‘ANIMA STILLKING OPENS ITS DOORS IN SPAIN, OFFERING PREMIER SERVICES FOR FILM AND TV
For many years, Twentyfour Seven and global production company and industry peer Stillking Films have offered outstanding production services across the world. Now, we’ve joined forces to create Ánima Stillking, a new powerhouse in production expertise for film and television in Spain. This new venture emerges from the collaborative synergy of three entities, merging years of experience, dedication, and a wealth of industry knowledge. We spoke with Ánima Stillking CEO Silvia Aráez, Executive Producer María Cabello, and Stillking’s David Minkowski about all the benefits and expertise we can offer clients throughout Spain.
Tell us about the background of this partnership.
Silvia Aráez: We’re all excited that this partnership is happening — it came together quickly, we all three met at the same time with the right soul (Ánima) and we are ready to get to work! Both Stillking and Twentyfour Seven have worked together in the past, and it made sense for us to come together and form Ánima Stillking to offer service in Spain. We all come to the table with our own extensive backgrounds: myself, María, and CFO Cristina Armario having worked as producers on many international films in Spain including managing tax rebates, and David and Alvaro Weber with their years of experience at Stillking and Twentyfour Seven, respectively. We all feel strongly about our capabilities, and we feel even stronger in partnership with each other.
What are Ánima Stillking’s specialties?
María Cabello: Our specialty is honesty to the client! Honesty to produce with guaranties in terms of management and tax rebate. Working with all the tax rebate tools from 2015, when Spain started, our expertise makes us proud of our success in this area. Of course, we also are experts in more than that, and we pride ourselves on being able to find the right location and find the right solutions to your request. We’re able to do any kind of project because we adapt to the project to fit your needs and your budget.
Silvia: Our background is a hundred percent service. That is where we move like water - smoothly and with ease. Our company takes on projects in a very, very personal way. We love to form personal connections and work face-to-face with clients. That’s really where we shine. We already have very good relationships with clients and vendors, which we’re excited to bring to the table.
María: Even though we’re providing service to clients, we get invested in the projects and feel as though the projects are ours.
What size and scale of projects do you mainly service?
Silvia: We’re able to take on many types of projects — we can manage huge projects with equally huge budgets, but can also cater to smaller scale projects as well. We understand that there are differences in needs not only across budgets, but across regions as well. European clients will want different things than American or UK clients, and within that, various regions of Europe will have differences as well. Spain is very contained in terms of distance and diversity of the locations. Working in Spain, we know how to service those unique needs and wants of a client in this region. We also work closely with the government, meaning we try to be always on loop about legislation in Spain to offer the best we can to our clients and keep them informed as well.
María: We can adapt to any kind of financial structure or situation as well. There are a lot of independent projects happening now in our industry, especially after the strike, and we’re encountering a lot of projects that are looking for solutions for how to finance their productions. We can offer them the specific solutions that they are looking for, using all the tools at our disposal in our country and with knowledge of all the relevant laws at play.
What is exciting to you about this venture, and what do you hope to accomplish?
David Minkowski: What’s exciting to me is the community we’ve built. You're talking about a network of filmmakers who have a certain way they like to work — it's very personal, it's very hands-on. We are often working for some of the biggest media corporations in the world like Disney or Amazon and we understand and always deliver on their needs and requirements, but within that playing field day-to-day, we like to operate with filmmakers on a more personal, creative-driven level, and we’ve built a community of like-minded people who work that way, too. Between all of us here at Ánima Stillking, we have decades of experience, so if you work with us you're going to work with a new company, but not with people who are new to the business. You're coming into a stable, reliable, professional environment full of people who know exactly what to do to make your project a success. I think with this new venture, we have an opportunity to push for innovation together, to exchange fresh ideas and improve how we work with all of this new energy between us.
Silvia: That’s right — it’s a new start, but with a lot of experience behind it. We plan to keep the same system and same workflows that we've used to successfully service clients with great results — however we do plan to expand into some new structures and continue to improve. We are very excited to explore new approaches that could help us secure even better rebates for all kinds of projects. At the end of the day, we are producers that really take care of what we do in terms of script, in terms of clients, and in terms of our storytelling. Producing is our entire life. That is something that will be a part of our lives forever.
