Amazon, Pantaya Take Erotic Thriller Series 'Instinto' for Latin America, U.S.

The show is the first StudioCanal is distributing from prolific Madrid-based production house Bambu Producciones.

Amazon Prime Video has taken Latin American rights to Spanish erotic thriller series Instinto, while Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media Group’s Spanish-language streamer Pantaya has acquired it for the U.S.

StudioCanal unveiled the deals Tuesday. Instinto is the first series the firm is distributing from prolific Madrid-based production house Bambu Producciones, in which it owns a 35 percent stake.

Instinto has been presold to Amazon Prime Video for the entire Latin American region, including Brazil, where it will launch after its debut on Movistar+ in Spain. Instinto will also debut on a first-run basis across the U.S. on Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media Group’s premium Spanish-language streaming service Pantaya.

The eight-part drama stars Spain's Mario Casas (The 33), who is also co-starring in a Netflix film unveiled Tuesday. In the series, he plays Marco, a tormented young businessman who regularly escapes to a private club to fulfill his fantasies.

The series is directed by Carlos Sedes and based on an original idea by Teresa Fernandez-Valdes, who also serves as co-writer along with Ramon Campos and Gema R. Neira. Campos and Fernandez-Valdes are executive producers for Bambu, with Domingo Corral as executive producer for Movistar. StudioCanal has worldwide rights to Instinto, excluding Spain. The series will be available in the spring.

The deals are another sign, following Netflix’s July announcement of construction of its first European production hub in Madrid, of Spain’s growing importance as a center for premium TV series. At that time, Netflix tallied more than 13,000 cast, crew and extras would be working on 20 original productions in Spain this year alone.

Bambu, the production house behind popular local series like Velvet, Cable Girls and Grand Hotel, is a frequent collaborator of Netflix, including on 1940s-era series High Seas, which Sedes is currently directing for Netflix; hit series Cable Girls, now in production on its fourth season; and feature film A Pesar de Todo, which just wrapped in Madrid.

StudioCanal on Tuesday also unveiled the acquisition by HBO Europe of three series: Brazilian crime drama Crime Time; French-language thriller Nox, acquired for CEE, Nordics and Spain; and political thriller Baron Noir for the Nordics and Spain.

And, also with an eye on the Latin American market, DirecTV has acquired The Child in Time from Sunnymarch TV and RED Production’s Come Home for the OnDirecTV channel.