Amazon hunts local stories with global reach in Madrid

Amazon MGM Studios wants hometown stories with worldwide legs. That was the pitch from two of its international chiefs in Madrid.

Javiera Balmaceda and Nicole Morganti spoke at Iberseries & Platino Industria about the company's strategy for non-English-language projects, according to Variety. Balmaceda is head of international originals — shows and films commissioned outside the United States — for Latin America, Canada and Australia. Morganti holds the same role for Italy and Southern Europe.

Their session was titled 'Connecting local stories with global impact'. It was listed in the Auditorio as part of the conference programme, according to the event programme.

The message was scale. The executives pointed to two action titles as examples of taking bigger swings in genre, meaning larger budgets and broader ambitions for local-language films.

One was 'Zeta' in Spain. The espionage action film stars Mario Casas and is produced by Pablo Isla's Fonte Films. It ranked among Prime Video's most-watched entries in its Global Top Ten earlier this year, Variety reported.

The other was 'Venganza' in Mexico. On that production, Amazon brought Bulgarian action specialists to work alongside the Mexican crew.

Balmaceda and Morganti also spoke to TodoTVNews at the event about what Amazon MGM Studios is looking for from the producers and creators attending, according to TodoTVNews.

The setting is the industry meeting point for Spanish- and Portuguese-language television. Iberseries & Platino Industria 2026 runs from 29 September to 2 October at Matadero Madrid, its main venue. This year is the sixth edition, and the programme covers literary adaptations, microdramas, financing and co-production, according to Cineuropa.

For viewers, this means more local action films built to travel. A crew of hundreds makes each one. Only the audience numbers decide what gets a follow-up.