Cara al Sol

Cara al Sol ("Facing the Sun" in Spanish) was a planned historical action web series set in 1956 in Francoist Spain, about a secret hitman who eliminates enemies of the State and protects the dictator of Spain, General Francisco Franco. However, this character, after an event that goes wrong, starts to have a change of heart.

The planned five-episode miniseries had been stuck in development hell for three years, with several cast and crew members having left the project and after many re-writes. After various production troubles, the project was eventually cancelled altogether. Here is a page about what was to be.

Synopsis
When it was announced, the series' official synopsis was as follows:

"Spain, 1956. General Francisco Franco reigns supreme. It is a period of poverty and fascism. It tells the story of Francisco Franco's secret hitman, whose very existence is unknown to the Spanish public and to the government; who is sent on missions by the dictator to eliminate enemies of the state and communist sympathizers across the country. He has been raised by the regime to be cold, brutal and heartless killer; almost like a programmed robot. However, this assassin begins to feel emotion and sympathy, and after a series of events, begins to learn the meaning of liberty and of freedom of expression; and this change unleashes the dramatic events of this epic five-part miniseries".

Production
Aydan Woodward had said that he always wished to make a historical miniseries for YouTube, since he was a History student at the University of Salamanca. He pitched the idea to longtime Zebcast Studios collaborator Nick Pedersen, who said he "instantly loved the idea". Woodward then pitched it to Gimmy Viti, who also showed his approval and even wanted to act in it. The "ideas phase" began in January of 2018, and the pitch was sent to many local actors of Fuerteventura (many of whom were very interested in the project). Back then the project had no title, and was referred to by the production team as "the Miniseries Project".

First version
The first version of the series envisioned by Aydan Woodward was five episodes each being written by different Zebcast Studios writers: Episode 1 (the series pilot) was to be helmed by Nick Pedersen, Episode 2 was to be written by Woodward, Episode 3 was going to be written by theatre director Flavia Celotto, Pedersen would return to write Episode 4, and finally Woodward and Pedersen would join forces to write the finale. In March of 2018, Gimmy Viti announced his intention to play the protagonist (the hitman), and actors David Sarabia, Aston Wyatt, Elena Jiménez, Raudolf Steam, Daniel Sarabia and Jeremie de Leon joined the project. Woodward had also contacted Spanish director Adrián Tejero, who accepted to join in as a director while Woodward, Pedersen and Viti remained producers.

Aydan Woodward and Gimmy Viti announced via Zebcast Studios' Instagram account that filming would start in summer of 2018.

By April, the first two episodes had been written. However, this was the point when tensions started to brew. Raudolf Steam was fired from the production after coming to a casting highly intoxicated, and Flavia Celotto had fallen out with Woodward and Viti, which delayed the writing of the third episode. By August of 2018, Celotto had still not written the third episode, which annoyed Pedersen and Woodward, who wanted to write the remaining two episodes and complete pre-production.

In September 2018, Flavia Celotto abandoned the project entirely, calling it "unfilmable". With her departure, Jeremie de Leon and Daniel Sarabia also left the project, citing "enormous creative differences". Greatly irritated by this crisis, Aydan Woodward declared that filming would have to be postponed a year.

Second version
That same month, Zebcast Studios released a video on YouTube featuring Aydan Woodward and Gimmy Viti officially announcing the series and its confirmed title: "Cara al Sol" ("Facing The Sun", the name of a historical wartime song used by the Falangists during the Spanish Civil War and later on during the dictatorship). The video attracted some attention, including that of Matilde Viti, Gimmy's sister, who had some writing experience.

With the inclusion of Matilde Viti as a screenwriter, massive changes happened in the writing department. Viti wanted to make the show appealing to new feminist audiences, and make reference to the poor conditions women suffered during the Franco dictatorship and offer a revisionist take by including empowered female characters such as Verónica Cortés (to be played by Elena Jiménez), the strong leader of a group of resistance fighters in Andalucía. With this, drastic changes to the first two episodes occurred: dialogue was greatly altered, characters personalities were changed to fit the new context Viti wanted to bring to the project. With Matilde Viti having finally completed the third episode after six months of nothing, Pedersen and Woodward completed the fourth and fifth episodes; and Woodward announced that filming would occur in June-July 2019.

However, Pedersen, wanting to stay true to historical accuracy (something which Woodward, as a History student, greatly emphasized throughout the production), was against Matilde Viti's feminist revisionism, and decided to take charge. Pedersen asked for Aydan Woodward's permission to once again initiate a full-scale rewrite of the five episodes, to which Woodward accepted with some hesitation, wanting to simply get pre-production over with and proceed to filming (which at that point, everyone was waiting for).

In August of 2019, Woodward made another announcement, sadly stating that filming would once again have to be delayed, this time indefinitely. Shortly after, Gimmy Viti (the show's lead actor) had left the Canary Islands and permanently moved to Italy, and the status of director Adrián Tejero's participation in the project was in murky waters.

Eventual cancellation
In December of 2019, the production team collectively agreed that the project was impossible to produce. Woodward and Viti jointly announced that the series would be cancelled. Although it never came to be, the interesting story of its pre-production and of what could have been lives on.