The most important corruption scandal that the football world has starred in was revived and brought to streaming through “The President”, a new eight-episode series that only few days ago premiered on Amazon Prime Video. Shot in 2019 in Chile, Argentina and the United States, the series was coproduced by Gaumont (France), Kapow (Argentina) and Fabula (Chile) and narrates the FIFA Gate scandal from former Chilean soccer leader Sergio Jadue’s point of view. 

With “The President”, the production house of Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín (Fabula) is once again the protagonist of a major premiere on the Amazon streaming platform  available for all of Latin America, after “La Jauría” - based on a case of group rape and disappearance- and “Prófugos”, the only Chilean series made for HBO.

Colombian big star Andrés Parra, renowned for playing Pablo Escobar in “El patrón del mal” and Hugo Chávez in “El comandante”, is in charge of giving life to Jadue in this new production, which already in its first weekend has created a powerful buzz among consumers and the football world. Along with the protagonist, there are a dozen world-class actors such as the Mexicans Paulina Gaitán and Karla Souza; the Argentine Luis Margani and the powerful Chilean cast made up of Sergio Hernández, Daniel Muñoz, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Blanca Lewin, among others.

Angela Poblete, the producer of Fabula TV, division dedicated to small screen content, tells us more about how it feels working with Amazon, her association with other large international production companies and how this new series relates to the current social context the entire world is going thro. ugh

 - How did Fabula get into story of "The President"? What is behind the decision of picking up a story and deciding to bring it to a series format? 

This story came through Rodrigo Fluxá, who had written a report called "Jadue in free fall" published in Chilean influential magazine Sábado and that was the raw material with which we fell in love with and began to work on it. Then Matias Amocain (journalist) joined in to develop it as a scripted series. We were adding talents such as Gabriel Díaz (director), for example, to direct the trailer and then we finally managed to add partners such as the Argentine producer Kapow, Gaumont and Amazon. And so we entered into production, which on our side was in charge of Mariane Hartard and Eduardo Castro with their respective teams, who took in their hands this huge project and carried it out with a lot of talent.

What captivated us about this project were several factors. The first thing I would say is the love and commitment of the creator you the story. That is fundamental. Then, other elements come in the table, more objective ones: that the story has enough elements to be told in several episodes, that it has international appeal, that it ideally addresses issues relevant to society, that it has a background, that it is aligned with the editorial content platforms with whom we are in permanent contact are looking for. Many factors intersect and, therefore, behind the creation of each of these stories there is a lot of work involved.

- “La Jauría” was presented as the first Amazon Prime title in Chile and, now, “The President” is added: how would you describe the relevance of releasing a series on a streaming service with so much global reach and, above all, at a time when so many people are finding refuge in audiovisual content? 

For the local industry, not only for us, being able to install our projects on powerful international platforms is a pride because it allows us to show Chilean talent to the whole world, literally. It is the result of a journey that the producers have been developing for many years and that is only now giving visible fruits. It is a path in which we were accompanied by many organizations as well, including CinemaChile. Without going any further, both of the deals we closed for both series happened at Cannes Mipcom, a mission we attended thanks to the support of CinemaChile. And so, I would say that these are joint achievements, where many people participate contributing with talent, professionalism and a lot of strength to make our Chilean industry stronger and mature. This is all achieved by participating in the international market. Specially for fiction.

- Considering that the series is a co-production with Argentina and France, what are the reasons for Fabula TV to choose international partners, or to join a project of this magnitude? How was this different from other work experiences? And do you think that for TV content, the quality of its production is more important than the "where" it comes from (country of origin)?

 More and more, what we are looking for are partners that can bring an added value to our series, that bring a vision to the contents, that there is nobility in their actions and their purposes. When you co-produce, those companies somehow become your "family", with whom you make important decisions with. And therefore, it is extremely important to choose them well. In the case of content, the element of "where it comes from" is indeed important and, therefore, it is a double achievement that Chilean producers from a small market like ours  are achieving these co-production agreements and positioning their series on major international  platforms.

- What aspects of the creative process would you highlight? How were elements of drama and comedy mixed to bring this story to the screen?

 There was an innate comedy element within the story and its characters. Later, Armando Bo consolidated that style by contributing that "Wolf of Wall Street" tone, "Casino" sort of touch, which the series has and that we really like, and that has been very well received by the audiences. Then, I think it was a success to have Gabriel Díaz on the team, a Chilean director with a recognized track record; and Natalia Beristain, from Mexico, who collaborated a lot with her gaze on female characters.

- What would you say were the main challenges for the shooting of the series?

There is always a challenge in large productions, where many people from many countries are involved, which has to do with idiosyncrasy. The Tower of Babel phenomenon, where you must seek understanding and overcome the barrier of cultural differences and nationalities. It is beautiful, cause once it is achieved, work teams get stronger. For example, in the specific case of “The President”, the contribution of Andrés Parra and Paulina Gaitán, in keeping the high spirits of the team was enormous.

And the other typical elements of every big production were not very different from other series; but it was BIG and that required a lot of concentration. We learned a lot. It was a school. 

- A lot has been said about the high level of the technical and artistic team of the series. What would you highlight of the national teams that participated in the production?

In Chile there is a tremendous talent that comes from the tradition of cinema. In this case, I would like to highlight the work that Jorge Zambrano and Estefanía Larraín in the art department (production design), the Muriel Parra in costumes, the editing and post-production work, the performances of the entire Chilean cast that participated. All the most sensible areas covered by national teams, were super outstanding.