Spain’s Vértice 360 Boards ‘Executioners’ Thriller Series Project (EXCLUSIVE)

2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Nicholas Braun spoke to ET about how he feels about ending with season 4 and his last day filming the Emmy-winning HBO drama.«We were expecting it while we were making the show, but you don't believe it till Jesse says it,» Braun told Will Marfuggi, referring to the series creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong, who first revealed the news about the series ending in an interview with . «We're all pretty bummed,» he added.   «I was sad as hell [on] my last day,» Braun continued, sharing what it was like to wrap production on the upcoming, final episodes.

K.J. Yossman Freida Pinto is lending her voice to a new animated film project in honor of International Women’s Day. She Creates Change is a new nonprofit-led animation and live action film project from global education organization Room to Read produced by Nexus Studios. The multi-media initiative, which spans a six-episode film series as well as books and audio stories, aims to promote gender equality through telling the stories of young women across the planet. It will initially be available in English, Hindi and Spanish with plans to translate it into dozens more languages and will be distributed across the world via Room to Read and educational partnerships. The project will also be released to general audiences in October.

Naman Ramachandran “Pushpa” star Allu Arjun will headline an as-yet-untitled Indian film to be directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga (“Kabir Singh”). The film will be produced by Bhushan Kumar’s film studio and music label T-Series and Vanga’s Bhadrakali Pictures (“Arjun Reddy”). Kumar and Pranay Reddy Vanga will serve as producers, while Shiv Chanana will be a coproducer. The shoot will commence after the wrap of Prabhas starrer “Spirit,” also produced by T-Series and directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Bhadrakali Pictures and T-Series also have Vanga’s “Animal,” starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna, in the works.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Spin Master, the large toy, game and kids-TV conglomerate has helped build franchises out of concepts like “PAW Patrol” and “Bakugan Battle Brawlers.’ Now the company thinks it can do the same with a group of young girls who have a knack for riding unicorns. The company and Netflix plan to launch a new fantasy-adventure series, “Unicorn Academy.” Based on a series of books by author Julie Sykes, the animated series will launch with a 72-minute movie premiere and subsequent episodes, all slated for release this fall, followed by a toy line, digital game and licensed consumer product rollout in 2024. Spin Master Entertainment has content planned through 2025, with more than 250 minutes of short and long-form features produced to date including original shorts and music videos.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Netflix has ordered the limited series “Zero Day” starring Robert De Niro in his first regular television role, Variety has learned exclusively. In addition, Lesli Linka Glatter has boarded the show and will direct and executive produce all six episodes. Variety previously reported that the series was in development at Netflix in November. It hails from writers and executive producers Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim. Per the official logline, “Zero Day” “asks the question on everyone’s mind — how do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control? And in an era rife with conspiracy theory and subterfuge, how much of those forces are products of our own doing, perhaps even of our own imagining?”

K.J. Yossman Taliah Webster, who starred in the Safdie Brothers’ film “Good Time,” and Sam Dillon (“Boyhood,” “Skin”) are set to lead the cast of crime thriller “On Point.” The feature, written and directed by Christian Schifano (“Bratus”), is set in urban New York. A one-take film, “On Point” will follow Natalie (Webster) and her roommate Amy (Alaina Surgener) as they head to a party downtown. While waiting for an Uber, Amy stops to buy a vape when she’s confronted by an armed man with an agenda. “On Point” will be shot as both a short and a feature.

Emiliano De Pablos Boston-based sales agent 34T has picked up international sales rights to Spanish writer-director Ana Ortiz’s feature debut, psychological thriller “El claro de las luciérnagas” (“Firefly Glades”). Produced by Sergy Moreno at Madrid’s White Leaf Producciones, the film is structured as a Spanish regional co-production, teaming with Magnética Cine’s María Barroso in Andalusia and Joaquín Calderón at Navarra-based Melitón Films. “Firefly Glades” figures among the 22 projects selected at Málaga’s 2023 Festival Fund & Co-Production Event (MAFF), which runs March 13-16 as part of Málaga Festival’s growing Mafiz industry area.

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer is leading a thriller for South African network M-Net.

It seems like a million years ago, because so much has happened in the realm of prestige TV since, but the BBC/AMC thriller series, “The Night Manager,” was only released back in 2016. However, it’s been long enough that folks just assumed that one season of the John le Carré adaptation was all we’d ever get.

EXCLUSIVE: Wade Allain-Marcus (Insecure, Snowfall) has been cast in the Netflix limited series, Eric, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, in a recurring role. He will portray club owner, Ali Gator.

Emiliano De Pablos Buenos Aires-based production outfit Mil Monos is teaming with writer-director Pablo Agüero (“Primera nieve,” “Akelarre”) and writer-creator Nicolás Britos (“Limbo,” “Pibas en orsai”) to develop dystopian coming-of-age thriller series project “Decibel.” Produced by Mil Monos’ Maximiliano Monzón, “Decibel” is currently at pilot script stage, and a shoot start is planned by January 2024, tentatively in Argentina. Written by Britos, the eight-episode, half-hour thriller follows five deaf teenagers born in a mountainous region. When The Hum, a sound that transforms every person who can hear it into a frenzied killer, is unleashed, their deafness makes them immune.

Vertigo Films is lining up a new horror TV series dubbed The Last Days of Jack Sparks, based on Jason Arnopp’s genre-bending novel of the same name. Screenwriter Gaby Hull (Two Weeks to Live, We Hunt Together) is adapting the book and UK horror master Rob Savage (Host, Dashcam) is set to direct. 

Emiliano De Pablos Madrid-based Aquí y Allí Films, one of Spain’s most successful auteur movie production houses, is joining forces with popular Spanish actor turned writer-director Daniel Guzmán (“Nothing in Return,” “Canallas”) to produce drama thriller “La deuda.” Backed by Spain’s pay TV giant Movistar+ and public broadcaster RTVE, “La deuda” will be produced by Aquí y Allí’s Pedro Hernández and Guzmán at El Niño Producciones. The film is scheduled to roll in Madrid by the fall. Written by Guzmán, “La deuda” tells the story of Lucas, a 37-year-old man and the 86 year-old woman Antonia, who live together in a city too big to be alone. Lucas is looking for a job but the job seems not to be looking for him.

Emiliano De Pablos Spanish TV production house Mediacrest is joining forces with Helsinki-based outfit ReelMedia and Finnish public broadcaster YLE to develop climate change thriller series project “17kHz.” The co-production model resulting from the “17kHz” development deal will be one focus at the showcase “Spanish Fiction Contents: New Releases & Financial Opportunities,” which takes place Feb. 20 at Berlin’s European Film Market. Organized by ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, the meeting’s panelists will include Mediacrest‘s executives Gustavo Ferrada and Winnie Baert.

Emiliano De Pablos Top Spanish producer Nostromo Pictures, which is behind Netflix hit “Through My Window,” is partnering with Beta Fiction Spain to launch “Hermano Caballo,” a documentary by Marcel Barrera, director of  “Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea” and “100 Meters.” “Hermano Caballo” marks the first documentary produced by Nostromo Pictures and also the first handled by Beta Fiction Spain, the Spanish arm of Jan Mojto’s European studio Beta Film, which launched last year. The documentary focuses on reknowned Catalan wrangler Santi Serra, developer of a natural training technique based on creating bonds with horses and learning through play. 

Ben Croll Zurich-based Tellfilm, the Swiss outfit behind this year’s Golden Bear contender “Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert,” has lined up a robust co-production slate, teaming with European partners on the psychological thriller “Motherhood” and the period drama “Gloria!,” while developing their first scripted series “How to Be Sad – The Right Way” with an eye towards global streamers. Co-produced by Austria’s Freibeuter Film (“The Great Freedom”) and with Germany’s The Match Factory handling international sales, the Johanna Moder directed “Motherhood” will tackle maternal anxieties and regrets through the lens of a tense psychological thriller. Production is slated for later this year, with actors Marie Leuenberger and Hans Löw signed as leads. “The Square” star Claes Bang is attached as well.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain has found a place on the global film industry’s radar as an attractive market for co-producing projects, boosted by its bigger-than-ever-public-sector funding. The trend comes in a moment of maturity for its audiovisual industry, with competitive tax incentives and the emergence of fresh talent, often female, whether directors or producers. Unlike U.S. indie producers, hard hit by streamers pulling back, European counterparts still have public sector financing. But to make movies of any artistic ambition, which might justify that funding and break out to foreign sales and a theatrical release, producers are looking overseas more and to other parts of Spain for production partners.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain has proved ever more successful in luring some of the biggest movies and series, and although 2020 saw a large rise in tax breaks, the big hike came in December. New record tax advantages raised relief for international productions to up to €20 million ($21.4 million) per movie and $10.7 million for any single series episode. In the Canary Islands — operating a special tax regime — the film tax break ceiling is now an extraordinary $38.6 million, one of the highest in Europe. Effective Jan. 1, deduction rates for foreign productions are set at 30% for the first $1.1 million of deductible expenses and 25% for the rest in the Peninsula, and 50%- 45% in the Canaries.

Liza Foreman Barcelona-based sales shingle Filmax has acquired international rights to Spanish thriller “Ellipsis,” directed and co-written by  Goya-nominated David Marqués (“The Unemployment Club,” “En Temporada Baja”). “Ellipsis” toplines a slew of Spanish-language world stars, including  Diego Peretti (“The Kingdom,” “The Wrath of God”), José Coronado (“No Rest for the Wicked”), and iconic Mexican thesp Cecilia Suárez (“The House of Flowers”) and rising star Georgina Amorós (“Elite”). Peretti plays protagonist Leo, a well-known author of mystery novels. He is paid a visit by a man claiming to be a journalist in a secret location where Leo is penning his next novel. But only his agent knows where he is. Could it be that a dark secret from Adriana ( Amorós), his lover, is behind the surprise visit?