MADRID — Amazon Prime Video, Mediapro and La Liga are teaming to produce Amazon’s first Spanish – and Spanish-language – original series, soccer documentary “Six Dreams.”
Already shooting, the series follows three players – Atletico de Madrid’s Saúl Ñíguez, Athletic Club Bilbao’s Iñaki Williams, and Real Betis’ Andrés Guardado, as well as two coaches – ex-Seville manager Eduardo Berrizo and Girona’s Quique Carcel. Amaia Gorostiza, the female president of Eibar, Spain’s smallest-budget Liga side, constitutes the sixth profile.
“Six Dreams” is directed by Justin Webster, who said it will be shot in “observational, verité style with very little commentary from the episodes’ subjects but a structured narrative.”
The six-hour series was presented Monday at Atlético de Madrid’s new stadium, the Wanda Metropolitano, by Amazon Prime Video’s Georgia Brown, director Prime Originals Europe, and Christoph Schneider, director content acquisition Europe, plus La Liga President Javier Tebas and Mediapro partner Jaume Roures.
“We like telling soccer stories,” said Tebas, “We do it live every weekend, but think there are other stories, sometimes extraordinary, which can go on entertaining during the week.”
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Amazon’s involvement “inspires confidence in the project. The director guarantees that the images are not only a shopwindow, but that the stories have depth,” said Roures.
He added: “As Javier Tebas has said, live transmissions are just 180º. We have to fill the other 180º with quality content of interest, not only to people who go to matches but those who aren’t really interested in soccer. It is part of a leisure offer and clubs should be more open.”
In line with Amazon’s series on Manchester City, the U.K. soccer club, “Six Dreams” presents not only the professional, but human side to Liga soccer.
The subjects “are all super-passionate, dedicate their lives to the sport.” But this is told from different angles, said Schneider.
Another common denominator to the stories is “effort, the sacrifice and suffering. There are a lot of tears behind what you see live on Saturdays our Sundays,” Roures added.
While Amazon’s U.K. soccer series, produced by Mediapro, will follow Premier League leaders Manchester City, and Netflix’s recently released “First Team” focuses on Italy’s most prestigious club, Juventus, fans of Spanish soccer will notice that the league’s two biggest draws, Real Madrid and Barcelona, have no players or personal represented in the series.
When asked about the omission, Schneider teased that if there is a Season 2, perhaps one or both of the teams might be selected, while Tebas insisted that this series is about growing La Liga, not promoting the two clubs most consistently at the top.
It’s been a busy 12 months as far as European soccer TV rights auctions are concerned, and there has been plenty of conjecture that sooner, rather than later, one of the the major streaming platforms is likely to make a play to pick up rights for a top division soccer league in Europe.
Schneider sidestepped a question as to whether the series was a stepping stone to securing rights to La Liga, saying simply that Amazon was always interested in delivering quality content to customers.
“It’s one way of being nearer to Amazon. It wouldn’t be sensible to not be close to a company of its size,” said Tebas.
“We already work with Amazon. There are no second intentions and, if you ask me, I don’t think anything will happen immediately on an Amazon bid for rights,” Roures added.
A “Six Dreams” trailer was screened at the press conference with the slogan “the League as never seen before.” The series will take in scenes such as board meetings at Eibar. It will be ready for delivery at the end of the year, being made available to Amazon Prime Video clients in over 200 countries, Schneider said.
Pictured: Saúl Ñíguez and Iñaki Williams, both featured in “Six Dreams,” challenge for a high ball
