MTV strikes first European film production alliance

MTV Films Europe, looking to produce a slate of low-budgetyouth-orientated films in a variety of local languages, has turned to Spain forits first alliance.

An agreement with Spanish consultancy Intuition Media'snew production arm Intuition Films is designed to funnel projects and potentialco-productions in Spain and Portugal to the iconic music network.

Speaking at the Donostia-San Sebastian International FilmFestival, MTV Films Europe president Jonathan Zilli said the agreement withIntuition chief Ele Juarez to be MTV's exclusive representative in Spain wasthe first of its kind for the outfit, opened in London about three months ago.

MTV Films Europe "is a new film initiative to extend the brand bymaking local, low-budget, local-language films of all genres," Zilli said.

He is looking to develop, produce or acquire two to three filmsper year in Europe within a budget range of Euros 1m-5m and which will"resonate with MTV's 15-24 year old audiences."

Distribution and sales will be considered on a project-by-projectbasis, although MTV is linked to Paramount through parent company Viacom.

"We have a brand that reaches about 110 million homes acrossEurope and we want to leverage the strength we have in terms of reaching ouraudiences to help market and promote our films throughout Europe."

"We're using SanSebastian as a springboard to come into the Spanish market," added Zilli, whotogether with veteran Juarez has met with multiple local producers over theweekend in San Sebastian, and prior to that in Madrid.

"It is so difficult to produce films in Spain right now that weare seeing people join forces more than ever," Juarez said, explaining thepositive response they have had so far. After San Sebastian, Zilli travels toRome.

Juarez also announced the launch of his own feature film anddocumentary production division, Intuition Films, looking to make one or twofilms per year possibly in co-production with Latin America or the US Hispanicmarket. Jaurez said he won't necessarily co-produce MTV projects in Spain.