06/03/2025 - At Cartoon Movie, the exec unpacked the new co-production projects and the editorial policy of the Catalan broadcaster

At this year’s Cartoon Movie (4-6 March), we sat down with Xavier Romero Corminas, head of Animated Co-Productions at Televisió de Catalunya (TVC). TVC is Catalonia’s public generalist TV broadcaster, and its linear channel TV3 is dedicated to providing socially relevant, high-quality programming while actively supporting and promoting Catalan culture and language, as well as fostering innovation and creativity. During our chat, we touched on the group’s editorial policy, its target audiences, co-productions, and some new projects in the making.

Cineuropa: Could you elaborate on TVC’s presence at this year’s Cartoon Movie, and touch on your editorial policy?
Xavier Romero Corminas: I’ve been attending the Cartoon events for more than 20 years, and I’ve been witnessing the evolution of European animation. I remember when I attended Cartoon Forum for the first time, there were few series projects, made up of a tiny number of episodes, 10-15 at most. Series have now expanded significantly, with great commercial potential and they're able to travel worldwide. And, of course, this isn’t about the number of episodes only, but I noticed how styles evolved over time, and the Cartoon events contributed to streamlining this process and creating a sort of common ‘European’ style. 

We also visit this market to get a sense of the latest trends, compare the projects we assess with the ones showcased here. Besides, we aim to maintain good terms with the producers we’ve worked with in the past. I just had a meeting with a producer who showed me a project I liked, and I told them what we need to take part in it – we also want to be involved creatively, at the script stage.

Speaking of target audiences, there are some differences in terms of animated series and features. For films, we mainly look for family-orientated projects, including children who aren’t too young – aged at least 6 – and their parents. But we do co-produce adult-orientated animation, too. For series, we mostly look for shows targeting 6-9 year-old viewers.

When it comes to co-producing projects, what role do you play?
We’re a small network. Our budget is not as huge as that of big European broadcasters. We normally get a smaller share than those when it comes to co-producing. However, for producers, having a TV group such as ours attached is still advantageous as they can access further backing opportunities. In addition to our financial contribution, we try to contribute creatively – including scripts, storyboards, scoring…

So you usually board projects as early as possible?
Yes, if the project is too advanced, it’s hard for us [to contribute creatively]. For us and our professionals – including directors and screenwriters – we strive to achieve together with our partner countries the aforementioned ‘European style.’

What are your main co-production partners?
Very often with France; sometimes with Belgium, Germany, and Italy.

What about Latin America?
It’s a hard market, because Latin American broadcasters don’t invest much in animation. We’ve still collaborated on some projects with Argentina and Colombia, though.

Do you acquire content?
Yes, we have a dedicated department handling acquisitions, and it’s pretty active. We’re still a small TV channel, reaching 8 million viewers in Catalonia. We localise all content in Catalan, subtitling and dubbing it all. But we’re also the first regional network, and that’s why acquisitions is a key part of our work.

Do you also stream animated content?
Yes, three years ago our TV group launched a VOD platform. It started out small, but it grew bigger over time. So we do stream our broadcasts and have a wide catalogue of content.

Could you talk about some of the most recent titles you’ve worked on, and what you have coming up?
Some of our most recent animated features include David Baute’s animated documentary Black Butterflies, which was released last year. It tells the story of three girls – one from India, one from the Caribbean, the other from Africa – who are forced to migrate owing to climate change. We also contributed to the making of Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba’s They Shot the Piano Player [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which premiered at Telluride in 2023. In three weeks, we’ll be airing Shadi Adib’s The Light of Aisha [ed. the adventure of an Andalusian girl who loves fireworks]. And, we’re now co-producing nine more features. These are Irene Iborra’s Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, co-produced with France; Adrià Garcia’s The Treasure of Barracuda; David Cuevas’ Superthings; a feature-length iteration of the series Jasmine & Jambo; Bruno Simões’ Gus, the Guide Dog; Juan Antonio Moreno Amador’s Caramel’s Words; Roc Espinet’s Girl and Wolf; Judith Colell’s Moss, and Marta Puig’s The Day Ewan McGregor Introduced Me to His Parents, which explores the timely theme of in vitro fertilisation.