All the times we fell in love: the innocent youth of the head of adolescence in Spain

He shared a class and a flat with Amenábar, he

and now he has set out to reinvent the romantic comedy with his new series on Netflix,

.

But, above all, Carlos Montero is the essential name to understand the television portrayal of Spanish adolescents: he began as a screenwriter on

and later created

and

, three key works of the genre.

Montero, who was born in the 70s in a town in Galicia, Celanova, moved to Madrid at the age of 18 to study Audiovisual Communication and

.

«I came with high expectations and it did not disappoint me.

I entered the race, I made many friends...».

Two of them were the directors Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil, with whom Montero formed a trio destined for success, although it has come at different times and measures.

«In fourth year we began to live together in an apartment in Malasaña.

At

I am now working with a director, Ana Vázquez, whom

.

Nico García is a producer, Sergio Rozas has a special effects company... It was a good generation».

Unlike the disproportionate students of

, Carlos Montero enjoyed a simple and cultured leisure: «I began to meet the night in Madrid in the fourth or fifth year of my degree, I was not very interested.

It was more of being at home with friends and they were years of

and it had huge gaps.

It was my cinephile training.

I liked the Bergman films I saw a lot, although I couldn't stand them now.

I watched French cinema, the Nouvelle Vague... It was very

and, also, Spanish cinema, Julio Medem, Isabel Coixet... ».

'All the times we fell in love'.

In Montero's new series, the protagonists are fascinated with a director named Romano, a kind of

, whom Montero knew well in his twenties, when he had already finished his degree.

«I was lucky enough to be her personal assistant during the pre-production of

and

.

I had already gone through

when they offered it to me and I thought about it because the position had nothing to do with the script.

I was six or seven months with him.

I learned what it is to be a star in Spain.

I had worked with Alejandro [Amenábar], but with Almodóvar

;

promotion, marketing... You said 'Almodóvar' and all the doors opened.

He is passionate about work, he lives for the cinema and his films.

You always think that someone with his status is more relaxed, but quite the opposite.

He also surprised me how up to date he was, and he is, of everything: literature, theater, music, cinema... He has never stopped cultivating himself ».

'Afterclass'.

In Montero's new series, the protagonists are fascinated with a director named Romano, a kind of

, whom Montero knew well in his twenties, when he had already finished his degree.

«I was lucky enough to be her personal assistant during the pre-production of

and

.

I had already gone through

when they offered it to me and I thought about it because the position had nothing to do with the script.

I was six or seven months with him.

I learned what it is to be a star in Spain.

I had worked with Alejandro [Amenábar], but with Almodóvar

;

promotion, marketing... You said 'Almodóvar' and all the doors opened.

He is passionate about work, he lives for the cinema and his films.

You always think that someone with his status is more relaxed, but quite the opposite.

He also surprised me how up to date he was, and he is, of everything: literature, theater, music, cinema... He has never stopped cultivating himself ».

Will Pedro see any of his series?

"He must have seen something, but I haven't asked him."

He remembers the stage fondly: «I had a fascinated relationship with him.

.

I felt that I had someone who was the history of this country and of cinema as a friend ».

'Physics or chemistry'.

A

, Montero entered at the age of 25 and on the recommendation of Amenábar.

«Before, I was a waiter, I worked in Alejandro's movies carrying cables...

.

I tell this in

, that question of whether I'm worth it or not.

I feel very Irene [the protagonist] about having a lot of vocation and a lot of insecurities.

Living with Alejandro and Mateo was very stimulating, but also very frustrating because

».

In other words, making this series has something of a regression, not only because it was filmed in what was his school, Information Sciences at the Complutense, or because Mateo Gil directs a couple of episodes, but because it means putting himself back in the skin of

.

«When you start you are super ambitious.

I really wanted all that glamor that I thought existed around, which is actually very little.

You see yourself winning Goyas and Oscars ».

This has not been the case, but Montero is not doing badly at all:

was the most successful Spanish series on Netflix in 2022 and its author has an exclusive contract with the platform that is renewed every three years.

He has also done

and

for them and he has

, in addition to the one he is premiering now, where he will leave the teenagers parked.

And

continues on its way.

But his most immediate wish is that

works.

«Part of a very simple idea that is that love cannot with everything.

.

I am a big fan of romantic comedies where love is bigger than life, but I wanted to give it a realistic point: they are two guys very much in love [Georgina Amorós and Franco Masini], but there are obstacles, fears and, above all, success and the vocation, that they put themselves in the middle.

She wants to succeed and she meets a boy who has no ambition but to whom success comes without effort and that prevents her from enjoying it ».

Fame as a problem is a very powerful concept for Carlos Montero: «Having your feet on the ground depends on your head, not on age.

Me

.

In those of catastrophes, the characters grow in the face of danger, marriages are arranged, parents love their children more.

On the other hand, in those of rise and fall, the catastrophe is success and it always devastates you, it does not matter if it is at 20 or 30. We are not prepared for success ».

Elite.

«

, discovering the person you are and the one you want to be, and that gregarious thing of wanting to belong to a group and, at the same time, be individual», reflects on the link that unites the teen fictions in which he has worked.

«Adolescence is full of contradictions and, in addition, in the passage from childhood to maturity there is always sex: one stops being a child because he discovers that he has

.

I think that when you're heterosexual you don't consider your identity so much because you're within the system, but those of us who are gay are not, or were not, and the view from outside the system is enriching.

Many of us end up being creative because we are

.

It's a perspective that makes you question things."

And he continues: «

he took away my fear of writing.

Being a daily series, the author's nonsense was removed from me, from the fear of a blank page or of not being inspired;

had to produce

And

.

The series had a very crazy and soap opera part, but it was quite daring: there was talk of fucking with a condom, the morning after pill... things that were not mentioned on television at that time and it was quite groundbreaking».

But when he felt like an author for the first time it was with

.

«I thought about it on the subway on the way to a meeting with my boss.

He didn't wear anything, but

, and he was enthusiastic about it.

The pitch was made up of three young teachers who began to teach when they still had no knowledge of life.

Later, it became a series more of students than teachers.

I wrote three quite tremendous chapters and we presented them to TVE, who told us that they were very good, but it was not for them.

We went to Antena 3.

.

As they were in a hurry, the scripts were not looked at much.

Later the most conservative shareholders began to complain, but success silences mouths.

Physics and Chemistry was a phenomenon among teenagers in 2008, although television columnists and a certain sector of the audience were terrified.

«Twitter did not exist and the response was not as fast as it is now.

I knew that the critics were very bad but very passionate and that made me laugh.

I saw that the series was on the street, that people were talking about it.

It usually happens with the series that later become a pop reference that at the time are frowned upon, but even people who spoke badly then later remember it fondly.

The same will happen with Elite;

I know because I have already lived it.

So, the kid who went to the Filmoteca doesn't care about criticism?

«At 20 they would seem like a tragedy to me, but I got older and I accept it.

If I wasn't proud of Elite, it would hurt me.

I am aware of the product that it is and I am happy”.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more