Bela Bajaria talks up broad slate for ‘every mood’, as production starts on expanding Spanish slate
Netflix used its upfront to talk up the power of its growing sports offering, while also unveiling seven new series and touting the broad appeal of its slate.
The streamer’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, took to the stage to outline her focus on “programming a slate, not slots”, with a strategy to commission for “every mood” and ensuring audiences “have the best of everything.”
Her comments sharply contrasted the revised strategy of Warner Bros Discovery, which yesterday revealed its streamer would be known as HBO Max (again) and “distinguish” itself with “quality and distinct stories” rather than volume.
Bajaria pointed to sports coverage including NFL games on Christmas Day and the upcoming Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano boxing rematch, as well as WWE.
But there was also a flurry of new shows revealed, alongside new seasons of The Diplomat, Forever, The Four Seasons, Love on the Spectrum, Million Dollar Secret, My Life With the Walter Boys, Survival of the Thickest, and a fifth and sixth season renewal for Bridgerton.
New US commissions
Shows revealed for the first time include coming-of-age series The Body from Quinn Shepherd and The North Road Company, and Bible belt serial killer drama All the Sinners Bleed, from the Obama’s Higher Ground Productions and Amblin Entertainment.
Schitt’s Creek creator Dan Levy, who has an overall pact at Netflix, is behind an untitled crime comedy.
Movies include Here Comes the Flood, starring Denzel Washington and Daisy Edgar-Jones and about a bank guard plotting a heist with a master thief, and Jamie Foxx’s boxing movie Fight for ’84.
Other commissions include a reboot of talent competition show Star Search, more than two decades since its most recent relaunch on CBS, and docuseries Prime Time, which explores the life of Deion Sanders.
Final Problem starts in Spain
The streamer has also started production on its latest Spanish series, as it further ramps up its offering from the country.
El Problema Final (aka The Final Problem) started shooting in late April in the Catalonian coastal village of Lloret de Mar, with the five-parter based on a best-seller by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
The project is defined as “a sophisticated adaptation that blends thriller and mystery in an immersive period setting,” with production set to continue at Netflix’s hub at Tres Cantos in Madrid, and in various locations across the city and Toledo for two months.
Independent firm Mod Producciones, traditionally more active on the feature film scene, oversees the production.
The Final Problem is not the only one book adaptation greenlit by Netflix on the Spanish market. The service will bring to the screen El Mapa de los Anhelos, the novel by Spanish writer Alice Kellen.
BBC Studios Brutal Media will lead production of the show, which is a woman who claims she was born with the purpose of saving her sister Lucy, who suffers from leukemia, through her stem cells.
Other book adaptations include: El Cuco de Cristal (aka The Crystal Cuckoo) from Atípica Films, a six-episode series based on the bestselling novel by Spanish writer Javier Castillo; That Night from Txintxua Films, based on the Sunday Times bestselling novel by Gillian McAllister; and Ciudad de Sombras from Arcadia, a new thriller series from the adaptation of the saga about inspector Milo Malart, by Aro Sáinz de la Maza.
Netflix’s Spanish offering in 2025 has seen six shows rolled out so far, including the third run of comedy Machos Alfa (aka Alpha Males) from Contubernio Films, which has also been extended into a fourth season. Several remakes are also in production across Europe.
The second season of La Chica de Nieve (aka The Snow Girl), from Atípica Films, also launched, alongside the finale of Valeria from Plano a Plano, period romantic comedy Manual Para Señoritas (aka The Lady’s Companion) from Studiocanal’s Bambú Producciones, and romantic thriller El Jardinero (aka The Gardener) from Banijay’s DLO Producciones.
Family drama Legado (aka Rotten Legacy) has also launched, with production via El Desorden Crea.
The streamer, which launched 10 Spanish series last year, has also confirmed the premiere of rural comedy Animal from Mediaset España’s Alea Media, and El Refugio Atómico (aka The Fallout Shelter). It hails from Vancouver Media and marks the latest show by the creators of La Casa de Papel (aka Money Heist), Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato.
Another original project is drama series Salvador from Alea Media, created by Aitor Gabilondo (Wrong Side of the Tracks) and about a father who discovers that his daughter belongs to a neo-Nazi Group.
Second seasons of hospital drama Respira (aka Breathless) from El Desorden Crea, Vancouver’s Casa de Papel spin-off Berlín, and Clanes (Gangs of Galicia) from Vaca Films, are also on the Spanish streamer’s slate, while its next launch is Olympo (Zeta Studios).
The youth-skewing drama is set in the world of elite sports and produced by the team behind global hit Elite. The show will arrive on the platform on 20 June.
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