Netflix officially launches five more stages at Madrid production hub

Netflix has officially opened five more soundstages at its Spanish production hub in Tres Cantos just north of Madrid, doubling the complex’s total number of studios to 10.

The streaming giant inaugurated the studios today with an opening event for press, industry execs and Spanish government ministers.

The new studios, which incorporate post-production, wardrobe, hair and make-up facilities, are hosting the seventh season of Netflix’s Elite, J.A. Bayona’s disaster feature The Society Of The Snow and Charlie Covell’s upcoming UK series Kaos produced through Sister.

Netflix is making 30 Spanish productions this year, across series, films, reality and documentaries. Coming up for 2023 are films such as Hermana Muerte, Eres Tú, Fenómenas and A Través del Mar.

Talent including Money Heist showrunners Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, Elite creator Carlos Montero, Kaos exec producer Chris Fry, and Àlex and David Pastor, directors of the Bird Box Spanish spinoff, were on hand for the event.

Fry said there were four reasons for chosing to shoot Kaos, a contemporary reimagining of Greek mythology, at the Tres Cantos facility: the Spanish weather, access to Spanish locations, the country’s attractive tax credits and its strong crew base. He said that because the studio has facilities such as make up through to post on site, “it means you can keep your production close and tight.”

Maria Gonzalez Veracruz, Spain’s secretary of state for telecommunications and digital infrastructure, gave an address at the event, talking up the government’s support for the creative industries, including its Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe plan to invest €1.6bn by 2025 to boost production in the country. Spain’s minister of culture and sport, Miquel Iceta, stressed the new infrastructure being built at Tres Cantos meant the ‘technology is top notch” for incoming creatives.

Netflix’s head of global partnerships Maria Ferreras described Spain as a centre of audiovisual production in Europe and the world, whose language unites 500 million people.

There was also a keynote with Verónica Fernández, Netflix’s director of series for Spain and Portugal., and M-K Kennedy, Netflix’s vice president production Europe. Guests were given tours of the set of Élite, Kaos and The Society of the Snow.

Tres Cantos first opened in 2019 and is now a multi-purpose space of more than 22,000 m2.

This article originally appeared on KFTVs sister site, Screendaily.