Placed into the Spanish Presidency by a corrupt political party looking for a scape-goat, El Partido is the story of Fernando an eccentric “nobody” who inherits a political and economic crisis that he has no idea how to deal with.
Woefully lacking in political aptitude, Fernando is forced to learn on his feet, adapting by rolling with the punches that come with life as a politician.
Created by Alex Rodrigo, the six part series is packed with comedic moments that walk the line between the believable and totally unbelievable.
Is El Partido based on any past or current political scandals in Spain?
The party (Spanish Democratic Party) is fiction, but represents the most ambiguous and empty spirit of politics nowadays – vote for me if you want democracy.
There are specific gags about Spanish scandals. Spain is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, since the 2008 crisis many politicians are going to jail and Spanish society is getting angry. But the Spanish Democratic Party doesn’t represent a specific party, it represents (almost) all of them.
The series displays an intricate knowledge of politics; do you have any experience working in politics?
Not directly. I had been doing political reports for Yahoo for two years. Every week we interviewed one of the most important politicians in Spain, and I realised how sad the political speeches are.
Everything is a screenplay for them, and all the false happiness they have to show made me wonder how their lives are. How is possible to be an actor from the time you wake up until you go to bed? It was like a circus, and that’s the reason why El Partido is centred around politics.
What (and/or who) inspired you to create El Partido?
For me it was funny to watch House of Cards and use it as a reference. HOC has a style according to American politics, and El Partido has a style according to Spanish politics (we have national politicians paying in whorehouses with the party credit card). Fernando Serrano is a mix of different political leaders.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome making this series?
The duration of the episodes in a web series format. El Partido had to be critical, it had to be funny, and at the same time the audience must understand Fernando’s and Domingo’s objectives, how they feel and what they want. The audience had to follow the emotional transformation of Fernando, and we only had a little time for that.
How do you reach your audience?
We launch the series during the political campaign in 2015. We created social media and we passed the “PDE” off as a real party. It was funny to talk to real politicians on twitter or Facebook. As people continued to share the series it went viral.
El Partido on the web:
Watch El Partido
El Partido on Facebook
El Partido on Twitter