Enter most corporate HQs and you can usually find a wall displaying accolades and awards, a way of showing off to prospective visitors just what a successful company they’re encountering. At Netflix’s Tres Cantos facility just north of Madrid, there’s something different adorning one particular upright.
Displayed one next to another, from top to bottom, is a series of scripts for some of the streaming giant’s most successful local productions. Shows like Elite and La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), Spanish-language dramas that have fared especially well on the platform in the Middle East. The latter has an enduring cult following particularly in the Gulf, where, for example, in 2023, Lay's potato chips released a Money Heist-themed tie-in product exclusively in Saudi Arabia.
And the love between the Spanish-speaking world and Arabic-speaking world is increasingly mutual. Arabic productions are particularly popular in the Spanish-speaking world, with series such as Al Rawabi School for Girls and the Saudi film From the Ashes both hitting the streamer's top 10 list in Spain as well as across South and Central America.
For Netflix, the ability for its films and series to have such a global impact is perhaps its greatest strength. As the streamer displays its scripts on the wall in Tres Cantos, it shows that Netflix content can be created from the ground up, from the beginnings, in script form, to the end, when the final touches are put to the episodes or feature films in the edit suite.
Maybe everything is Netflix branded – even the cushions on the sofas and the tissue holders on the tables carry the now-famous red logo – but this “hub” is more than just for show. Fully integrated, it has everything from virtual soundstages to post-production sound facilities, with over 400 production companies across Europe, Middle East and Africa now collaborators on shows and films.
When the facility opened five years ago, there was talk of Madrid becoming the “Hollywood of Europe”, but the maxim here is “be authentic, be local”, as Diego Avalos, vice president of content for Spain, Portugal and the Nordics, puts it.
“Creators want to become global, and want to create global shows,” he says. “There’s no such thing as a global show.”
Take Money Heist, the hugely successful thriller from creator Alex Pina.
“If you told Alex Pina, create a global show, he would never have come up with Money Heist,” says Avalos. “Money Heist was first a success here, then it became global. I think that’s one of the biggest things we keep confirming time and time again.”
As I tour the facilities, it’s hard not to be impressed by the scale and scope of the productions either just wrapped or currently under way. With 10 soundstages available, it’s an enormous creative space, something that’s underlined when I step on the set of Respira (Breathless). This medical drama is the brainchild of Carlos Montero, the co-creator of the hugely popular Elite, which will be coming to an end when its eighth and final season drops later this year.
Respira’s enormous hospital set, spread across a 1,500 square metre space and spanning two floors, is a staggering achievement. It took six months to design and build this rabbit warren of waiting rooms, medic bays and laboratories. Unsurprisingly, Avalos calls the show “one of the biggest bets this year”, with confidence so high, Montero is already halfway through scripting season two. Another big bet is Kaos, a mythological dark comedy starring Jeff Goldblum which was entirely shot out of Spain.
It doesn’t take long before Netflix’s global reach – some 270 million households worldwide – is mentioned. But the Tres Cantos hub was made with Spain in mind initially says, Larry Tanz, vice president of content for EMEA.
“I feel like ‘hub’ might imply we’re trying to bring everything here, but we really conceived this for Spain,” says Tanz. “Because Spain is such a friendly environment from a business perspective, we have been able to bring some productions here.”
But five years into the project, especially with emerging technologies, the possibility of inviting productions from outside of Spain, including those from the Middle East, are an intriguing prospect for the streamer. Tanz even says that with the facility deploying cloud-based technology, footage shot can be shared remotely, which opens up interesting possibilities.
“Physically, producers could still work from their home country, but utilise virtual facilities here,” Tanz says.
Given Netflix’s growing influence in the Mena region, it begs the question of whether there could ever be a production from the Middle East brought to this facility. “We want to provide the best resources for our creative partners to do their best work,” says Tanz, cautiously. “So if it would make sense to bring production here, we would.”
If any Mena co-production is already in the works for Tres Cantos, Tanz would not say. But one thing is clear: if an Arabic-language production were in need of such a state-of-the-art sound stage, it would be in the EMEA hub.
According to Tanz, we’re unlikely to see a similar hub to Tres Cantos built in the Arabic-speaking world anytime soon. “We don’t have plans to build a hub in the region,” says Tanz. “You can’t just build the box. You have to have the people and the talent – called ‘below the line’ or ‘behind the scenes’ – who can make it all happen.”
He refers back to the facility’s Stage 7, the virtual stage which is currently playing host to El refugio atomico (The Fall Out Shelter), the new show by Money Heist’s Pina. The LED panels, spotlighting different CG-generated backdrops, take serious know-how. “Technical capabilities to use this high-end equipment is really, really important.”
If this suggests the Mena region needs more specialist and skilled workers to compete, Tanz is also uncertain about future cross-cultural collaborations. “For us its really about local authenticity of the storytelling,” he notes.
“So trying to tell a story that mixes four different cultures to appeal to four different audiences … we haven’t found that to be a recipe for success. If a creator had a great approach at it, sure. But our goal is really authentic storytelling from a point-of-view.”
Netflix has already made significant inroads into the Middle Eastern market, working with local production teams. Among them, Kuwaiti show The Exchange and Saudi Arabian feature Alkhallat+. “We’re producing all over the region in Kuwait, in Saudi, in UAE, in Egypt, in Jordan,” Tanz says. “And it’s really about ‘Where’s the best point of view and place to tell that story?’ And starting from that point.”
But can these shows and others break out and become global hits like Money Heist?
“The hope is that they’ll be huge with our Arabic-speaking audience in the region,” says Tanz. “That’s the hope and the intention, I’d say. We try not to bet on hope!”
He cites the recent launch of season two of AlRawabi School For Girls. The drama series, made in Jordan, is “probably the most watched Arabic series in history ever by people all over the world”, he says, but “first and foremost our Arabic-speaking members in the region are the core audience who are watching it the most”.
Still, the hope must surely be that Netflix will one day need to build a new wall – displaying Arabic-language scripts that have become hits the world over.
