Event Preview: Conecta FICTION

The third edition of Conecta FICTION will take place in Pamplona-Iruña, in the Navarra region of Spain, from Monday, June 17 to 20.

The event—comprised of pitching sessions, panels, keynotes, masterclasses, study cases and workshops—aims to stimulate the exchange of ideas between authors, producers and TV channels for the creation, production and broadcast of TV fiction content; encourage business partnerships; and foster co-production agreements between Europe and the Americas.

“Our aim is for the industry to consider us a reference point, where they can truly connect with both talent and industry representatives from Europe and the Americas,” says Géraldine Gonard, director of Conecta FICTION. “But we want these connections to have a very clear goal: to find the best co-production partner, who is, for script necessities, on the other side of the Atlantic.”

The third edition of the event will highlight Chile as the American Focus country and Italy as the European Focus country, with industry representatives from each nation present at the event to showcase their country’s audiovisual talent and offerings. With an attendance expectation of 500 to 600 delegates, Conecta FICTION 3 seeks to maintain the intimacy of its first two editions in order to keep up the high quality and simplicity of the connection-making process.

The event program offers networking time in the Fiction Box, a space designed for one-on-one meetings between authors, producers, broadcasters, talent or investors looking to link up with one another and bring their production ideas one step closer to the screen. Several pitching sessions for television projects will also let creators get their foot in the door and move their projects forward.

The Pitch Copro Series will see ten selected finalists have an opportunity to present their projects in front of the event’s delegates, and RTVE will fund the development of at least one of the scripted projects. The finalists will be chosen by an editorial committee of industry professionals, including Patricia Arpea, head of business and commercial affairs at Italy’s Publispei; Pilar de las Casas, VP of AMC Networks International for Southern Europe; and Alexander Keil, a producer at SquareOne Entertainment; and a host of other prominent industry scriptwriters, producers and directors. The Pitch Digiseries, Pitch Fundación SGAE, Pitch Clips and Branded Content Contest all run in similar form to the Pitch Copro Series, with finalists given the opportunity to showcase their work and winners crowned at the event.

Various series and miniseries are also set to screen at Conecta FICTION 3. Several episodes of Invisible Heroes, which was selected and presented in a pitching session in the first edition of Conecta FICTION, will screen at the Opening Ceremony. There will also be panels about the production process and recording of Inés of My Soul and Malaka, projects that were part of the first and second editions of Conecta FICTION, respectively.

This year will see the debut of the Conecta FICTION Think Tank, which will take place on June 17 before the event’s official opening. Sponsored by RTVE, “This is an activity exclusively aimed for the professionals who want to share and learn from the experience of relevant key players of the audiovisual industry from both continents,” says Gonard. “The participants will gather in the National Parador located in the Castle-Royal Palace of Olite to analyze the future of TV fiction content. They will also visit the Bardenas Reales Natural Park, the location of numerous film shootings in Navarra.”

Conecta FICTION 3 is the first edition of the event to take place in the Navarra region, which is known for its world-famous running of the bulls. The region also proves one of the most enticing in Europe when it comes to international film shoots because of financial incentives for filming in the territory put in place in 2014. Conecta FICTION 3 activities during the day will take place at the Baluarte, Congress Center and Auditorium of Navarra, and events at night are hosted at different locations around the city in an effort to showcase the area’s beauty.

“Not only are the beautiful landscapes and history of Navarra inspiring for fiction creators—as they have always been since centuries ago—but also the moment is perfect for this [event] to happen,” says Javier Lacunza, general manager of NICDO, a company that provides programming, communication, fundraising and management services to Navarra Film Commission and manages the Baluarte. “Navarra has understood AV creation and production as a tool for development of the entire region.

“Navarra’s growth in the latest years has been based more on fiction movies, rather than series, although we also have important examples [of TV series], such as Game of Thrones, filming in the desert of Bardenas back in 2015. We understand that this is a booming sub-sector in which some of the advantages we [provided] for movies can be replicated for TV series too,” he added.