Senior executives at Anonymous Content (True detectiveBy Alfonso Cuaron Disclaimer, Reflector, The Revenant) and its joint ventures in Spain and Brazil took to the stage in Madrid on Wednesday at the start of the second day of the fourth annual Iberseries & Platino Industria event.
Jacobo Aparicio, international director of Anonymous Content in Los Angeles, Barbara Teixeira, CEO of Anonymous Content Brazil, a joint venture with RT Features that also has financial backing from Hollywood talent agency CAA, and Beatriz Campos, CEO of Anonymous Content Spain, a joint venture with Morena Films, discussed their strategy and development plans in a session moderated by the author of these lines.
Campos said that since he has only been in his role a few months ago, he has no official titles to reveal, but shared that “we have two films and four TV series in development.” They are all in Spanish, with the exception of one international project in English. “We came on board because we love the concept,” he explained. “We are aware that the English language might be slightly more difficult, but it is a story set in the Spanish Civil War, but has a very organic international approach. It makes sense to tell that story, and that's what we're trying to put together with our partners in the United States.”
Meanwhile, Teixeira publicized two projects previously announced by AC Brazil. This is his first scripted project, a television adaptation of Raphael Montes' bestseller Perfect daysand a documentary series on Brazilian soccer star Sócrates, both for Globoplay, the streaming service of industry giant Globo Brazil.
The eight episodes Perfect daysdirected by Joana Jabace (Precious pearl) and written by Claudia Jouvin (The nocturnal shapeshifter), is about Clarice (Julia Dalavia), a carefree screenwriter who playfully kisses the awkward medical student Téo to annoy her college boyfriend. But the prank turns into a nightmare when the obsessed Téo kidnaps her and takes her on a journey through Rio de Janeiro. Teixeira called it “a great thriller.”
Meanwhile, the Sócrates project will also showcase the star as a “very important political figure,” he shared. “It is a very human story, more than the biography of an athlete, as only Walter Salles could tell it. So that's something we're really excited about. Salles' I'm still here was recently selected as Brazil's entry for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.
Aparicio described the goal of Anonymous Content's international joint ventures (there are also ones for the United Kingdom, France and the Nordics) as being “capable of reaching not only US audiences, but global audiences, and encouraging local offices to be ambitious in their storytelling, risky, bold and to be able to really aim for something truly special.
Arguing that the COVID pandemic and Hollywood double strikes have opened audiences' eyes to new content from more parts of the world, he concluded: “Those stories were the ones that really resonated.”