Spain’s Atresmedia backs Catalan firm Sábado Time

Spain’s Atresmedia and Catalan production companies Sábado Películas and Playtime Movies have formed a new company called Sábado Time.

The Antena 3 broadcaster holds a 15% percent stake in the nascent company, which was quietly launched earlier this year.

Atresmedia anticipates that it may not be the only deal of its kind across the remainder of the year, despite the fact that there are increasingly fewer independent Spanish production companies willing to welcome new shareholders.

“We are open to more transactions like this, either with established production companies or with new ones that may emerge, as has been the case with Sábado Time,” says José Antonio Antón, general manager of Atresmedia Televisión, talking to Spanish trade Audiovisual451.

Atresmedia already holds a 50% stake in Buendía Estudios with Telefónica, as well as minority stakes in La Mesías producer Suma Content, Crims creator Luminol Media, and Vancouver Media, the production company owned by Money Heist’s Álex Pina.

Joining their ranks is Sábado Time, which was born after Atresmedia, Sábado Películas and Playtime Movies collaborated on titles including the fiction series A Muerte (A Death), which was sold to Apple TV+ for its world premiere and is also available on Atresplayer nationwide.

Toni Carrizosa, Kike Maíllo, and Ana Eiras founded Sábado Películas in 2011 and have just released the miniseries Dos tumbas (Two Graves) on Netflix. They have always accompanied Dani de la Orden throughout his career, from his feature film debut with Barcelona, Summer Night to A Muerte.

Playtime Movies is from Dani de la Orden and Bernat Saumell, with the company initially created as a film and advertising production company. Most of their projects have been in partnership with Sábado Películas, including Oswald, The Forger.

Sábado Time will be based in Barcelona and have a team of around 12 people, with teams from both independent companies joining. This includes Alberto Aranda, a producer who was part of Playtime Movies.

Carrizosa said: “This alliance with Atresmedia will give us support to take on projects that, without such a partner, we wouldn’t have dared to undertake. We feel it helps stabilise us as a company.

“Production companies that have primarily focused on film suffer from a certain instability because projects are shorter, and it’s very difficult to maintain staff and invest in developments… Now we have the confidence that we’ll be able to maintain the team and have the resources to take risks on different projects.”

Sábado Time has several titles on the horizon including comedy series La Casa Nostra, which will soon be released on 3Cat. In October, the company will shoot feature film A Fuego, with the participation of Atresmedia and Netflix, and in 2026 will begin filming El Director, a feature film based on the book of the same name by journalist David Jiménez.