exhibitors, and registration.” The event was conceived so that it will change venues every three years or so. Conecta Fiction is organized by Inside Content, a company founded by Gonard in 2016, involved in consulting, events organization (Conecta Fiction in Spain and ONSeries Lisboa in Portugal), and film distribution. French-born Gonard graduated from the IAE University in Bordeaux France with a Master’s the Ibero-American market), [and] the Sitges Film Festival.” Berta Orozco, head of International Sales and Co-Production at Mediacrest, contributed with this comment: “We are very committed to Conecta because it is our home market and we have always done very well there. This year, we will be doing sponsorship and advertising, although in other years we have also had events on a specific product with great success.” For the first Conecta Fiction edition, Alfonso Blanco, Portocabo’s executive producer and general director, was an advisor to the event. Now it is the company’s main national market, together with Iberseries and Platino Industria. “In addition”, commented Alfonso López, Portocabo’s producer and head of Business Development, “we always try to attend the rest of the international markets.” To Carles Blanch Bachs, head of Program Acquisition for Spain’s TV3, part of Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), Conecta is the only domestic TV event, at least “it’s the only one I go to”, he said. Blanch Bachs attributes the renewed success of Spanish TV content to the fact that it “travels quite well in many territories worldwide. There is also very good talent and freedom to explore the stories. We produce in house very good content with local and international partners. Our local production is distributed by us or sometimes if agreed, by one of the co-producers if they have an international distribution arm.” Blanch Bachs also explained, “We dub to Catalan [language] all content we acquire abroad. We are based in Barcelona and owned by the government of Catalunya. We own many radio stations, linear free TV channels, and at the beginning of 2024, we will launch our new AVoD OTT service all in Catalan.” As far as his acquisitions are concerned, Blanch Bachs reported that “around 75 percent comes from Europe and the U.K., and 25 percent from the U.S., mainly features. We are also part of FORTA, the Federation of Autonomous Public TV Stations in Spain, and at times we buy together.” Concurrent with Conecta, Spanish pubcaster RTVE’s international Content Sales division will be hosting its own annual Showcase for some 300 buyers June 27-28 at Toledo’s Hotel Beatriz, a short drive from Conecta’s Palacio de Congresos. Degree in International Management, before starting to work in Spain in 1997 for Sogepaq (part of Sogecable Group). In 2001, she joined Grupo PI, an international content distributor created by four of the major independent Spanish producers, as Sales director. She was appointed managing director of Grupo PI in 2004. From 2007 to 2015, she managed the international distributor of Imagina International Sales (part of MediaPro Group). In an email exchange with VideoAge about her background, she made a point of explaining, “I am fond of Spain forever, and for the audiovisual sector.” For the second year in a row, the venue for Conecta is located in the heart of Toledo, in the Palacio de Congresos El Greco that was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo as a meeting point for business, social, cultural, academic, and exhibition events. The city of Toledo is a 30-minute train ride to the south of Madrid. Miguel García, Sales director, Atresmedia TV, gave an outlook at Spain’s trade events scene: “Atresmedia TV attends different events in Spain around the year. Apart from Conecta Fiction, as an exhibitor, we will be at Iberseries [in Madrid, October 3-6, 2023]. Additionally, we will participate in activities around other festivals such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Málaga Film Festival, or Alicante Film Festival, among others.” The presence of Iberseries means that Secuoya Studios will not be participating at Conecta since the Madrid-based production and distribution company also organizes the competing Iberseries through its Fundacion Secuoya. Iberseries’ dates are also challenging for some potential participants, as they are close to MIPCOM (October 16-19), however Secuoya executives and market partners from Platino Industria did not want to stage Iberseries too close to San Sebastián (September 22-30). Laura Oliva, head of Content for Federation España, a subsidiary of Federation Studios (France), said: “We attended several editions [of Conecta] as producers, seeking new projects and talent, engaging in networking, and positioning ourselves in the national and international industry. In this new edition of Conecta we have submitted a proposal for the ‘Pitch HighEnd Series’ call with a television series project titled The Drop (Huellas), co-produced with the [Spanish] production company Pausoka. Other national markets [in Spain] that cannot be overlooked are the San Sebastian Film Festival, the Malaga Film Festival (for its connections to Conecta Fiction (Continued from Cover) June/July 2023 TV3 Catalunya’s Carles Blanch Bachs
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