The director of ESCAC, Sergi Casamitjana, the managing director of Mediaset España, Paolo Vasile, the director of Fiction at Mediaset España, Arantxa Écija, Oriol Capel, coordinator of the programme, and Aintza Serra, academic director of ESCAC, today presented the first edition of ‘Showrunner: Aula de ficción’, a course that over the next two years will train young creative talents by providing them with the necessary tools to become the future showrunners of national fiction.
The inaugural event took place at ESCAC (Terrassa) with the 12 students of the course, chosen after a long and exhaustive selection process that took into account the versatility of the candidates, as well as their creativity and potential. Mediaset España and ESCAC will provide exclusive training for the students, who will acquire the necessary experience and knowledge to join the audiovisual industry in the development, creation and production of fictional content.
Sergi Casamitjana, director of the ESCAC, addressed the students, pointing out that “this project that we are starting today has a dual educational and industrial path. The success of this project will depend on your ability to work and the demands you place on yourselves”.
Paolo Vasile, for his part, emphasised that “The luck you have is that we are at a moment that offers a great opportunity for anyone who has the desire to communicate a story. Today is a unique moment for anyone with talent and the desire to have something to tell”.
The course will last for two academic years, consisting of three semesters of training at ESCAC and a final eminently practical one at Mediaset España or one of the investee companies specialising in Fiction that make up the Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group, such as Alea Media (‘Patria’, ‘Vivir sin permiso’, ‘Madres’), Producciones Mandarina (‘Señoras del Hampa’) and Big Bang Media (‘Caronte’).
In this regard, Arantxa Écija, director of fiction content at Mediaset España, stressed that “The aim of this course is to find talent, and applying ESCAC’s maxim, we are going to learn by doing. We are looking for talent to become executive producers, scriptwriters, showrunners….. Talent to tell stories and build dreams”.
The Aula de Ficción Televisiva ESCAC-Mediaset España offers a training and professional space taught by active professionals in the film and television sector, with the participation of the best showrunners from Mediaset España and other collaborating companies, such as Aitor Gabilondo, Daniel Écija, Alberto Caballero and Pau Freixas, among others.
With content related to audiovisual narrative, screenplay, projects, formats and production, among other areas, the course will be carried out using the traditional ESCAC method, based on the pedagogical formulas of learning by doing, project-based work and self-evaluation.
To this end, theoretical classes will be given on the most outstanding fiction products of the past and present, an analysis and historical review of contents, creators, products and markets; seminars and technical-practical narrative workshops in which students will participate both individually and in groups and finally, each student will develop a minimum of two complete projects for a television fiction series in which the writing does not have to stick to the classic model, but can be developed using all the technical possibilities of the audiovisual format, in such a way that it is possible to investigate and experiment.