Verónica Fernández, director of content for Netflix Spain: "'The paper house' is the narrative of losers"

Verónica Fernández (Vinuesa, Soria. 1971) can be given many adjectives after chatting with her for more than an hour, but

the Netflix Spain content director doesn't seem to make much sense.

"I didn't want to have an executive career. I'm a screenwriter," she confesses after sitting down at a table in Cristina Oria's restaurant, near the Puerta de Alcalá.

She, to contextualize, is the one who decides what we are going to see (and what we are not) in the coming months -perhaps years- on the

platform .

.

But one day, three years ago, the "no" became a why not.

"I saw the opportunity to be able to impact the industry in which I had grown up as a screenwriter. It was a way to give other creators an opportunity like I had been given."

And so came the trip to the headquarters on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles where, "drinking kombucha and with Spanish content on the screens", he signed his first contract as an employee.

Until then, she had always been autonomous: "

. I'm not saying it's good or bad, I'm saying important," she comments sarcastically.

The vertigo of the decision lasted relatively little.

"It was a

. He didn't lose anything. In fact, the only thing he could do was win, was learn. It was like riding a bike, he wasn't going to unlearn anything."

If she did poorly, she would go back to writing-she has also published three novels.

.

Netflix has taught him to spend time differently.

"I have meetings with creators, with production teams, marketing, more institutional events and then I take time to see scripts...".

Her day has (also) 24 hours.

"And I have a husband and children," she says between laughs.

"

."

He speaks in a leisurely tone, always looks people in the eye with a half smile and develops his ideas in detail.

She is a Hispanic philologist by training, since she can remember she has been "thinking about stories".

Her talent is behind some of the most famous fiction series in our country, such as

,

or

, among others.

She also has four Goya awards for her involvement in the screenplay and adaptation of

and

.

He keeps a special memory of the first series he worked on,

, and of the first actor he met, Antonio Resines.

"I signed a contract without almost knowing what I was going to do. I fell in love with television there. I met incredible people. Come on, if I meet Resines now I almost cry."

is also

included in that list of special chapters.

"

".

And of course

.

"It was the first series in which I signed a contract where I was a

, that is, without me it was not done. They treated me for the first time as the

were treated in the US."

The thing about interspersing terms in English has happened to him since he works at Netflix.

The American company has a

.

"And many of us are in positions of responsibility," she points out.

Although she has improved a lot, she feels "there is still a lot of room to move forward."

She considers herself privileged, but she is reluctant to lose touch with reality.

"I always think about how privileged those of us who have lived our vocation have been, we have been able to develop ourselves, even in a world of men, and get good salaries, and I think we have to give a voice to those who still have it difficult, to those fired from work for becoming pregnant".

She also wants to contribute to this qualitative leap in the sector.

"

."

The protagonists of 'The paper house'

-Define me in three adjectives and a sentence

.

The Berlin and the Professor series is, without a doubt, the star Spanish production of Netflix, a platform that is already present in 190 countries and has 222 million paying subscribers.

"

". They have a programming strategy with which they seek to keep those who are already members with genres that work for them and at the same time work on more innovative projects. "At Netflix there will always be titles in which we take risks to conquer new audiences.

The key is that you open your Netflix and always have something to watch." And for that connection to exist, local production is "very important." Since the platform began original creation in our country, they have worked with 35 producers from different corners of Spain, have released more than 50 titles and have participated in more than 70 film productions.

What trends do you see on the horizon? There have been, especially on Netflix, several titles that have to do with the narrative of the losers that I mentioned before that have worked very well.

There is a large mass of people who identify with the purposes of these characters.

I'm talking about

, about the marginalized kids from

... There's something about them that has hooked them a lot and I think that for a few years there will still be a very large audience hooked on them.

They are characters who have problems, who are not the most handsome, they are not successful and suddenly have some adventures... This is also the case with

, a girl who is in an orphanage and ends up being a world chess figure.

There is a very powerful factor of self-improvement and aspiration in that narrative.

And I think that will continue for a while.

Of the projects that he has on the table, he releases little information.

"We have

, which is starting its fifth season;

, a series with an incredible female bias and with some impressive actresses, which talks about the right to privacy and is recorded in Bilbao"... The thing about shooting the stories where they happen is another of Netflix's merits, "we have never forced a narrative to be recorded in Madrid or Barcelona".

They respect the story as the creators put it.

"Before, you could force the story and make it in Madrid because there were no production companies outside, but we have gone to many places to look for creators.

."

'Intimacy', one of the productions that Netflix will soon release.

A fan of photography and cooking

-she confesses that she embroiders rice with ribs-, she finds stories "anywhere, you just have to be awake to see them".

She sometimes appears in books -she has more than 7,000 in her house- that are successful and, sometimes, in others that no one reads.

She feels more comfortable in the second line, her leading role doesn't keep her awake at night;

hence she almost always speaks in the plural.

"We are a very proactive team, we have no limits. We can take a story from a news story or a conversation. Ideas are universal; points of view are particular. This is what makes stories different."

She is one of the oldest in the company and even from that she gets the positive.

"

.

A friend told me, when you feel like the smartest person in a place, go."

Now she's hooked on

, a house series starring Toni Collette.

Consume content at all hours and of all kinds.

"

".

Look at what the competition is doing and like what you see.

" I like

;

seems to me like it was a series that had to be made;

an impressive movie... I like a lot of things and I think why they didn't offer it to me (laughs). I prefer that we encourage each other to to be better. That the competition is not for taking things away from us, but for a healthy envy.

". When doubts arise about whether to go ahead with a project, "my boss and I ask ourselves: Is it going to annoy us to see it on Amazon or on HBO?" If the answer is positive, they launch.

From the time a script reaches his hands until it is seen on the screen, a general rule of thumb is between a year and 15 months

.

"Being able to be part of a company that has made this country's fiction can be seen all over the world seems like a unique opportunity to me."

His direct team is made up of four people, and in total there are eight in content.

"I like the culture of permanent

that exists in the company, the desire to be better and always seek excellence... And there is a value that I share a lot, which is to make others better."

'At eleven o'clock at home', the first series in which Verónica Fernández worked.

The Spanish user, he says, has little patience.

"I recognize myself in that pattern.

".

In the reading that he does, as with almost everything, he points out two edges.

"It has a good thing and that is that we are clear about what we like; but also a bad thing, which is that we lose things that could be good because of impatience."

Now the power is exercised by the consumer and it is time to accept his rules.

"You no longer have to wait for Thursday at 10 p.m. to see the chapter of the fiction that you like."

He loves the conversations that are generated around the series.

"The public is the best ambassador of our content. And I'm not just talking about Netflix."

When he finds time, he likes to get lost with his camera and steal photos in the street, capturing those moments that maybe tomorrow will be part of a script.

"

."

Teaching is another of his passions.

"You always have to have a hand outstretched to the new generations. I take it as a responsibility and almost an obligation."

At home, she has already gotten used to her children showing off as a mother among friends.

"The day I leave Netflix I have a serious problem."

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