Sara Fernández-Velasco on El Cid

TV Drama hears from Zebra Producciones’ Sara Fernández-Velasco, who discusses the origin of El Cid, the appeal for international viewers and the experience of working with Amazon Prime Video.

Last December, Amazon Prime Video launched El Cid, a five-episode series starring Jaime Lorente, available in over 240 countries and territories around the world. El Cid tells the famous story of Rodrigo “Ruy” Díaz de Vivar (Lorente), who becomes a knight and faithful subject and hero of the crown. The story unfolds in Spain during the 11th century, where Christians, Muslims and Jewish people lived on the Iberian Peninsula, facing wars and forging alliances. The series also stars José Luis García-Pérez, Elia Galera, Carlos Bardem, Juan Echanove and Alicia Sanz, among others. El Cid is a Zebra Producciones title and counts Sara Fernández-Velasco and José Velasco as executive producers. Velasco is the creator of the series with Luis Arranz, head of the writers’ room. The original soundtrack was scored by Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) and Alfonso González Aguilar, composer of the Academy Award-nominated Klaus.

TV DRAMA: How did El Cid come about? How long have you been working on the series?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: It’s a project that has been a long time coming at Zebra, starting with an original idea from Luis Arranz. We hadn’t [pursued] it before because we thought it was too ambitious, and it wasn’t clear that there was a partner with the necessary assets to do it justice. We saw an opportunity when Amazon Prime Video arrived in Spain. We pitched the show, and it was very well received from the beginning. El Cid had finally found a home. This was in 2017, and after a long development and preproduction period, we were finally able to start filming in September 2019. More than a year later, the series has seen the light.

TV DRAMA: El Cid has been hailed as one of Amazon’s most ambitious original European productions. What do you think makes the show appealing to viewers around the world?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: El Cid has never-before-seen production values in Spain. It’s a great epic series with universal elements that we think will appeal to all kinds of audiences, including internationally. The themes portrayed in the story have already been addressed in other successful productions: the birth of a hero, moral dilemmas involved in rising to the top, power struggles between kingdoms, fratricidal strife, feminism, wars, battles, romance, passion and cultural clashes, among others. It really has everything and is also based on plenty of documented historical facts.

TV DRAMA: How has the experience been developing and producing a show for a global platform like Amazon Prime Video?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: It’s been a great experience, and we’ve received all of Amazon Prime Video’s support throughout the process. The platform has been developing in Europe and Spain on par with the series, so initially, we were reaching out to executives in the U.S., then in Europe and in the final months, with the team in Spain. This has been an additional challenge, but it has contributed to the overall result of the series.

TV DRAMA: The story is well known among international audiences. What creative liberties did you take that differed from the original narrative?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: Although the series is based on documented historical facts, we can’t forget that El Cid lived in the 11th century. Even though we have plenty of information on his life, there’s a lot we don’t know, so our writers began to fill in the blanks. El Cid is still a work of fiction; it doesn’t aim to be a documentary. Although we’ve had a high level of historical guidance, we’ve allowed ourselves many creative liberties, looking to make the best possible series without losing the historical value that can appeal to, attract and entertain audiences. In the first season, we focused on the least known part of Ruy’s life, going from his infancy up until he becomes the hero we all know.

TV DRAMA: El Cid is an epic production filmed in many locations. What were some of the challenges that you faced?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: There were many, due to the scope of the project and the fact that we had to film simultaneously with two main teams in different locations. We had a crew of over 300 people, and more than 70 percent of the filming was done outdoors. The weather was also a challenge because it rained more days than we would’ve liked, especially during the battle and action sequences. It was also a challenge finding costumes for every scene, as we had over 4,500 extras, and there were difficulties in logistics relating to the handling of animals during filming, as we had more than a thousand horses.

TV DRAMA: I have to ask you about the soundtrack, scored by the famous Gustavo Santaolalla and Alfonso González Aguilar. How did you manage to attach them to the project?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: We’re delighted, and it’s an honor to have them on board for this project. We’ve had a personal relationship with them for a while and have always wanted to work with them. There couldn’t have been a better project than El Cid to be able to do it.

TV DRAMA: How has Zebra Producciones evolved to be able to develop premium series?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: Zebra was created in 2001, and since then, we’ve produced over 20 films, more than 2,000 episodes of daily series and many hours of entertainment. Three years ago, we decided to make a strategic bet on premium fiction, and since then, we’ve invested in development. Currently, we have a team of five people dedicated to developing fiction projects. We also work with third-party projects, and we want to be involved in every part of the production process—from the idea inception to the launch on the screen. We focus on quality but also on production efficiency.

TV DRAMA: What are the synergies between Zebra Producciones and Grupo iZen?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: Zebra Producciones is one of Grupo iZen’s brands, specializing in fiction. The group produces every genre of daily fiction, documentaries, magazines and other entertainment programs for national television, as well as platforms from its Europroducciones, Boca a Boca, Proima Zebrastur and Zebra brands. A few years ago, we also started our venture in the U.K., where we have three production companies: Chalkboard, Storyboard and Clapperboard, which specialize in entertainment, documentaries and fiction, respectively.

TV DRAMA: Spain is recognized for its creativity, as well as its high-quality productions. How do you continue working toward maintaining these standards that have garnered global recognition for the local television industry?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: By having the best ideas with the available resources and bringing them to the screen with the best quality and competitive costs compared to other countries. Also, by maintaining and improving support for local and foreign productions. This helps position the Spanish audiovisual industry in the global landscape, allowing the development of more ambitious projects and supporting the continuous improvement of the industry by participating in some of the biggest international productions in Spain.

TV DRAMA: After El Cid, what other projects will the company be focusing on?
FERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO: We hope that El Cid has many seasons. Meanwhile, we have many projects in development, and we want to focus on the production of premium series for all of our clients, with special attention on international co-productions, where we believe there are still many opportunities.