Spain's Mediacrest presents the topical drama series "Fake" at a key event in France-based Series Mania, the invitation-only Spain Pitching Breakfast, on Thursday, at a time when journalists are under attack in many parts of the world and the odious term "fake news" has become part of the global lexicon.
Gustavo Ferrada ("Klaus," "Nobody Knows Anybody"), Mediacrest's executive director of fiction, who joined the fast-rising Spanish production business in January, is leading the assault.
Fedent Espaa, Friki Films, Onza, Vertice 360, and Mediacrest are among the five selected projects from renowned Spanish production businesses looking for European partners.
The Strasbourg-based series of six 52-minute episodes was created in-house by Mediacrest's deputy head of fiction, Carlos Molinero, and senior playwright Nicolás Romero. It follows a high-powered couple as their once perfect relationship turns toxic. He works in the European parliament and she is a notable journalist for a powerful Spanish daily. Pillow chat leads to him revealing confidential information with her on rare occasions, which she publishes, until one night he passes on false information. She gets fired right away, and in her new life, she becomes a well-known personality in the digital media sector. All of the media attention leads to the death of his son, who was the victim of a public lynching, and accidentally transforms him into the party's new great hope.
"When I came to Mediacrest, I discovered some pretty powerful projects, one of which was particularly interesting: It questioned the value of truth and lies in a world where passion, power, ambition, and revenge do not always benefit from the truth," Ferrada told Variety, adding that the project has already piqued the interest of a number of international distributors and potential co-production partners.
This is a love tale between a journalist and a politician, but the lies aren't just the politician's fault; rather, it's a revenge drama in which both twist truths and lies to attack one another," he pondered.
"Perhaps the most important thing in the world of 'alternative facts' is how useful the news can be, not how accurate it is. "The tension and interest of the project are amplified if we are witnessing all of this through the information that surfaces in a murder prosecution," he continued.
In recent years, the Barcelona-based company has formed a number of strategic alliances, including one with A Contracorriente, which will see the latter distribute Mediacrest films and series as well as co-produce a number of titles with it.
For TelevisaUnivision's freshly created streaming channel, ViX, Mediacrest is also co-producing the submarine-set "Nautilus" with Colombia's "Narcos" producer Dynamo. In addition, on docu-filmmaker Gerardo Olivares' production, "Lonely Man," Mediacrest teamed up with Wanda Vision, one of Spain's premier arthouse distributors-producers.
