From ‘Red Sky’ to ‘The Snow Girl’: the series fall in love with the south | Television | The USA Print

Coral, Wendy and Gina, protagonists of red sky, They move to a house in Las Negras, in Cabo de Gata in Almería, to escape their pimps in the third season of the series. The ones in the last row They make a getaway to Zahara de los Atunes (Cádiz) for what may be the last trip for this group of friends. Look Red, main character of the snow girlis a journalist in Malaga, a city to which Yanet returns, played by Asia Ortega who, together with María Pedraza, is one of the most recognizable faces of Urban. life is ours. The list of national and international audiovisual productions that have Andalusia as their main stage has skyrocketed thanks to the platforms and a more exotic look that seeks to take stories from Madrid. Black Mirror, bose, The Crown, We apologize for the inconveniences, snatch either chaosled by Jeff Goldblum, have also looked south recently.

Peter Welter knows the situation well. He arrived in Malaga in 1992 and began working in The Golden, a series that the BBC was filming in Coin at the time. In 2006 she founded Fresco Films, a company that has not stopped growing and became known to the general public for bringing the filming of Game of Thrones to Spain for four seasons, as well as the house of the dragon. He has his offices in the city of Malaga —although he now lives in Lisbon— and he believes that Andalusia has made a qualitative leap in recent years. “The international industry already had a tradition of going south since the fifties, especially to the Costa del Sol and Almería. Now it has been the national one that has realized that there are cities beyond Madrid”, says the businessman, who remembers the spaghetti westerns that Sergio Leone shot in the Almeria desert and also the numerous films that he had with actresses like Brigitte Bardot. the Malaga coastline in the middle of the last century.

“We have spent many years fighting for the industry in the south to be recognized and all its possibilities,” says who believes that local technical personnel have received exceptional training thanks to the services offered to large international production companies. “Here there have always been great teams: it was time for them to realize it in the capital,” says Welter, who believes that Malaga now acts as a kind of Los Angeles in Spain. He says it because it is a large metropolitan area, with various municipalities and many different locations. And, like the rest of the Andalusian community, it has convincing arguments that are difficult to match: a sunny climate, few rainy days and an orientation that offers stupendous sunrises and sunsets. “These are aspects that go in favor of any production. It’s always expensive, with a lot of people involved, and stopping because of the weather is a big expense that you always want to avoid,” adds Fran Castro, a localizer for the production company Vancouver Films.

With more than 15 years of experience looking for locations, Castro knows the ins and outs of Spain well. He believes that the increase in filming in the south has something of fashion or trend, but also that the new platforms are making a great commitment to fiction with great projection abroad “and thus moving is possible.” The expense grows, but with bigger budgets it is easier to look for different places and new scenarios that leave Madrid. Spaces with interest due to historical heritage, natural landscapes or the eternal sunny southern landscape that, in addition, attract the audience to travel without leaving home. “Both internationally and nationally, uniqueness and freshness are sought. Andalusia has plenty of it”, explains who gives as an example the city of Ronda or the surroundings of Cabo de Gata in Almería, where he has already filmed some scenes for The Money Heist and has participated in the recent filming of its prequel, berlin. “We repeat because its landscape and its beaches have a very special charm,” he says. They also filmed there, at the end of 2021, numerous sequences of red sky, although the rest of the series has the Canary Islands as its main setting, a regular competitor of the Andalusian community for hosting productions.

All of the aforementioned are broadcast by Netflix, a platform that has promoted one of the phenomena of the season, the snow girlbased on the best-seller by Javier Castillo with Milena Smit and José Coronado as key characters. One of its executive producers, Alberto Félez, from Atípica Films, points out that it is no coincidence that the plot takes place in Malaga, where 257 productions were filmed last year —according to municipal data— its second best year in history. It is one more step: its scenarios not only serve to recreate other places in the world, they also provide a real context for the stories. “There is still an unknown part of this city for the general public and that conveys the truth,” says the producer, who underlines how the company’s latest major productions have been set in Andalusia. The ones in the last row, a series directed by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo with Zahara de los Atunes, Tarifa and Conil as main settings, is a good example. Also The left-handed soncreated by Rafael Cobos (the minimal island) with María León and Hugo Welzel, was shot mainly in Seville. “The facilities that they put in these cities are many,” says Félez. The Andalusian capital itself broke its record for filming in 2022 with 212, 22% more than the previous year, according to data from the public service Sevilla&me and with the film model 77 to the head.

“I think there is a hotbed of talent that is now coming to light. And to this is added the fact that these cities are adding a lot to the stories, also becoming protagonists”, pointed out a few days ago Jota Aceytuno, Executive Producer of Alea Media and head of Urban. life is ours, shot over two months in Malaga. “The series here have a veracity that we would not get in Madrid,” added Ray Riesta, its production director. “It is a place to explore, with a lot to contribute”, pointed out Asia Ortega, one of the protagonists of this Mediaset series together with María Pedraza, who pointed out: “I think Malaga is the new Barcelona”. she already rolled toy boy in the capital of Malaga, which together with Marbella hosted the cameras of The Farads, by Mariano Barroso, which was also brought to the coast of Granada. An Andalusia of series.

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