Onza Distribution has taken worldwide sales rights outside Spain and Portugal to “Motel Valkirias,” a thriller series co-production led by Galician company CTV.
Producer of Netflix’s 2018 Galician-language pioneering TV drama hit “O Sabor das Margaridas” (“Bitter Daisies”), CTV is teaming on “Motel Valkirias” with SPI, the Portuguese co-producer of HBO’s series “Auga Seca,” plus pubcasters TVG in Galicia and RTP in Portugal.
Created by “El Sabor das Margaridas” writer-producer Ghaleb Jaber Martínez and directed by Álex Sampaio (“Schimbare”) and Jorge Queiroga (“Atras das Nuvens”), “Motel Valkirias” is co-written by Jaber Martínez alongside actor-scribe Manuel Gancedo (“Gigantes”).
A police noir thriller with doses of black comedy that boards issues such as female empowerment and self-improvement, the eight episode 50 minute series is set in a cross-border motel between Galicia and Portugal.
There, the lives of three women of different origins and ages, with significant financial and personal problems, converge by chance when they discover that Eligio, a guest at the motel, is transporting some highly valuable merchandise.
Lucia, a separated mother who is fleeing from her ex-husband, Eva, an out-of-work actress, and Carolina, the bankrupt owner of the motel, join forces to draw up a plan that could solve all their life problems: to get their hands on some loot.
But the three women don’t know that their lives are in serious danger because the mysterious merchandise belongs to a fearsome money-laundering gang, and Luis Castro, their enforcer, will soon be hot on their heels to get back what is his, at any cost.
“Motel Valkirias,” whose Spanish and Portuguese rights have already been sold to an undisclosed international platform, starts to roll in December and aims to be ready by fall 2022.
Onza, one of the fastest growing Spanish production-distribution houses on the international scene, is presenting the project for the first time on Mipcom for international buyers.
“We’re very happy to be able to sell such an interesting project,” said Carlos Garde, Onza Distribution director. “The series plays with issues that are very prominent in the public imagination: borders, financial problems and characters living in extreme situations,” Garde said.
He added: ”The visual and narrative references are superb and certainly very much in demand by buyers. We’ve worked in the past with CTV and we’re confident that this alliance with SPI, RTP and TVG will elevate the project.”
Launched in 1985, Santiago de Compostela-based production house CTV rapidly became a leading player in Galicia’s TV landscape, providing key contents to regional pubcaster TVG.
In 2018, CTV teamed with TVG and Mexico’s Comarex to co-produce domestic abuse thriller “O Sabor das Margaridas,” which, acquired by Netflix, figured in the streamer’s top 10 non-English-speaking series in the U.K. and Ireland for several months.
“Motel Valkirias” marks a further step into Portugal’s SPI strategy, started in 2017, of developing fiction series, documentaries and non-scripted content in a co-production model with Spanish production companies.
Created by Portocabo founder Alfonso Blanco, “Auga Seca,” a HBO España acquisition, was co-produced by SPI with Blanco’s Portocabo and broadcasters RTP and TVG.
