BARCELONA– Santiago de Chile-based TV house Parox, headed by Sergio Gandara, is set to produce teen TV drama “Weirdos,” a highlight on a crammed Mipcom slate.
Series director will be Cristian Jimenez (“Bonsai,” “Voiceover”), who already directed “The Substitute Teacher” for Parox.
Structured as a 13 one-hour series, “Weirdos” is scheduled to enter in production in December. It follows a family that moves from Buenos Aires (Argentina) to a smaller city, Valdivia (in Chile), due to the mother’s career. Series focuses on 15-year-old Alicia and portrays all her sudden physical and emotional changes. Alicia feels like an outsider in Valdivia, where she will discover that she has the chance to reinvent herself in a time of deep change.
Marking a milestone in Latin America TV production –where TV co-productions between different countries are unsual,– series will be co-produced by Parox and Argentina’s Atuel (Daniel De Felippo’s “Volver a nacer”). Initial talks took place in last year at Mipcom.
As explained by Gandara, “Weirdos” is a light drama with big doses of fun tipping its hat to “Freaks & Geeks, “Juno” and “The Red Band Society” –remade in Chile in a version directed by Julio Jorquera and produced by Wood Producciones.
Cast will include Mariana Loyola (Silvio Caiozzi’s “Cachimba”); a further main female role is currently being cast in Argentina.
Another highlight from Chile’s Parox is “Happy Together,” which is already produced and due to be be aired this month by Chilean pubcaster VPN.
Bringing fresh TV content in Chilean TV, “Happy Together” is “a docu-reality following a male couple that want to have a baby and explore all the possible ways to do that in Chile through eight episodes.” Producer expressed high confidence in “Together” and its international sales potential.
“Chile has a remarkable tradition of high quality independent YV productions with a public-service bent. This is possible thanks funding the National TV Council,” Gandara pointed out.
Parox’s slate also includes drama series “The Dam,” exploring the conflicts in Chile’s Alto Bio-Bio region with the indigenous communities over the construction of the Ralco Power Plant, one of largest in the world; sitcom “Koke”; and dramedy “Family Reserve,” all of them in development.
Some produced skeins are “12th Grade,” now in season 2, sci-fi skein “The Mishima Gene” and drama “The Substitute Teacher.”
Parox is developing for NBC an English-language remake of “Gen Mishima,” in partnership with producer Sergio Aguero (“Red Band”), with “Numbers” showrunner Ken Sanzel.
Parox Producciones is attending Mipcom under the umbrella of promo org CinemaChile TV.
