HBO Max has signed an overall first-look deal with acclaimed Spanish TV executive Domingo Corral, one of the producers on Oliver Laxe’s Oscar-nominated drama Sirât.
Sarah Aubrey, Head of Original Content at HBO Max, unveiled the pact with Corral on Tuesday at television festival Series Mania in Lille, France. Calling the Spanish indie producer “a champion of bold, distinctive voices and a trusted collaborator across the creative community,” Aubrey said the deal would give the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer “exclusive television services in Spain” from one of the country’s most acclaimed producers.
As the head of content at Spanish pay-TV company Moviestar Plus+, and previously as head of content at Telefónica’s TV division, Corral have overseen the production of some of Spain’s most critically acclaimed and commercial successful film and television. His TV work includes Riot Police (2020), The Messiah (2023), and The Anatomy of a Moment, a new period drama screening at Series Mania this week.
When Corral left Movistar Plus+ last year, 144 members of the Spanish creative community, including Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar, signed an open letter in support of the producer, warning of the damage his exit could have on the Spanish industry.
Speaking of the pact with HBO Max, Corral said: “I am delighted to have found a partner with whom I can continue producing the series I have always believed in. HBO’s commitment to quality, boldness, and originality has always inspired my approach to the art of storytelling.”
Aubrey revealed Corral’s first project under the HBO Max deal, a series set in the 1980s and based on the notorious case of Santiago Corella, alias ‘El Nani’. A petty criminal from the Spanish slums, El Nani was wrongly arrested by a police unit staffed by former officers from Franco’s fascist regime and “disappeared.” The case became a cause célèbre when, in 1988, the police officers involved were put on trial, turning it into a test of the country’s transition from Fascism to democracy.
El Nani, which is currently in development, will be written and directed by Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos., the team behind period drama The Anatomy of a Moment, which screened at Series Mania this week.
