8 Keys to the Success of MONEY HEIST

Analyzing the words of its creator, Álex Pina

MONEY HEIST is one of the most important TV series in the history of Spain’s fiction. Few other, if any, Spanish series can boast of having broken spatial and linguistic borders as quickly as the story of these bank robbers.

For this reason, we have decided to look for the keys — the most critical decisions — that marked the production of the series and embarked it on its eventual worldwide success.

Without further ado, these are the keys to the success of MONEY HEIST, analysing the words of its creator, Álex Pina:

• A finger on the pulse of the culture

When asked about why he thinks his show became such a success, Pina answers:

“It’s hard. Perhaps it is due to a kind of spirit of deception towards the governments ,towards the central banks, to an anti-system spirit of many people disappointed in the 21st century. “

It is effortless to see this a posteriori, but the merit rests on having seen this discontent from the confines of your room while writing your next TV show.

It is essential to follow your voice and your passions, but you can not forget that what you create is destined for the public. To the viewership out there on the other side of the screen.

Having a feeling for what’s floating in the zeitgeist of the culture gives you a brutal advantage when it comes to telling a story. People are already predisposed to listen to what you have to say!

• Innovation

“The heist genre existed, but by moving it to serial fiction, it allowed us to make a more interesting character arc.”

How many series are available today? To separate your product from the market you have to innovate, that’s how you call the attention of an already overwhelmed audience.

After all, they are always hungry and eager for something new.

• Clear ideas

“We always knew where to go and how to do it.”

A story is a vehicle to tell an idea, and that idea is explicit — or embodied — usually at the end of the story. If you know what you want to say from the beginning, you already have the path laid out before you.

With a clear route, it will be a lot harder to lose yourself during the development phase!

• Adaptation

“‘Breaking Bad’ was an inspiration: from it, I changed the way I wrote.”

The world of television has changed drastically in the last ten years. It’s adapt or die. Pure and harsh evolution.

Álex Pina decided to evolve, and to do that, he turned his attention to one of the most iconic and groundbreaking TV series in American television.

• Risk

“I wanted to do the robbery, but it was very complicated because we got into new territory.”

MONEY HEIST was anything but a sure bet, something that had never been done in Spanish television. But to win big, you’ve got to take some risks.

In every new adventure, there will always be significant risks involved, but that’s the price to pay for those who seek to be at the forefront of such a volatile environment and industry, as is television today.

• Know your audience

“The spectator is now an expert — with more than ten hours of series a week — and that leads us to commit more.”

The same things that surprised audiences five years ago bore them today. Álex Pina knows this and uses it to his advantage.

That’s why his show is always one or two steps ahead of its audience. Each turning point in your story should be harder to predict than the previous one.

Always stay one step ahead! Be unpredictable!

• Failure

“I had a failure that was called “Lolita Cabaret” (…) [After it] We changed our way of filming and writing TV series, then came MONEY HEIST.”

The world of television and film is tough and ruthless. Even the best artists and creators have had missteps and failures. The important thing is to analyze what happened and apply what you learn to the next project.

It’s a constant learning process.

• Study

“We started to see series like Breaking Bad, to analyze them (…) For example, there is the precise writing of The Crown, which is wonderful.”

MONEY HEIST was not created in a laboratory away from the world, on the contrary. Its creators analyzed the best of the current television content and distilled what they could from each of them to infuse it into their newest creation.

You have to watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books to write good fiction. There’s a lot of great fiction out there; I’m sure you can learn a lot from it, that’s what the best artists do.

It is evident that the success of MONEY HEIST was not a strange coincidence, nor a fortuitous act. Álex Pina has many years of experience making fiction, which he imprints on his concepts and work.

Creating fiction in today’s industry is an arduous process, even the best creators around have trouble getting their projects off the ground. That’s why we need to take all the information and lessons we can from them and their successful endeavors.

Thanks to TV series like this one, and many others, Spanish fiction is booming throughout the world! Let’s hope it keeps going.