Two years ago, Warner Bros announced a macarra metamorphosis in the world of audiovisual platforms. HBO, its reference brand in quality, the acronym under which the history of television had changed forever in terms of series and audiovisual fiction or documentaries, was diluted in another call Max. We take little fans followers of the previous The soprano, Game of ThronesTwo meters underground, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire or any invention that came out of your creator’s head, David Simon…
They are titles that changed the rules of television creation forever and placed a bound bar to compete for excellence. That bet created a dynamic through which AMC or other competition brands accepted the envy and sometimes they even surpassed it with works of the category of Mad Men o Breaking Badand even forced the massive Netflix to embark on fundamental works such as The Crown to enter that league, even if out of refilish.
Dynamics, I repeat. Of contagion, but above, in the category of art, not the mere entertainment. Precisely that, creating a catalog in line with pure works of art that will mark school and emulate the great novels of the 19th and 20th Foodie Loveby Isabel Coixet or the fundamental Patriaby Aitor Gabilondo, based on Fernando Aramburu’s novel. His brilliance, his boldness, that imprint, the constant risk dazzled the contemporary generations and the coming ones that dreamed of devoting themselves to the trade in the future.
But that Olympus was razed and is now a ruin with minimal and debatable flashes, in case of recent success in its list as The White Lotus. A series, okay, for whom he likes it, but who, nor by Asomo reaches the level of his classics. The decline and contempt of commercial logic imposed on art have humiliated it, above all, and they have forced her to follow a balance of balance that we can find for any corner and not in a specific place and with proper name within a reference platform.
That wonder – hopefully not unrepeatable – he was heavy in the world of Hispanic fiction. And within Spain, the old Canal+ —To Movistar+ -, when Álex Martínez Roig was responsible for content, he began to tour that path through a first title that marked a before and after: Crematoriumthe adaptation of the novel by Rafael Chirbes, signed by brothers Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo. Today is a classic and a reference. In addition, it did not become an exception, but the norm through which that brand was radically bet on high quality works.
Martínez Roig replaced Domingo Corral and this, faithful to the steps of the previous stage, multiplied the offer of amazing invoice and was recruiting several of the best talents in Spanish cinema to produce both series and movies. Corral was a cinephile willing to fulfill a personal mission. I wanted, as far as possible, to follow the mandates of art within the logics of a business in full fiction. It was cautious, discreet, but genuinely determined. Soon no one could stop in his bets, where a constant risk prevailed. He had his powerful reasons, allied with a sensitivity carved in years of Cineclubs in front of all types of screens and applied them. An outstanding division of the best talents signed up for his car and followed. He exercised charismatic leadership and strong abilities for seduction with which to make possible projects and risky projects.
The reference titles and names that, have either allied since their prestige or have consecrated themselves thanks to their support, has been huge. In the beginning within the platform, he embarked alongside Alberto Rodríguez in At fish. The alliance between Corral and the director of The minimum island o Model 77 It has not ceased. In fact, 2025 will be the year in which the premiere of Anatomy of an instantJavier Cercas’s masterpiece on 23-F that the Andalusian director for series and his new film is adapting: The tigers. The one of At fish It was a joint commitment in which the producer played his future thoroughly, but that went well. Criticism acclaimed and achieved the goal then: that a public still clueless in their bets to loyalty to the nascent platforms, decided on Movistar+ with arguments that go beyond the power of football.
The success of At fish He reinforced it and eventually became responsible for fiction and entertainment in 2023. That confidence came after indisputable results for bets in fiction that have already earned him the creators millions of faithful and a multitude of awards. The list is tremendous. It marks a milestone, something that has become absolute reference in the Hispanic context with titles that have entered the best lists in series and films.
For giving account, apart from their complicity with creators such as Rodrigo Sorogoyen or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa – with whom they have embarked on three masterful works such as Antidisturbs, The new years o The beasts by the first and in To wantcase of the second and who has supported for their next projects – Alejandro Amenábar, to whom he produced so much his series Fortunelike the movie While the war lastsEnrique Urbizu, with whom he allied to Giants y FreedomMariano Barroso with The invisible line y Tomorrowthe dramas and thrillers perfectly armed with Fran Araujo and Pepe Coria with series such as Rapa, Brugel, the song “By brand new,” The unit y Marbellaby Dani de la Torre and Alberto Marini or La Poderosa The immortalby José Manuel Lorenzo … all this, more and, in addition, point and apart, the reckless but incredibly brave bet he made for the Javis and that inclassifiable and radical order called The Messiah.
If in those genres – some without still invented a word that defines them, case of The Messiah— They have created school, also in comedy has opted for new ways as they did in Madrid burnsby Paco León and Anna R. Costa, the unusual Shameby Juan Cavestany and Álvaro Fernández Armero to which he also adds We feel the inconveniencethe jump to this genre of comedians like Berto Romero with Look what you have doneoriginal humor key experiments such as Poquita faith, by Juan Maidagán and Pepón Montero, or La Corrosive Fine artssigned by Argentines always vitriolic and brilliant Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
This, only in fiction. We could add documentaries, entertainment programs such as the last stage of Resistance, at the hands of David Broncano. Let’s see if that is not setting a trend. All of them become arguments to try to understand what the new direction of the platform will be like if the luxury of dispensing with a producer that, at least, has revolutionized in Spain the audiovisual sector is allowed. Hard the panorama is presented for those who happen. Confirming what your predecessor has left, they have it easy. But soon they must show at least one audacity and a similar risk capacity so that the humble subscribers are still worth paying the fee. As for Corral, surely he will not lack work.
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