The Chilean production company Río Estudios and the independent distributor based in Miami, Mega Global Entertainment (MGE), sealed an alliance for co-production and international distribution of audiovisual content. Their first project, winner of the CNTV financing prize in 2022, is La Isla, a six-episode paranormal thriller based on the media legend of Friendship Island in Chilean Patagonia.
“Río Estudios was created to develop, produce, and co-produce exportable and quality audiovisual content. We believe in the power of stories and the enormous talent—narrative, production, and acting—that we have in Latin America, which is why we are satisfied with the alliance with MGE, because it not only shares the same expertise and north with us but also adds a successful track record in negotiation and international distribution,” commented Pablo Díaz del Río, CEO of Río Estudios.
Esperanza Garay, CEO of MGE, expressed: “La Isla is the starting point of a wonderful alliance with Río Estudios, with which we are very excited. Although MGE was born as an independent distributor, along the way, we have consolidated our differential as a company providing high-quality content, providing additional support to our clients in the different stages of a project, including the development of original stories, financing negotiations, production and co-production, and global distribution of it as final product or formats. Río Estudios is one of the most successful production companies in the industry and the region, so we are sure together we will captivate the international audience with memorable stories.”
La Isla has a production team headed by Pablo Díaz del Río as executive producer, with more than ten years of experience in the production of audiovisual content and has made a dozen television projects with Río Estudios, including 100 Días para Enamorarse (2019-2021), Demente (2021) and Amar Profundo (2022). He has also been an executive producer in the feature film Matar a Pinochet (2020) and the series for FOX, Berko, El Arte de Callar (2019), and of the first Chilean teleseries for Paramount+, Dime con Quién Andas (2023).
The series director is Rodrigo Susarte, screenwriter and film, television, and theater director with a track record of successes, including the series Gen Mishima (2008), produced by TVN and Parox, nominated as best script and direction at the Altazor Awards; the TVN series Minero (2012) and the miniseries Zurdo (2014). His first feature film, Ventana (2014), was selected at the New York International Film Festival and SANFIC. He is preparing his next feature film, Invunche, a co-production between Chile, the US, and Denmark.
The screenplay of La Isla is written by Felipe Carmona, known for the feature film Prisión en los Andes (2023), nominated for the Sutherland Award at the London Film Festival, the short film Los Camarones Tienen el Corazón en la Cabeza (2014), and the award-winning film The Girl of My Eyes (2015).
The series script consultant is Julio Rojas, one of the most prominent screenwriters in Chile, creator of Caso 63 (2020), the most listened-to audio series in the world, which has been translated into English starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, reaching the top positions in the ranking in the US, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Brazil, among many other countries. In addition, he has written films for cinema, such as En la Cama (2005), La Vida del Pez (2010), and La Memoria del Agua (2015), with which he has won major awards, such as the Colón de Plata in Huelva, the Espiga de Oro in Valladolid, the Coral in Cuba, and the Goya in Spain.
As a script consultant, the series has Julio Rojas, one of the most prominent screenwriters in Chile, creator of Case 63 (2020), the most listened-to audio series in the world, which has been translated into English and stars Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, reaching the top positions in the ranking in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Brazil, among many other countries. In addition, he has written films for cinema such as En la Cama (2005), The Life of the Fish (2010), and The Memory of Water (2015), with which he has won important awards, such as the Colón de Plata in Huelva, the Espiga de Gold in Valladolid, the Coral in Cuba, and the Goya in Spain.
La Isla will star Daniela Ramírez, winner of the 2022 Platinum Award for her role in the bioseries Isabel, for which she also received an Honorable Mention from the Jury at the Trieste International Film Festival (Italy) in 2021. She has been in TV series such as Los Archivos del Cardenal, Prófugos (HBO, 2013), Berko y El Arte de Callar (FOX), Inés del Alma Mía (Amazon), and played the leading role in numerous telenovelas.