_
_
_
_
TELEVISION

Spain, the new springboard in Netflix’s bid for world domination

The streaming giant has opened its first European production center outside Madrid, where it aims to make between four and six series a year

Reed Hastings and Paco Ramos at Casa Netflix.
Reed Hastings and Paco Ramos at Casa Netflix.Jordi Adrià
Silvia Hernando

Reed Hastings and Francisco Ramos, citizens of the US and Mexico respectively, are the perfect embodiment of Spanglish – the language and cultural hybrid that has been coming together for some years in a laudable bid for world domination. While they themselves have only been a team for a year and a half, Hastings and Ramos have a similar goal in mind.

Their secret weapon is Netflix, the online entertainment streaming giant, which has just opened Casa Netflix, the company’s first production center in Europe. Here, at this Spain-based center, they aim to produce between four and six series a year – a figure that will rise to between 10 and 12 productions that will be filmed across the length and breadth of the country.

Move over, Hollywood. A new wave of global television shows made in Spanish has arrived. But why stop there? There will be original-version productions in a number of other languages, plus dubbing and subtitling into 10 and 28 languages, respectively.

We don’t just have the best screenwriters, directors, showrunners and craftsmen, we also have top-of-the-range installations

Francisco Ramos

Hastings, 58, is the co-founder and CEO of Netflix, a project that started out as a mail-based DVD rental service and has ended up as an on-demand online entertainment multinational available in 190 countries with 139 million subscribers, three million of whom are in Spain.

Ramos, 50, is a producer with several blockbusters under his belt such as Three Steps Above Heaven and Superlópez. When he and Hastings crossed paths during the making of the series ?lite, they agreed that Ramos would take charge of the original content division for Latin America and Spain.

On the day of the inauguration ceremony for Casa Netflix in Tres Cantos, outside Madrid, this dynamic duo came to town and gamely posed for photos in the dining booths generally used by the company’s employees for lunch. After renting the facilities from the producer Secuoya, Europe’s Netflix hub consists of 22,000 square meters that accommodates three film sets and a further two in progress that will be ready at the end of the year.

“We don’t just have the best screenwriters, directors, showrunners and craftsmen, we also have top-of-the-range installations,” says Ramos. “Madrid is our office, but that doesn’t mean that we are going to produce everything here. In fact, we are already producing shows across Spain, in Andalusia, Catalonia, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia and the Canary Islands. This country doesn’t just have artistic wealth, it is also diverse in terms of the landscape and culture.”

Hastings says he is hooked on the French production 'Call My Agent!'
Hastings says he is hooked on the French production 'Call My Agent!'Jordi Adrià

According to the company’s own calculations, approximately 13,000 people, including actors, behind-the-scenes technicians and extras, worked on original projects in Spain in 2018, a figure that will rise to 25,000 this year.

While the directors meet in one room, there are dozens of journalists one floor down enjoying the hors-d’oeuvre being passed around. Hastings is only able to give one interview and he gives it to EL PA?S. He is on a tight schedule packed with meetings and events, including a royal reception. The little free time that he has over is being spent in some of the city’s best restaurants. That is all he has been able to see of Madrid, he says, while admitting that he only speaks very basic Spanish. “I am going to move here. That’s why it says Reed Hastings on the door,” he jokes. “No, I’m always travelling, but Paco will spend more time here, as well as in Mexico and LA.”

Several days earlier, Apple unveiled its own streaming platform, a project that Steven Spielberg is involved in – surprisingly perhaps, given that he once railed against streaming services and their effect on movie theaters. “The first thing I thought after the ad for Apple’s streaming service was that I want to see their programs, some of them seem great,” says Hastings. With his greying hair and goatee and astute gaze, the Netflix exec doesn’t dodge any of the questions fired at him, but nor does he get into too much detail. He declares that the growing competition will only make the corporation stronger. “We are a company that focuses on just one product that we feel passionately about,” he says. “Amazon, for example, is a massive company, but it does a lot of different things, including entertainment. So in that sense, our most direct rivals are Disney and HBO.”

Our most direct rivals are Disney and HBO

Reed Hastings

The opening of Casa Netflix in Spain sees the company taking the creation of its own content in different languages to the next level. Indeed, some months ago, the EU made it mandatory for streaming platforms to include at least 30% of European content.

Since it broke into the Spanish market in October 2015, Netflix has released 24 Spanish productions and 40 co-productions in conjunction with other companies. “People like to relax in their own language, so most people prefer dubbing to subtitles,” says Hastings.

From France to South Africa and India to Norway, the company is keeping a keen eye out for homegrown talent. “We have just taken on an exec to work with the African series and another one in the Middle East,” says Ramos.

With International successes like La Casa de PapelMoney Heist – Spain has emerged as a force to be reckoned with artistically, hence the decision to establish the headquarters here. “Netflix has allowed me to work in a way I’m comfortable with; with different, lateral material and characters with their own idiosyncratic characters,” says ?lex Pina, the showrunner of Money Heist who is now producing another English-language series called White Lines, and has confirmed he is working on something “wildy Tarantinian.”

Francisco Ramos has several blockbusters under his belt.
Francisco Ramos has several blockbusters under his belt.Jordi Adrià

“It is in real time, and again we are doing away with the lines usually drawn between good and evil. It’s a lot like a road movie and we’ll have three women in the eye of the storm,” he enthuses. Pina took just nine minutes to convince Netflix execs to snap it up. “It was a very good pitch,” concedes Ramos, who makes it clear that you don’t have to be ?lex Pina to get your ideas heard. “We get 10 to 15 pitches a week. Anyone can pitch an idea but we try to coordinate so that someone will hear it before it reaches us. The competition is fierce and we’ll say no if it is weak.”

Pina was invited along to the inauguration of Casa Netflix, together with the actor ?lvaro Morte and director and president of the Spanish Film Academy, Mariano Barroso. While they officiated the event, an episode for the third season of Money Heist was being shot just meters away, behind the door to a studio where Hastings and Ramos have their photos taken before rushing off to their next appointment. “Things are only like this when the boss is here,” says Ramos.

During his down time, Hastings likes to drink coffee, explore the world and “sometimes watch TV.” Ramos used to go to Barcelona on weekends to visit his family and play golf, but now he spends his time keeping his eye on the competition. “It is important to know what everyone else is doing,” he says. “I watch a lot of Latin American soap operas these days.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix encourages its employees to point out who they would fire among their colleagues. This degree of internal transparency has proved a controversial ploy along with their habit of keeping certain statistics under wraps, such as viewing figures. It came to light last October that Netflix issued around $2 billion (€1.8 billion) in bonds to fund the production and acquisition of content. “We have a very small debt in relation to what we are worth,” says Hastings. “The company is worth €135 billion and our debt is less than €13.5 billion.”

But since it was founded in 1998, the company’s success has been eye-watering, with the name Netflix now all but synonymous with ‘television series’. “As far as I am concerned, it’s happened very slowly,” says Hastings, who admits that not everything he has touched has turned to gold. “The biggest [failure]? In 2011 we tried to create a DVD rental service [separate from streaming] called Qwikster. The customers didn’t like it at all.”

Having recovered from that particular flop, which led to the loss of 800,000 subscribers in the US, it looks increasingly as if the platform is poised to fight for the cultural domination of the entire planet. “Well, we are barred from China,” says Hastings. “But elsewhere, yes. We want to be the ones to discover the great storytellers and provide them with a global platform.”

English version by Heather Galloway.

More information

Archived In

_
_
seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com