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XCLUSIVE: Most Spaniards are aware with the famous quote “Caminante, no hay camino” by Spanish poet Antonio Machado. It says, “Traveller, there is no path. Se hace camino al andar.” The walking creates the way.
Secuoya Content Group, a fully-fledged independent studio aiming to become a worldwide destination for content, is one Spanish firm that is resolutely leading the way for Spanish-language content in the global domain while also placing Spain on the map in a manner never seen before.
The firm has a wide range of foreign allies, including Hollywood heavyweights Ted Sarandos and Chris Albrecht, and the head of Netflix content tells Deadline the streamer is keen to strengthening its ties there. Albrecht, a former executive at HBO, Starz, and Legendary Television, has teamed up with Secuoya Studios, the company that produces films and TV shows, under his new company Rubicon Global Media, and claims that they are “ahead of the curve.”
Raul Berdonés launched Secuoya Group in 2007 with the visionary goal of hosting Netflix’s European Production Hub in its exceptional Madrid Content Studios, situated in the dormitory town of Tres Cantos, 17 miles north of Madrid. This fact will likely be known to many. With ten soundstages (and counting) spread over 140,000 square metres, restaurants, an audiovisual university, residences, and offices, this expansive complex is presently the second-largest production centre in Europe, behind only Pinewood Studios in the UK.and it will only become larger. According to Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, the facilities are essential to maintaining Spain’s “prominent role in the global AV industry.”
Following the release of its most ambitious project to date, Secuoya Studios is gearing up for the highly anticipated contemporary retelling of Zorro, which is helmed by Money Heist director Javier Qintas and stars Miguel Berardeau as the dashing vigilante created by Johnston McCulley. The ten-part series debuted on January 19 on Amazon Prime Video in the United States and Latin America, and on January 25 it will make its streaming premiere in Spain, Andorra, and Portugal. With one episode costing $4 million, the series is billed as Spain’s largest television production to date. 28 nations have already purchased the series from Mediawan, who oversaw its worldwide distribution.
In an attempt to expand its reach into the United States, Secuoya Studios this summer formed a strategic alliance with Rubicon Global Media, an organisation founded by Albrecht and Jane and executive producer Jorge Granier of Virgin with the goal of linking Spanish and American narrative (more on that later).
The scale and speed at which this company is operating quickly becomes evident when Deadline sits down with Berdonés and Secuoya Group CEO Pablo Jimeno and Secuoya Studios President James Costos at their headquarters on a chilly but sunny December day to dissect how the business has quickly emerged as one of the main forces behind the recent boom in Spanish-language production.
Berdonés declares, “We are not your typical production company.” “We really are a global studio, and that is our primary focus.”
modest beginnings
Berdonés was born in Granada into a modest Andalusian family. At the age of 13, he began working part-time as a camera operator to have his first taste of the television profession. Enthusiastic in television, he left school at 16 to work in Madrid, where he quickly rose to the position of CEO of a service business and then led VNews at top broadcaster Antena 3.
Seeing a need in the industry for a stand-alone provider of manufacturing services, 28-year-old Berdonés established Secuoya Group in 2007. Before branching out into the creation of television material in 2009, he signed agreements with Antena 3. In order to accompany him on the new Secuoya adventure, he recruited Jimeno, a former Antena 3 colleague, in the same year.
Like me, he is a founder, adds Berdonés. “I always say that without Pablo, Secuoya wouldn’t be what it is because I believe he’s the one who provides the trust and stability.” Although I like strategy, I believe he is a great leader because he establishes the framework. I refer to his ability to compensate for my lack of training as the “Coca-Cola” recipe.
In fact, Jimeno is more quiet and gives thoughtful answers, while Berdonés is the gregarious and passionate businessman. The two work really well together. The firm has undergone many stages since they began working together. Originally a services firm, the company’s current revenue split is 30% services and 70% content. “Since we started, the model has completely changed,” Jimeno claims.
Sergio Pizzolante, a former HBO and Sony Pictures executive, oversees the company’s foreign sales division, Secuoya Studios Commercial and Distribution, out of its offices in Miami, Los Angeles, and Spain. Additionally, it is now present in Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and shortly Panama.
Since Berdonés and Jimeno repurchased 55% of the business from investors last year, they now hold 80% of Secuoya Group and exercise control over it. With this change, the business is now one of the few autonomous global content companies with Spanish investors.
aspirations for growth
“We are striving to become the preeminent Spanish-speaking studio globally, as we have consistently stated,” adds Berdonés. But naturally, we are always examining English since, as far as we can tell, having that crucial aspect of the English language is necessary for a studio to really exist.
President Secuoya Studios, the company’s 2020 hiring, is renowned executive Costos, a former HBO vice president of worldwide licencing and retail. Based in Los Angeles, Costos had been President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Spain from 2013 until 2017. He was the ideal person to build a bridge between Spain and the United States because of his expertise, contacts, and Spanish heritage in Hollywood. Costos is well-liked and well-versed in Spain, and he has a great deal of enthusiasm for the nation. In recognition of his efforts to link Spanish and American businesses, the Spanish Film Commission made him an honorary ambassador after he left his position as a diplomat.
While at HBO, Costos helped secure a Spanish shoot for Game of Thrones, a huge coup for the local market. He had close ties to Albrecht and worked with him while the latter was headed up HBO. This relationship ultimately ignited Secuoya’s recent agreement with Rubicon, which Albrecht and Jane and the Virgin exec producer Jorge Granier set up to aggregate leading IP from Latin America and Spain. Through the deal, Secuoya Studios will provide development funding and deficit financing for select Rubicon Global Media projects. The first project out of the gates is Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s Spanish and English-language drama Prey Before You Eat about an anti-hero on the run as life goes sideways in New York City.
“It’s really hard for a Spanish company to have access to Hollywood and to get the right talent or the right writer but with Chris and I in our L.A. office, we have that ability,” says Costos, who stresses that he is “not a creative”. “It’s very symbiotic and having Chris and Jorge within the family now brings the whole thing to another level. The fact that they are already sourcing material for us is even more exciting.”
For Berdonés, the Rubicon deal is key to Secuoya’s international strategy. “The agreement with Chris and Jorge is great because we will be able to develop big projects with them and I believe that’s going to provide visibility as well in the English-speaking world.”
When first introduced to Secuoya, Albrecht says he “really thought these guys are head of the curve.”
“Spain is a very important market and it’s very important to our overall strategy – not that everything has to be through Secuoya – but it gives us so many advantages when we’re going into a project to have a big company in Spain who’s investing in us and developing programming that they can then produce in their facilities,” says Albrecht. “They’re experts at helping us access the soft money benefits that are available in Spain and have tremendous experience shooting everywhere.”
For Miami-based Granier, who has close ties to Pizzolante, he was drawn to the impressive scale at which Secuoya had been able to deliver big-ticket IP series Zorro.
“Zorro gave us a true picture of what Secuoya could do,” says Granier. “It’s this international co-production done in Spain for the U.S. in the 1800s and it’s really impressive. The way they sold it was interesting by selling it to Amazon in the U.S. and Latin America and then having a Spanish broadcaster involved as well. That’s the kind of model we’re doing but in a way that is language agnostic.”
Secuoya has a partnership with Turkish manufacturer Ay Yapim, among other international agreements, to translate Turkish intellectual property into Spanish. Among them is an Emmy Award-nominated 2018 remake of the Turkish popular film Brave and Beautiful, which broadcast in over 60 countries. Their Spanish edition is now going through its distribution pipeline after having previously sold in Spain, all of Latin America, and the United States. According to Berdonés, “the figures were good enough to start production just with Spain and North America.” “Turkish series have proven to be successful worldwide.”
Large-scale intellectual property and artistic liberty
Secuoya Studios’ main goal is to become one of the most significant Spanish-speaking studios globally. In order to do this, the company required to employ the best creative talent in the industry and take steps to secure high-profile IP series. The business hired David Martinez, one of Spain’s most respected TV executives, as Head of Fiction for its premium series division shortly after appointing Costos in 2020. Martinez, one of the key figures behind the rise of upscale Spanish television drama, came from positions at Mediaset España and public broadcaster RTVE, where he commissioned works by Ramón Campos, including Desaparecida and Gran Reserva.
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