Pablo Isla, former president of Inditex, immerses himself in the world of audiovisual production with the creation of the firm Fonte Films. He does it together with the producer Carla Pérez de Albéniz, winner of the Goya, and the lawyer María Jesús Román, both with extensive experience in the sector.
Isla will be president and producer at the firm. His first foray into the business was motivated by his passion for film and television fiction, it is explained in a statement. His intention is to bring his business experience – he was chosen in 2017 and 2018 as the best CEO in the world by the ‘Harvard Business Review’ – to the audiovisual world.
“We are very excited about the creation of Fonte Films. Personally, I intend to contribute my business experience to the audiovisual world and contribute, from my deep passion for cinema, to the development of the thriving Spanish audiovisual industry”, declared Isla. “We find it exciting embarking on this new project with Pablo, relying on his background and recognized professional experience. Full of enthusiasm in this new challenge”, Pérez de Albéniz and Román have stated.
The objective of the production company is to develop projects of high technical quality with a global vocation, commit to new forms of audiovisual expression and convey support and confidence to the teams involved in an efficient management framework. It has “the purpose of being an incubator for new national and international talent, of pampering emerging creativity and fostering agreements with other countries”, the statement highlights, within “the solid Spanish audiovisual industry”.
Isla has a law degree and a state attorney. He was general director of State Heritage, general secretary at the Banco Popular Español and co-president of the Altadis Group. In 2005 he joined the Inditex Group as Vice President and CEO and in 2011 he assumed the Presidency of the company until March 2022. During this period, Inditex became a world leader in its sector and a benchmark in terms of digital transformation and sustainability. . He is currently a member of the board of directors of Nestlé, global senior advisor of General Atlantic and president of the International Advisory Council of IE University.
On her side, Carla Pérez de Albéniz, who will hold the position of executive producer at Fonte Films, has been working in the audiovisual sector for 25 years. She has worked in several Spanish production companies as a production manager, and has carried out her work mainly in Spain, as well as in the United Kingdom, Argentina, Cuba, Brazil and Mexico.
In the last three years, Pérez de Albéniz has been in charge of the production department of the Movistar Plus Originals area. Among the awards he has received, the 2020 Goya for Best Production Direction stands out for the film While the War Lasts, by Alejandro Amenábar, and the nomination for the same award in 2015 for The Unknown, by director Dani de la Torre.
Finally, María Jesús Román will be in charge of the Business-Legal functions at Fonte Films. She has been a lawyer specializing in the audiovisual sector for more than 20 years and founding partner-director of the firm MRG Abogados, where she will continue with her functions, providing her services for national and international production companies of recognized prestige. Her experience covers the entire process of the work, from the initial negotiation to legal advice during its development, production and exploitation.
To lead the creative team, they have entrusted the scriptwriter and showrunner Diego Sotelo, who joins as content director of Fonte Films and, likewise, will develop scriptwriter and showrunner functions in the company. During his 15-year career in national fiction, Sotelo has signed the script for series recognized by critics and audiences such as Los Protegidos, Bajo suspected, Fariña and En elcorrido de la muerte, of which he was the creator and executive producer. His latest work is El Inmortal, a fictionalized biopic about the leader of the Miami gang.
