National pubcaster RTP is a great exponent of the good moment of the Portuguese series in the international market. With several co-production agreements in the pipeline, the public group is positioned as a key player to work with in the domestic and international market.
Prensario spoke with programming director, José Fragoso, who highlighted the ambitious plans for the future: ‘We are experiencing a new cycle that is the result of the experience gained in recent years, and that has allowed fiction series to be produced today in Portugal with much more ambitious goals than they had a few years ago’.
RTP systematically invests in fiction series through funds from the Ministry of Tourism, Economy and Institute of Cinematography (ICA), which is a driving force for attracting foreign investors and operators, since it offers a of 35% of cash rebate. Fragoso has been a benchmark in the Portuguese audiovisual sector for many years: ‘We have big international productions to film right now. With the entry of international streamers, we allow ourselves that some of the series produced can first be shown on our channels, online platforms, and then sold to these giants to be broadcast internationally. This guarantees a very important added value’.
And he exemplified with Glória from SPI and Netflix and Auga Seca from Portocabo (Spain) and SPI, whose second season premiered on November 3 on RTP and then on HBO, and then had two more in Spain with HBO Max and TVG. And by 2022, Motel Valquírias, Trés Caminos and Maré Negra with Amazon. Also, Sequía, which in Portugal will be called Crimes Submersos with TVE and will be broadcast worldwide.
Regarding Glória, he described: ‘It is definitely very important because, as it is in all markets, it allows anyone to see what is being done in Portugal. It is a production shot in times of pandemic (October 2020 to January 2021) with great difficulties. Portugal is a small country, or very small if you consider the European scale: Glória allows millions of people all over the world to see that high-quality fiction is made in Portugal and thereby attract more investment’.
‘We have regular agreements of this type with these platforms but also with traditional players such as RTVE, TVG, TV3 Cataluña, TV Canarias, EiTB. In each project there can be cross-participation’, said Fragoso, who also remarked that there are ‘more and more’ producers in Portugal. ‘They have good ideas, resources and a group of actors very adapted to production of series, such as Nuno Lopes, Alba Batista, Albano Jerónimo. With all these conditions, we manage to produce series of global value that position us in the global market’, he completed.
According to Fragoso, in addition to having the technicians, the quality of the production and the talent, Portugal has a ‘fantastic climate’ that allows filming practically all year round with few periods of rain but a lot of sun: ‘We have fantastic light throughout the country and that is very important to come to film’, concluded the executive.
Every year RTP selects about 14 projects from among 200 proposals that it receives. ‘Of those chosen, some are only RTP production, others are in co-production. The idea is to always have between 12 to 14 series of between 6 and 10 episodes ready to be aired on open TV, distributed on RTP Play and in some cases on international platforms.
As for its digital platform, the public channel was a pioneer in the first decade of the century. ‘We started thinking about it in 2008, but it was accessible since 2011. I remember that at the time there was no talk of streaming, but with RTP Play we had the opportunity to see something after the broadcast on TV, and at another time. Today it is very advanced with all the linear content plus programs for children, educational content, theater, ballet or music shows from all over the country, and which are not broadcast on any other channel, apart from the channels of the Islands, the international one, Americas, Africa, radio, podcast… And all free’.
Last but not least, Fragoso finished: ‘Due to a geographical issue, Spain is our natural partner. Their channels or platforms are our great partners, although right now we are about to produce a series with RÚV (Iceland) that will be produced in 2022 on cod fishing. We have Brazil which, although it is important, in recent years our connection has been reduced: we hope to reactivate the relationship for co-productions. Now with GloboPlay and in Portugal, it makes more sense and we will find more opportunities’.
