At Atresplayer he had liked The Age of Wrath, the adaptation of a novel by Nando López, and they proposed to the writer that he create an original and youth series. Producer Xavi Toll, from Zeta Studios, put him in contact with Estel Díaz and together they built Red Flags, he as creator and screenwriter and she as screenwriter and director.
It is a drama about Érika, Walter, Luna and Toni, four teenagers who come into contact through social networks. They need an escape from their respective lives and find refuge in the private group they create, where they only impose one rule: express themselves as they are, without judging or criticizing each other.
“I have always treated young people with respect, rigor and from the truth,” López reveals about his philosophy when approaching adolescence. Based on his experience as a teacher and his visits to institutes as an author with more than 40 books published, he has a close relationship with his readers, who trust him with their experiences and concerns. This allows him that, when he is put in front of a blank page, he has real testimonies for reference.
The characters played by Mar Isern, Ibrahima Kone, Iria del Valle and Diego Rey face conflicts such as hate on social networks, acceptance of one’s own body, racism from peers, pressure from friends, internalized homophobia or sexual violence. “There is a big problem with consent: there are many adolescents who are not sure if their first time was consensual and this melon must be opened because it cannot continue happening,” she laments.
To address the most sensitive topics of the series, they had the therapist, psychologist and sexologist Borja Rodríguez, with whom López had worked on a work about teenage suicide: “Topics such as relapse of an eating disorder or rape have “It must be treated very rigorously.” They wanted to make sure that the experiences they wrote the characters about could happen.
Since they were not looking for a series with expository dialogues, they asked the actors to work a lot with their eyes and body. Rodríguez and a team of privacy coordinators were available for any questions: “We wanted them to feel cared for and protected.” This assurance leaves room for “more truthful and vehement” interpretations.
In fact, one thing that caught López’s attention was the casting. “The level of this generation of young actors is very high: they have talent, commitment and professionalism,” she highlights. Regarding Isern, Kone, del Valle and Rey, she was surprised that “they were not satisfied with making a good series but rather delved deeper into the characters: for many they were her first jobs but they poured their experiences into the roles.”
When transmitting the youth reality, he, Díaz and the rest of the team looked for a way to transfer the digital dynamics to the audiovisual: “We have to tell what happens on the mobile screen because the followers, the likes, the comments, the photographs that they pass or the stickers have as much weight as their face-to-face interactions.”
The networks are represented from both sides: they can be a toxic place for the characters but also a tool to find solidarity: “To treat the networks from a Manichaean side would have been to fall into paternalism: youth fiction does not have to have a moral,” warns.
“You should never underestimate young viewers. For this reason we did not want to give the script chewed up. They hate speech in fiction because they see the adult,” she warns. And, while the public every Sunday can empathize with Érika, Walter, Luna and Toni, López recognizes that for the team it was an intimate experience behind the cameras: “We have cried and we have laughed, because we have recognized each other in many situations, and at the same time “Red Flags was very healing for those of us who made it.”
