Conecta FICTION & ENTERTAINMENT 2023 Kicks Off

The seventh edition of Conecta FICTION & ENTERTAINMENT has begun in Toledo, with 22 panels, nine keynotes and five workshops set to take place throughout the four-day event.

Panels will address the strength of Spanish incentives, merging concepts and formats, the audioseries market, Gen Z, Mexico and Poland. Additionally, large international distribution companies will discuss their new roles as necessary producers, while local and regional niche and generalist streamers, known as Warrior Platforms, will discuss their strategies in the fight for market share.

Keynotes will be hosted by Ampere Analysis, Serial Killer, Serializados, BB Media, Beta Series, the Film Agency, NEM and Dataxis.

The workshops will review the keys to the script from film to television, provide the tools to produce with any budget, deal with the problems and conflicts of IP and promotion and show the potential of virtual technology to reduce production costs. Eurimages will also host a workshop to present its new grants program.

On the 28th and 29th, a showcase of Spain will take place in collaboration with ICEX and financed by European Union recovery funds. On June 28, a session titled Top Spanish Fiction & Entertainment will occur, moderated by Gloria Saló, director of production and content consultancy at GECA (Spain), and featuring Beatriz Campos, senior VP of global sales and production finance at STUDIOCANAL (U.K.); Rebeca Fernández, sales director for Europe at Atresmedia (Spain); and Gonzalo Sagardía, founder and CEO of Onza Distribution (Spain).

On June 29, two session will be held in which Spanish distributors will present themselves to International buyers. The executives taking part include Claudia Nario Bagó, international sales executive at Filmax (Spain); Rebeca Fernández, European sales director at Atresmedia (Spain); Béatrice Nouh, head of sales at Onza Distribution (Spain); María Valenzuela, general manager at Movistar Plus+ Internacional (Spain); Marta Ezpeleta, general director of distribution, co-productions, acquisitions and international offices, and Javier Esteban Loring, head of commercial strategy and sales for U.S., Canada and U.K., both from The Mediapro Studio (Spain); Silvia Cotino, deputy director of sales and business development, and Rocío Cachero, international sales, both from Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group (Spain).

The eighth edition of Conecta FICTION & ENTERTANMENT was confirmed at the opening ceremony.

Patricia Franco, Regional Minister of Economy, Business and Employment of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, confirmed that the next edition of the event would once again be held in Castilla-La Mancha: “Next year we will have the pleasure of welcoming you again, as Toledo will once again host the eighth edition of Conecta FICTION & ENTERTAINMENT.”

Géraldine Gonard, director of the event, expressed her gratitude to Castilla-La Mancha for its strong support, to ICEX for joining this year with a broad and convincing program and to the participating professionals, since “this will be the largest edition of those held to date. We have a record number of participants, close to a thousand.”