Between September 1st and 3rd, the second and last part of the Conecta Fiction Reboot fiction series market will take place and the national project Vientos Patagónicos, produced by Invercine & Wood, was the only Chilean selected to be presented in the prestigious Pitch Copro Series section .

CONECTA FICTION already had a first part last June and in online format, allowing a prominent national delegation to participate along with professionals from around the world, despite the pandemic that affects the planet.

In this second and extraordinary face-to-face edition, the outstanding national producer María Elena Wood will participate, who leads the series in development Vientos Patagónicos, one of the 12 projects selected in the Pitch Copro Series section. The section is focused on serial fiction projects that seek partners and funding and that have the potential to be co-produced between America and Europe.

Vientos Patagónicos, created by the screenwriter and playwright Guillermo Calderón and by Wood, also executive producer, tells the story of Alice Benoit (44), an analytical and cold French journalist who travels to Chilean Patagonia determined to find her father, a tourist lost in Torres del Paine who she has not seen for decades. 

We spoke to María Elena Wood, one of the strongest women in the national television industry, who shared new details of the production and how she is preparing herself for the pitch, which will take place on September the 2nd at the Palacio de Congresos y Auditorio de Navarra Baluarte in Pamplona – Iruña (Navarra).

- The presentation of Vientos Patagónicos at Conecta will be an important milestone . How do you prepare for this event and what characteristics do you think will be key to attracting international producers? 

First we define what we want to communicate: an enveloping and intriguing story that takes place in a unique and powerful territory; an outstanding creative and production team; an international co-production that brings together experienced players in the first leagues. We try to show and express those distinctions.

- What would you say are the keys to a good pitch? 

The key is to captivate with the story you want to tell; highlight its distinctive aspects, what makes it unique. There are many more opportunities and risks in a pitch.

- Regarding the series , how was the idea born and how did you develop it along with Guillermo Calderón?

 Guillermo Calderón wanted to experiment with a thriller. We wanted to do a western in Chilean Patagonia. We came together and created, along with the scriptwriters Francisca Lewin and Anastasia Ayasi and the producer Patricio Pereira, a Noir in the south of the world.

 - What will be the main challenges that you think the filming will impose on them?

Before filming we have the challenge of finding the right partners, who will fall in love with this project and will want to be part of this adventure. As Sebastián Krekeler, from ZDF says, “it's pure gold”.

- How do you evaluate the growth that Invercine & Wood has had in recent years ?

It has been a long and laborious path of identifying and attracting talents, developing a portfolio of projects, exploring markets, connecting with the different actors of the national and international industry, closing deals, obtaining financing, producing, participating in festivals and pushing for our series to reach large global audiences.

 - Finally, how accessible (or not) do you think it is today for Chilean independent production to access platforms such as Amazon or Netflix? What would you say are the concepts that international OTTs are looking for when acquiring one production or another?

Chilean audiovisual talent has an international brand. That helps a lot. However, the lack of public policies that encourage production in Chile plays against us, and is leaving us behind other latinamerican countries, such as Colombia; the shortage of public funds for audiovisuals plus the bankruptcy of the broadcast television industry and the small size of our market. To survive we need to create incentives and export and the State still does not understand that, despite the great contribution to the country's image that the audiovisual industry makes and the large amount of work it generates.