{"id":2390,"date":"2026-06-18T04:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2390"},"modified":"2026-06-18T04:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:36:09","slug":"spains-book-business-eyes-global-screen-boom-as-fernando-benzo-touts-literature-as-safe-ip-our-petrol-is-the-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2390","title":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s Book Business Eyes Global Screen Boom as Fernando Benzo Touts Literature as \u2018Safe IP\u2019: \u2018Our Petrol Is the Language\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tSpanish literature could prove to be a boon for international film and TV adaptations, says Fernando Benzo, author and secretary general of the Spanish Federation of Publishers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Guillermo Rodriguez of \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u2019 Joins \u2018Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Season 35<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBooks are a safe intellectual property \u2013 that\u2019s the main concept for me,\u201d Benzo told Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you work on a book, usually you already have the fan base. You have all the people that have read those books, so it\u2019s a stronger bet than if you work with original material.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBenzo, who will address the Shanghai Film Festival on Spanish literature\u2019s adaptation potential at June 21\u2019s \u00a0Stories Travel Further \u2013 Literature and Cinema in Spain-China Dialogue, argues that Spanish-language books offer something many producers are constantly chasing: recognizable material, existing readers and the possibility of reaching far beyond one national market.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe used to say we have our own petrol, and our own petrol is the language,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you think of a Spanish book, you don\u2019t have to think only of a book that is being sold in Spain. It\u2019s a book that can be sold to 600 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat linguistic advantage arrives at a moment when Spanish audiovisual production has already proven its global pull.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRight now, TV shows and movies we see in Spain made by Spanish professionals \u2013 directors, actors, all the professionals in the industry \u2013 are top quality,\u201d he said, citing smash global Netflix hit \u201cMoney Heist\u201d (\u201cLa Casa de Papel\u201d) as a prime example.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou have a powerful book industry and a powerful audiovisual industry, so the result has to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Benzo, Spain\u2019s literary offer has key strands. There are the classics, first of all.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have classic literature, we have an immense background of classics that can be adapted to images,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI\u2019m still waiting for a really good version of Don Quixote. Someday it will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut contemporary thrillers might be an even more immediate proposition.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a powerful generation of writers of thrillers right now,\u201d he stressed. \u201cI don\u2019t know the reason, but it\u2019s now the time for Spanish thrillers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe points to Lorenzo Silva\u2019s police procedural series featuring investigators Bevilaqua and Chamorro as material with clear screen potential, praising its vividly visual prose. Silva\u2019s powerful novel \u201cCarte Blanche\u201d has indeed been turned into a film by Gerardo Herrero which caught Variety\u2019s eye at this year\u2019s Cannes March\u00e9 du Film. <\/p>\n

Read more Tom Holland Speaks Out on AI and Why Artists Are \u2018Safe\u2019: \u2018Creativity Has to Do With the Human Experience\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAdaptation, however, is not all about best sellers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou don\u2019t have to measure the success, but you have to measure the potential,\u201d Benzo said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you talk with a TV producer or movie producer, the first question they ask you when you are pitching your material is: \u2018Is a sequel possible?\u2019 If you have material but you don\u2019t have the chance to develop new seasons, well, they don\u2019t like that so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe knows that from experience. His thriller \u201cLos Perseguidos\u201d (\u201cThe Hunted\u201d) enjoyed modest success before it was spotted by a producer, who approached Benzo about adapting it. The result was a successful audio drama, a format that can benefit from actors, atmosphere and dramatic tension at a fraction of the cost of a film or TV series.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpanish literature itself has also changed. \u201cWe used to be very local in Spain. We used to look at ourselves a lot. Everybody was writing for years about the Spanish Civil War,\u201d Benzo reflected. \u201cThe plots, the stories of Spanish books are mainly universal now. Many of the most successful Spanish books, especially thrillers, you could take the story, turn it into a story taking place in London, Scotland, whatever, and it will work.\u201d That same portability, he argues, has helped Spanish series travel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s what I was saying about \u2018La Casa de Papel.\u2019\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter that it takes place in Madrid. You can readily relocate it anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite Spain\u2019s annual output of around 430 films, only a relatively small share are adaptations, according to Benzo. That could change, he suggests, if the publishing and audiovisual sectors learned how to speak to each other more fluently.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have to put together, to get closer, two industries that live their own way,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you make adaptations, you will sell more books. If you make good movies, you will have more audiences. It\u2019s a win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPart of the challenge is cultural. Publishers and producers are used to pitching in radically different ways.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou go to Netflix, and they tell you: \u2018You have three minutes, tell me something interesting.\u2019 If you stall for a moment, you have lost a minute and a half, and the pitching is over,\u201d Benzo observed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPublishers have to learn how to sell their product to the visual industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, he believes the opportunity is there.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSpanish book materials are very good,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a wonderful evolution in the variety of things that are written about in Spain that makes it very appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs global platforms and producers keep hunting known properties, scalable worlds and stories that can travel, Spain\u2019s book business may be sitting on one of the country\u2019s most underexploited audiovisual assets.<\/p>\n

Read more Emmy Predictions: Writing \u2014 Where the Scribes Behind \u2018The Pitt,\u2019 \u2018Widow\u2019s Bay\u2019 and \u2018Love Story\u2019 Make Their Case<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spanish literature could prove to be a boon for international film and TV adaptations, says publishing federation head Fernando Benzo.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2025,813,2026],"class_list":["post-2390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-money-heist","tag-shanghai-international-film-festival","tag-spain"],"yoast_head":"\nSpain\u2019s Book Business Eyes Global Screen Boom as Fernando Benzo Touts Literature as \u2018Safe IP\u2019: \u2018Our Petrol Is the Language\u2019 - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2390\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spain\u2019s Book Business Eyes Global Screen Boom as Fernando Benzo Touts Literature as \u2018Safe IP\u2019: \u2018Our Petrol Is the Language\u2019 - 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