Spanish literature might show to be a boon for worldwide movie and TV diversifications, says Fernando Benzo, writer and secretary common of the Spanish Federation of Publishers.
“Books are a safe intellectual property – that’s the main concept for me,” Benzo informed Selection.
“When you work on a book, usually you already have the fan base. You have all the people that have read those books, so it’s a stronger bet than if you work with original material.”
Benzo, who will handle the Shanghai Movie Pageant on Spanish literature’s adaptation potential at June 21’s Tales Journey Additional – Literature and Cinema in Spain-China Dialogue, argues that Spanish-language books provide one thing many producers are always chasing: recognizable materials, present readers and the potential for reaching far past one nationwide market.
“We used to say we have our own petrol, and our own petrol is the language,” he stated. “When you think of a Spanish book, you don’t have to think only of a book that is being sold in Spain. It’s a book that can be sold to 600 million people.”
That linguistic benefit arrives at a second when Spanish audiovisual manufacturing has already confirmed its world pull.
“Right now, TV shows and movies we see in Spain made by Spanish professionals – directors, actors, all the professionals in the industry – are top quality,” he stated, citing smash world Netflix hit “Money Heist” (“La Casa de Papel”) as a primary instance.
“You have a powerful book industry and a powerful audiovisual industry, so the result has to be good.”
For Benzo, Spain’s literary provide has key strands. There are the classics, to start with.
“We have classic literature, we have an immense background of classics that can be adapted to images,” he stated, including, “I’m still waiting for a really good version of Don Quixote. Someday it will happen.”
However up to date thrillers is likely to be an much more quick proposition.
“There’s a powerful generation of writers of thrillers right now,” he burdened. “I don’t know the reason, but it’s now the time for Spanish thrillers.”
He factors to Lorenzo Silva’s police procedural collection that includes investigators Bevilaqua and Chamorro as materials with clear display screen potential, praising its vividly visible prose. Silva’s highly effective novel “Carte Blanche” has certainly been became a movie by Gerardo Herrero which caught Variety’s eye at this yr’s Cannes Marché du Movie.
Adaptation, nonetheless, will not be all about greatest sellers.
“You don’t have to measure the success, but you have to measure the potential,” Benzo stated.
“When you talk with a TV producer or movie producer, the first question they ask you when you are pitching your material is: ‘Is a sequel possible?’ If you have material but you don’t have the chance to develop new seasons, well, they don’t like that so much.”
He is aware of that from expertise. His thriller “Los Perseguidos” (“The Hunted”) loved modest success earlier than it was noticed by a producer, who approached Benzo about adapting it. The consequence was a profitable audio drama, a format that may profit from actors, ambiance and dramatic pressure at a fraction of the price of a movie or TV collection.
Spanish literature itself has additionally modified. “We used to be very local in Spain. We used to look at ourselves a lot. Everybody was writing for years about the Spanish Civil War,” Benzo mirrored. “The plots, the stories of Spanish books are mainly universal now. Many of the most successful Spanish books, especially thrillers, you could take the story, turn it into a story taking place in London, Scotland, whatever, and it will work.” That very same portability, he argues, has helped Spanish collection journey.
“It’s what I was saying about ‘La Casa de Papel.’ It doesn’t matter that it takes place in Madrid. You can readily relocate it anywhere.”
Regardless of Spain’s annual output of round 430 movies, solely a comparatively small share are diversifications, in line with Benzo. That might change, he suggests, if the publishing and audiovisual sectors realized communicate to one another extra fluently.
“We have to put together, to get closer, two industries that live their own way,” he stated. “If you make adaptations, you will sell more books. If you make good movies, you will have more audiences. It’s a win-win.”
A part of the problem is cultural. Publishers and producers are used to pitching in radically alternative ways.
“You go to Netflix, and they tell you: ‘You have three minutes, tell me something interesting.’ If you stall for a moment, you have lost a minute and a half, and the pitching is over,” Benzo noticed.
“Publishers have to learn how to sell their product to the visual industry.”
Nonetheless, he believes the chance is there.
“Spanish book materials are very good,” he stated. “There’s been a wonderful evolution in the variety of things that are written about in Spain that makes it very appealing.”
As world platforms and producers hold searching recognized properties, scalable worlds and tales that may journey, Spain’s ebook enterprise could also be sitting on one of many nation’s most underexploited audiovisual belongings.
