You’re a stand-up comic who, bucking expectation, has created a comedic horror-thriller. It’s maybe the thriller element which is most surprising…..<\/strong><\/p>\n I’m a stand-up comic, TV, radio. But I’m more interested in hybrid genre than pure comedy. We’ve have such a slew of series on offer that as spectators we’ve learnt basic narrative structures. As a spectator I still want to be surprised. In the case of “The Other Side,” it comes from its genre mix. The thriller element wasn’t in the original horror-comedy idea. When writing, we realized you can’t makes audiences laugh a lot, then scare them, or do something really scary if you spark a lot of laughter. The thriller format solves all that: You’re constantly hooked.<\/p>\n “The Other Side” is also a social-issue series, talking about TV’s ethical responsibilities, with Nacho still haunted by a case where Gorka encouraged him to lie to audiences about a girl miracle healer….<\/strong><\/p>\n The paranormal isn’t my world. But its setting in “The Other Side,” the media world, is. I believe in the maxim of writing about what you know, because you can have something to say. Deep down, the media is the backbone for the entire story. We didn’t mean to introduce any social commentary. It just crept in. But it’s a crucial issue right now: Truth, false truth, is a core issue in mystery shows. <\/p>\n What kind of creative freedom did Movistar Plus+ give you?<\/strong><\/p>\n A large one. The defining characteristic of Movistar Plus+’s management team is that it likes to take risks, making series that haven’t been made before. For me, “The Other Side” is a lot of risk: A change in my usual persona, in tone, and in bringing in my usual comedy partner, Andreu, to play a fictional character. But if you propose to Movistar Plus+ something that’s new, disruptive, that’s a road they’re always ready to go down.<\/p>\n In its direction – Nacho’s cluttered flat, for instance, with its psst times bric-à-brac forefront in frames – and its story of a loser desperately trying to get a break, “The Other Side” harks back to Spain’s great comedic tradition of Berlanga-Azcona, Fernando Fernán Gomez and Marco Ferreri. Could you comment?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don’t have a vast film culture, but I think that in the ‘80s, ‘90s, my generation tried to make U.S.-style comedies and thrillers. But we’re not like that. We’re more chaotic. I want to connect with the Spanish character, first and foremost. Elements, things that are unmistakably Spanish, such as food. Nacho and other paranormal investigators are onto a really big case. But they still have to go out a grab a bocadillo snack and talk about the most mundane and prosaic things. That’s very Spanish, very Mediterranean, the complete opposite of the solemnity [of much U.S fiction.]. <\/p>\n U.S. fiction drinks deep on a capitalist model based on control. Spain’s, Latin America’s sense the world is far less controllable, which the pandemic brought home to many people….<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s something we have deep within us. Chaos is there the second you open the door: It can appear at any moment.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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