‘Oderbruch,’ ‘Joan,’ ‘Putin vs Greenpeace’ Win Big at South Series 

“Oderbruch,” the second series in a first-look TV deal between CBS Studios and Berlin-based Syrreal Entertainment, triumphed at Cadiz’s 2nd South Intl. Series Festival on Thursday, scooping its best fiction series award. 

A brooding mystery series, it kicks in with the grisly discovery of the bodies and bones of 248 murder victims left in a pile in a field in set in the desolate marshes of Germany’s northern border with Poland. World premiering at the Munich Film Festival, series is recognized in its ambition as one of the biggest  this year in Germany. 

The other major winner in scripted was “Joan,” sold by All3International, an Audience Award winner which also took best screenplay. It stars Sophie Turner who is “thrilling in The CW’s tense and engaging jewel thief drama,” Variety announced in its review. 

Best non-fiction series went to “On Thin Ice: Putin vs. Greenpeace,” the chronicle of a quixotic protest by Greenpeace against Russian Arctic drilling, which has been hailed by The Guardian as a “jaw-droppingly unforgettable real-life tale.”

Sold by Banijay Entertainment, “Alive, The Andes Plane Disaster,” won South Series non-fiction Audience Award for its three-part doc series account of the famed 1972 Chilean air crash, told from the post of view of is survivors.   

South Series ended on a quiet note, Wednesday’s closing night party and red carpet star parades cancelled as a sign of respect to the at-least-95 people who died in flash-foods in Wednesday in eastern Spain. 

South Series director Joan Álvarez commented at the prize announcement that he would deliver his own conclusiones in some day time. 

Before torrential rain hit Cadiz, backed by Mediaset España South Series had done much, however, in the caliber of its lineup and industry conference strand to consolidate its status as Spain’s premier TV festival.

Six takeaways from the second edition:

Crime Wins the Day at South Series

39% of scripted series orders IH 2024 in Western Europe were crime and thrillers, which have made up 47% of Netflix and Amazon first-run scripted orders this year to date. The key is to stand out. One answer is genre blending. A push into premium international fiction, said CBS Studios’ Meghan Lyvers, “Oderbruch” melds procedural and fantasy in a potent mixture as the murders are linked to a centuries-old legend of the “Great Hunter” in a suspense thriller where the past weighs heavily, in personal, historical and fantasy terms.  Set in the 1980s, “tightly paced” with a “spectacular tension,” “Joan” is also about something, a “stellar crime series about opportunity, motherhood and the chances we are willing to take to go after the lives we desire,” wrote Variety. “Crime is still definitely at the genre which is working very well,” said Magical Society producer JJ Lousberg at a South Series panel, pointing to the increasing complexity of police characters. 

Europe’s Public Broadcasters Turn to VOD…

“Oderbruch” is also co-produced by German public broadcaster ARD, Europe’s biggest TV company, and an ever more adventurous player, backing Canneseries winner “The Zweiflers” and now loud poppy “Mozart/Mozart.” Put that down in part on ARD Mediathek, the network’s VOD service and the second most popular VOD service in Germany, after YouTube. Allowing ARD to push the envelope on horror o silence inn controlled subscriber environment, ARD Medihek bowed “Oderbruch” on Jan. 19 to seven million views in its first 10 days, a bold branding exercise and play for YA audiences.           

…While SVOD Operators Tap Iconic Broadcast Network Shows

There was little doubt about the biggest deal announced at South Series: the renewal for Seasons 16 and 17 by Spain’s Prime Video and Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group of  

“La Que Se Avecina,” an apartment-building community comedy populated with social stereotypes which drinks deep at Spain’s tradition of sainete comic sketches dating back to he 1880s. “La Que Se Avecina” rates as the longest running on-air series in Spain, an icon of free-to-air TV and one of Mediaset España’s most valuable assets, noted Ghislain Barrois, head of Mediterráneo which also sneak peeked at Cadiz exquisite period drama-comedy “La Favorita 1922” from “Cable Girls” producer Bambú Producciones. As pay TV offers free TV shows, free TV is offering shows with premium pay TV production titles.

South Series Buzz Titles    

All major award winners had fans. South Series began with a bang, opening with “La Vida Breve,” from on-the-rise creators Cristóbal Garrido and Adolfo Valor whose ensemble, led by highly-regarded Javier Gutiérrez (“Below Zero”) and Leonor Watling (“Talk to Her”) scooped best cast. Also well received was France’s “Sea Shadows” (“Rivages”), the story created by Monica Rattazzi and Jonathan Rio of a broken family and broken natural world, wrapped in a sci-fi eco thriller set in Fécamp, a fishing port in Normandy. South Boost projects competition was won by Rocío Sepúleveda’s thriller “La Roca,” “a kind of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set in 1960s Gibraltar,” Sepúlveda said. 

The U.K. Reigns in Scripted

“Nautilus,” “This Town” and “Joan,” accounting for half the South Series’ main fiction section, are U.K. productions. Three of its four main winners are British too, all backed by U.K. powerhouses, whether All3Media Intl. (“Joan”), Banijay Entertainment (“Alive”) and ITV (“On Thin Ice”). South Series’ U.K. predominance merely reflects a larger reality. Both Banijay and Fremantle posted higher revenues in 2023 than a strike-whammied Walt Disney, according to Omdia. Three of the four biggest Netflix series IH 2024 were British productions, its September data dump confirmed: “Fool Me Once,” “Baby Reindeer” and “The Gentleman.” Hollywood will come back. Currently however, aided by its English-language and the biggest TV industry in Europe, it’s Rule Britannia.  

Successful Series: Is There a Magic Formula?

Fremantle’s Al Aizpuru, Atresmedia’s José Antonio Salso, and two prominent U.K.-based producers, Xavier Marchand at Moon River Content and JJ Lousberg, were asked on one of the biggest industry panels at South Series. Rather than dismiss out of hand the idea of formula, they delivered a plethora of suggestions of what can help scoring commissioners orders or broader audiences. “The market is asking for a bit less risk,” such as very well known IP or a star, said Lousberg. “The way things are, audiences just prefer to see more blue sky, some escapism,” Aizpuru observed. “When we meet commissioners, there’s a lot of talk about reaching 18-35 audiences, which is obviously the audience of the future and a segment we really need to engage with stories that speak to them,” noted Marchand. “Big U.S. series can have a lot of action. In Europe, in Spain, we have good stories that try to touch the emotion of audiences, and that’s a key element right now for a successful season,” Salso concluded.

Cadiz’s South Intl. Series Festival ran Oct. 24-31.