LaLiga Studios, a partnership between Banijay Iberia and Spain’s top soccer division, has finalized a deal with Little Spain, the production company run by popular Spanish recording artist C Tangana, to develop a fiction series set inside the La Liga universe. It will be the first drama production developed with the La Liga IP and, according to the companies, the first with “the official seal of approval from a competition of its size and scope.”
In a release, Little Spain offered a few early details about the project: “The objective is to create a story set in the context of Spanish professional football and from the idiosyncrasies of the La Liga teams, where football, culture and life converge. This project is the result of a creative collaboration with actor Josh Hutcherson, a friend and ally of Little Spain in Los Angeles. This is a milestone for Little Spain, as it allows us to tell a story located between two key points: Spain and the United States. In order to capture the essence of the football world and its lifestyle accessible to very few, the key elements will be emotion and our signature cinematic style.”
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Little Spain began life in 2017 as a collective of artists, largely working on music videos. In the few short years since, the company has expanded rapidly, and last month, it won three Gold Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, scoring honors with C Tangana’s anthem for the RC Celta La Liga EA Sports team. The label also recently produced the feature documentary “Esta ambición desmedida,” (“This Excessive Ambition”), nominated for a 2023 Spanish Academy Goya award, and Tangana’s upcoming directorial debut, “La guitarra flamenca de yerai cortés,” a documentary set to screen in this y -
ear’s New Directors competition at the San Sebastian Festival.
LaLiga Studios, led by CEO Chalo Bonifacino Cooke, was launched last year as a joint venture between Banijay Iberia and La Liga, Spain’s top men’s football division. According to the organization, its pact with Little Spain reflects Banijay’s commitment to expanding its sports entertainment business through new partnerships, content investment, and mergers and acquisitions after the recent launch of Banijay Sports.
“We are facing a unique opportunity to produce the first fiction series that can exploit at all levels the IP of La Liga, its clubs, its talent, its stadiums, its fans, to achieve a degree of veracity rarely seen in football-related fiction,” said Bonifacino.
Since launching last year, LaLiga Studios has created audiovisual content for La Liga, its clubs, and its primary sponsors. This work has been distributed to more than 100 operators and broadcast in more than 190 countries.
In addition to its more traditional productions, the company aims to be a pioneer in sports entertainment. To that end, LaLiga Studios recently closed a deal to develop soccer-related content with Hollywood shingle MTP, formerly known as Mandalay Sports Media. That project is helmed by Mike Tollin, an executive producer of Netflix’s global hit documentary “The Last Dance.”
Last March, LaLiga Studios, Banijay Iberia and Little Spain teamed to produce the anthem “1voiceVSRACISM,” which was played in all La Liga EA Sports and La Liga Hypermotion stadiums during the week of World Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
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