Telespan 2000, leading Spanish producer of box office hits TheOther Side Of The Bed, Torremolinos 73 and FootballDays, has completed a restructuring whichincludes a cash injection from local savings bank Banco Gallego in return for20% of the company. Bed and Football Days director David Serrano also becomes a shareholder. The othertwo partners remain as before - producer Tomas Cimadevilla and businessman JoseHerrero de Engana. This follows Telespan's move to invest inpioneering Spanish film investment fund, Filmanova Invest.

Telespan has three film projects on the boil this year: ElCalentito, directed by Chus Gutierrez, isset to start shooting in July, followed by the sequel to The OtherSide Of The Bed, one of Spain's mostsuccessful films with a gross of $14.5m, set for October with the same team asthe original, and Telespan is also a partner in a documentary project about thepoet Gabriel Garcia Lorca's work Blood Wedding, to be called Voyage ToAlmeria (Viaje A Almeria).

With a three-year, six-picture co-production deal signedwith Spanish private-sector broadcaster Telecinco last year valued at $18m, Telespanis one of the most commercially-successful production companies in Spain.In 2005, it is set to start production on Football Days director Serrano's follow-up, called Locked In The Mine (EncerradosEn La Mina), written bythe actor Alberto San Juan; a co-production with Argentina called Zenitram, to be directed by Luis Barone, and a comedy called The Little Orphans (LosHuerfanitos), to beSantiago Lorenzo's second film.

Telespan has also acquired the rights to the popular novel Flash, written by the Italian author Maximo Bruni, and isactive in TV production, having just signed a deal with Telecinco for a weeklycomedy series called Ways Of Living (Maneras de Vivir ), inspired by Football Days and including some of the movie's cast. Toround out its slate, Telespan is also partner in two theatre musicals, one anadaptation of The Other Side of the Bed and the other an original script called Today I can't Get Up (HoyNo Me Puedo Levanter), written by Nacho Cano and David Serrano.

Topics