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The battle for success on the new drama series scene is the battle for talent, led by screenwriters. Following, portraits of Spanish TV scribes or creators, sometimes writing teams, who’ve made an impact, or look set to do so:

Fran Araujo

2022 was Araujo’s year. He co-wrote Berlin Competition’s “One Night, One Day” and “Rapa,” Movistar+’s biggest 2022 bow. “Offworld,” a collective series he coordinated, was a Variety’s International TV Show of the Year. An iconoclast – “if I do the same thing, I get bored,” he says – who tears up the rule book.

Aina Clotet

Best known for acting, winning at Malaga for “The Wild Ones,” but a driving force as co-creator, director and star behind “This Is Not Sweden” a €1.5 million grant recipient and groundbreaking Spain-Scandinavia-Germany co-pro, turning on a couple who think they’ve found a model lifestyle. But “there are no guarantees,” says Clotet.

With Txintxua’s series “Intimacy” shooting to No. 1 on Netflix’s global non-English charts this summer and 17 Basque films of ever greater renown participating at the San Sebastian Festival, led by Mikel Gurrea’s feature debut “Suro” and Fernando Franco’s “The Rite of Spring,” the region’s film and TV industry has flashed signs of real growth and international recognition.

Further advances are expected next year with the launch of up-to-70 tax credits in Bizkaia.

Leading Basque production company Irusoin backed “Suro” and is producing Disney+’s most notable TV project in Spain, “Balenciaga.” “It makes perfect sense; Disney wanted to make it here because the character and the story originate from the region,” says Irusoin producer Xabi Berzosa who has observed an already crowded market with three to four shoots happening simultaneously, including The Mediapro Studio’s “Pelotaris.”

“We’ve had problems finding crew as they’re all caught up in movies,...

Fully on-site last week for the first time since 2019, Spain’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, its first major TV event, returned to much of the winning formula of its early pre-pandemic editions: A spectacular setting in Spain, here the august historical city of Toledo; TV project pitches; an intense conference strand; marvellous networking opportunities, most especially the possibility of spending quality time with mover and shaker industry figures from Spain and Latin America.

“I love to be here and it’s healthy, mainly for networking. I’m learning a lot, it’s like going to school,” Fremantle’s Manuel Marti enthused at Toledo. Most attendees would agree with him.

But, compared to 2019, the industry has moved on and is now buffeted by larger turbulence. Following, 12 takeaways on a robust, intense 6th Conecta Fiction, running June 21-24:

Conecta Fiction: Bigger Than Ever…

This year’s edition was the biggest ever, with 728 delegates,...