Wattpad Webtoon Studios Hires Cattleya Exec For Europe Role

EXCLUSIVE: Wattpad Webtoon Studios is building out in Europe with the hire of Mar Vila Barcelo.

Based in Madrid, Barcelo will lead and expand on the LA-based studio’s international film and TV series slate, focusing on the European market. She reports into David Madden, Wattpad Webtoon’s Head of Global Entertainment.

Barcelo joins from ITV Studios Iberia, where she was Development Executive at Cattleya Producciones, the Spanish arm of Gomorrah and Citadel Diana maker Cattleya. There she managed the development slate for feature films and series in Spanish-speaking markets, and worked with literary and publishing agents to source new IP.

Her hire is a major one for Wattpad Webtoon Studios, given her previous roles at ICM Partners, Film London and Pure Grass Films.

Barcelo has also held several production roles in the UK and Spain, and prior to ITV, she worked as a commissioner and exec producer for Short Circuit, the BFI- and Screen Scotland-backed filmmaking hub for new and emerging talent. At Short Circuit, she exec-produced the BAFTA Scotland-nominated short Groom and BIFA-winning short film Too Rough.

Wattpad Webtoon Studios, which is part of Naver Corp-owned Webtoon Entertainment, has already had several titles out of its library of stories produced in Spanish out of Europe, including the A Través de mi Ventana trilogy, the first film of which is Netflix’s sixth most-watched non-English language film of all time.

Another webnovel from A Través de Mi Ventana writer Ariana Godoy, Sigue Mi Voz, has been adapted as a feature film by Zeta Studios and Beta Fiction Spain premiering later this year. We revealed the project in July 2023. A Wattpad Webtoon story from Teensspirit was also adapted and recently released as Mala Influencia, which counts Nadie es Perfecto among its co-producers.

Other European productions in development include adaptations of webnovels ‘Love Me, Love Me’, ‘The Locker Exchange’ and ‘The Bad Boy’s Girl,’ ‘Boulevard’ and ‘Perfectos Mentirosos’.

“Our partners in Europe and international markets have seen the power of the fandoms and IP that come from our platforms,” said Madden. “Mar brings an exceptional talent for storytelling and experience from across Europe, one of our most important markets. As we continue to grow our international slate, she’ll be an incredible asset to our local productions and partners in Europe and all over the world.” 

Wattpad Webtoon Studios launched after Naver, the South Korean internet conglom, bought social storytelling platform Wattpad in 2021. Wattpad’s studio operations were then combined with those for Naver’s digital comics platform Webtoon, and an initial $100M was put aside for development and production financing.

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