Catalonia Highlights Its TV Surge at Series Mania Forum

With a robust presence at the Series Mania Forum, Catalonia’s audiovisual sector is showcasing the significant strides it has made, especially in television.

Catalan Films, the region’s promotional body, and the Catalunya Film Commission are spearheading efforts to highlight the region’s vibrant series landscape, showcasing its creative talent, sound infrastructure, and competitive financing opportunities.

At the networking lunch they are hosting on March 26, both orgs will be presenting the companies attending and some updates on series funding as well as highlighting its recently funded series: “Puberty” (“Pubertat”) and “Quiet” (El mal invisible”), both primed for release this year.

According to Catalan Films’ Joan Ruiz, the Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies (ICEC) has played a pivotal role in supporting Catalonia’s flourishing series production landscape through its diverse range of financial backing. These funding programs are designed to foster new projects and co-productions, enhancing the region’s global competitiveness.

A standout initiative within ICEC’s offerings is the High-End TV Production Fund, which provides up to €1.5 million ($1.6 million) for projects with a minimum budget of €4 million ($4.3 million) provided that the primary language is Catalan.

This fund is also open to collaborations with a second international broadcaster or streaming platform. Recently, the fund expanded its reach to include grants for the production of second seasons of successful series, offering further opportunities to maintain the momentum of hit TV shows.

A prime example that demonstrates how public funding can serve as a catalyst for success is last year’s “This Is Not Sweden,” which secured a grant in 2024 to fund its second season. This “started as a co-production between Nordic and Southern European countries, leveraging public funds to create a high-quality series that resonated beyond its linguistic and cultural origins,” says Ruiz.

“Similarly, ‘Puberty,’ a recent co-production with Belgium, was backed by the Eurimages pilot series fund, showing how targeted public investment can attract major industry players. With international distribution led by prestigious companies such as Beta Film, ‘Puberty’ exemplifies how public funding enables the creation of competitive, market-driven content in Catalan,” Ruiz notes.

“Three years ago, ICEC established specific grants for the production of series in the original Catalan version. The process is the same as for feature films: a selective grant evaluated by a committee of experts, with a resolution time of approximately six months,” said “Puberty” producers Miriam Porté of Distinto Films and Oriol Maymó of Corte y Confección de Películas.

“We greatly appreciate ICEC’s commitment to allocating resources to support Catalan-language series and placing them on par with the film industry. We also hope that the ICAA [the national funding body] will soon join this initiative, enabling the development of more independent series,” they added.

Both projects are backed by regional broadcaster 3CAT (formerly TV3). “The combination of flagship content in our selection follows the same approach that has shaped the DNA of our organization in recent years: impactful proposals (talent and meaningful stories) with commercial potential,” said Pio Vernis, 3CAT’s audiovisual business director.

“Even as a public broadcaster, the vision of 3CAT, has always been to reach broad audiences while taking creative risks with projects that private operators might find harder to embrace. The results we have achieved historically and recently – ranging from ‘Red Bracelets’ to ‘Merlí’ and ‘Crims’ – encourage us to continue supporting our industry along these lines, now more internationally connected than ever,” he continued, adding that its streaming platform, launched 18 months ago, has over 1.3 million subscribers while its television channel remains the leader in the Catalan region, which has a population of some 8 million.

“Internationalization is both crucial and necessary if we want to keep joining forces with other players to expand the portfolio of projects in which we participate,’ he stressed, adding that 3CAT backs an average of 70 to 80 projects a year, among which 15 could be considered premium due to their ambition in terms of budget and reach.

“Quiet” (El mal invisible”), which debuted March 24 on 3CAT and TV3, is an eight-episode thriller co-produced by The Mediapro Studio and 3CAT It will stream nationwide on Disney+ in the near future.

The series is based on actual events that began late April 2020 during Barcelona’s COVID-19 lockdown when authorities arrested a man for brutally murdering multiple homeless people as they slept, following a consistent pattern.

Against the eerie backdrop of an empty city, Lluís Arcarazo (“Nit i dia”) developed a thriller exploring the concept of ‘evil’ in a dual sense: both as human malice and as a virus spreading through its victims.

“The main challenge during the filming of the series was precisely to recreate that atmosphere of deserted streets, darkness, and an empty city, which is the opposite of the bright image we have of Barcelona. We needed the sound to be different, like during the lockdown period, where there was no traffic, and you could hear the birds singing, and even the vegetation was growing,” said The Mediapro Studio global production director Bernat Elías, who alongside Laura Fernandez Espeso and Javier Mendez serve as executive producers from Mediapro while Oriol Sala-Patau and Conxa Orea are the executive producers from 3CAT.

“Catalonia has great professionals, both artistic, creative and technical talent, and it has a very important weight in the national audiovisual industry. In recent years, it has been experiencing a very positive evolution, with a greater demand for original content and very diverse and high-quality fiction productions, both in film and television, which have also achieved national repercussion throughout Spain,” he pointed out, adding: “All this has also been possible thanks to the support of institutions such as the ICEC or the tax incentives that are crucial to promoting projects.”

Leticia Dolera’s six-episode drama, “Puberty” explores adolescence against the backdrop of Catalonia’s casteller tradition [human tower building, a tradition dating back to the 18^th century], where a sexual assault allegation involving three 13-year-olds sparks a reckoning on sexuality, social taboos and generational trauma.

According to its producers Porté and Maymó, the filming took place over 13 weeks in Catalonia, covering nine locations near Barcelona. “The city of Terrassa, known for its support of the film industry, was chosen as one of the main locations, as it is home to the Minyons de Terrassa, the casteller group that inspired the fictional group in the series,” they said, adding that this is the first time that castells take center stage in a fiction series.

Noting that “Puberty” touches a similar theme explored in Netflix mega hit “Adolescence,” they were still very different. “Throughout the production process, many parents, upon learning about the subject matter, felt deeply engaged and eager to see the final result. We believe that ‘Adolescence’ paves the way, complements and engages in a meaningful dialogue with ‘Puberty.’”

The series also counts on the participation of Max in Spain and the participation of Publicis Rebellion. In addition to the co-production with Belgium’s AT-Productions and the support of ICEC and 3CAT, it also received backing from the Creative Europe Media program and the Eurimages Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions. Beta Film handles international sales.

The Series Mania Forum takes place March 25 –27 in Lille, France.