Leading Spanish indie producer-distributor Vértice 360 has partnered with Madrid-based outfit Dexiderius Producciones to produce coming-of-age thriller series “Verdugos” (“Executioners”).
Constructed as a six-episode mini-series in Spanish and Basque, “Executioners” was chosen as one of 15 finalist projects selected for next month’s Series Mania Forum Co-Pro Pitching Sessions.
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The mini-series was created and written by Dexiderius co-founder Pedro Ríos (“My adorable neighbors,” “Out of control”) and Rodrigo Martín (“Silk Hands,” “Lex”). Dexiderius co-founder César Martínez and Alberto Rull, EVP production and content at Vértice 360, will produce.
Set in the late summer of 1996 in a small town in Spain’s northern Navarre region, the story follows four adventurous 12-year-olds who set out to explore an old abandoned mine.
In its depths, they discovered a businessman held prisoner by the Basque terrorist group ETA – a kidnapping widely reported in the news.
A man’s life depends on children not making decisions they are not ready for. And even more so when they discover that the father of one of them is one of those involved.
Determined to save the kidnapped man’s life, they freed him but the car they were riding in fell into the lagoon. All the children escaped unharmed but there was no trace of the merchant.
“The executioners” “was born from the idea of telling a story with deep dramatic depth, with echoes of terrorism and many emotional problems, but from a different point of view: in 12-year-old children,” said García and Martín.
The creators of the series aim to relate the passage from childhood to adolescence “using a historical and recognizable context – like ETA- but stripping it of any political connotation, giving it an adventure halo which is at once a drama and a thriller with a lot of emotional charge.”
“This is an ‘ultra-localized’ story, which takes place in a small community in the north of Navarre, framed in a recognizable historical context, with some protagonists who are still young on their way to learn- eder. All these elements make it a ‘glocal’ story with international relevance,” said the producers.
“International distribution deals are under negotiation,” they added.
Ríos and Martín are also creators of “Democracy,” a period crime thriller project that won the biggest prize of the 2020 Conecta Fiction Reboot, a development deal from Spanish public broadcaster TVE.
Vértice 360, the ambitiously relaunched content division of Madrid-based conglomerate Squirrel Media, is led by Spanish entrepreneur Pablo Pereiro Lage.
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