Background
Gastón was born from Mateo Franco's life experience in Madrid after returning from studying in New York with the belief that this would give him a great future in his own country, something that would ultimately turn out to be absolutely false. Gastón is a satire of the place that an actor holds in the profession, a critique of the world of actors and a reflection on failure and the search for success.
The series was devised by Mateo Franco at Christmas 2020, but it was in the summer of 2021 when Manuel Preto convinced Mateo to launch a first season without financing and post it on Instagram, shooting several episodes with a minimal technical team: Iphone 12 Pro connected to a Zoom recorder with a directional mic. The result is a series of short chapters that you can see below and in which national and international actors intervened such as:
Ignacio Montes. Known face of Spanish television for roles from a very young age in Los Serrano, Velvet, La novia Gitana, Servir y Proteger... Gastón meets Ignacio Montes who is going to do a casting. Nothing is what it seems.
Alexis Meana. Mexican actor known for Tanto amor, Las malcriadas... Gastón tries to get in shape with Alexis in a gym in Madrid. Don't miss this hilarious chapter.
Or the day that Gastón helped Alexis in his casting for a Spanish series and in which Gastón ended up introducing himself as if he was Mexican.
** Nutsa Khubulava , Georgian actress known for * Teli and Toli * who developed her theatrical career in Moscow and now pivots between Madrid, Rome and London in different film projects. Nutsa saves Gastón's life after **Selam Ortega Basque actress, known for Mothers. Love and life try to take the vertigo out of Gastón. Don't miss Gastón's most beautiful walk in Madrid.
Fran Perea Renowned theater, film, and television actor (Los Serrano, Kosta...) and Spanish musician asks Gastón for a favor. Take him a guitar to San Vicente de Mar for his next concert. Gastón will not miss this adventure in which he will travel all over Galicia with a loose belly to be able to listen to the mythical song of his friend * One plus one equals seven *.
Elisa Cortés is an Andalusian actress who meets Gastón one afternoon at the Kling store in Lavapiés. Do not miss the danceable soundtrack of this episode of Gastón.
** Gülper Özdemir **, Turkish-German actress who has starred in the famous series * Kibris * and * Tutsak * has a premonition and communicates with Gastón in a dream, saving his life.
Synopsis of the season we will record
Gastón is a 10 episodes 15-minute serie that follows the footsteps of an actor who hasn't quite found his place in the industry. Despite his desperate attempts to get an agent, to crash all the parties, to know everyone in the profession, and that great role he played in his youth, he has set himself a deadline to drop it all and return to his mother's house in Galicia: his thirtieth birthday. The poor Gastón only has ten days left to achieve it. Begins the countdown.
Gastón will rely on his famous friends to try to achieve the success that he believes he deserves. This will lead him to absolutely crazy experiences and inexplicable situations with many colleagues who do have jobs and that the general public assumes as regulars.
We will see familiar faces from Spanish cinema, theatre and television, who will try to help Gastón however they can so that he achieves his dream of living, once and for all, in the profession he loves.
Each chapter will count one of the last ten days left for Gastón to turn 30, the limit is approaching. In each chapter a new actor will appear playing himself. In this series, everything is real except one thing: Gastón. He is an invention, a combination of circumstances, one actor among the many thousands that exist and who abandon his dream. Or not...
About us
We are Mateo Franco and Manuel Preto. Two brothers born in A Coruña in the last century. An actor and a musician who like to write, act, film, draw and everything related to art. After many personal solo projects we have decided to join forces to produce our own projects in an alternative way, lowering production costs but making quality material that is up to the current audiovisual technical and artistic level and that also shows a different prism and less explored of the present to which we belong. Gastón is one of our current projects in which we combine several disciplines. We write, direct, act and compose.
Mateo Franco
He is the creator of the original idea and writer of Gastón and together with Manuel Preto he has directed the chapters in which he himself has starred.
He is an actor who has worked in theatre, film and television in different countries such as the United States, Korea, Iceland, Portugal, Spain or Cuba. He trained at the prestigious John Strasberg Studios in New York where he developed a very particular vision of the profession. He has worked with companies such as the Living Theatre, Ron Lalá, Saraband Teatro and in co-productions with Centro Dramático Galego, Whitney Museum of American Art...
Some of the films in which he has participated have been seen at festivals such as Toronto, New York Film Festival, San Sebastián...
As an actor, he worked at the now mythical and disappeared Teatro Kamikaze in Madrid in the production of * Ana Karenina * directed in 2017 by Francesco Carril.
In 2018 he created actuACoruña, an actor training festival in Galicia, through which recognized professionals such as John Strasberg, Carmelo Gómez, Emi Ecay, Manuel Lourenzo or Santiago Fernández have taught many actors.
He has been an assistant to important directors such as Yayo Cáceres, Judith Malina the founder of the Living Theater in New York, or to the internationally renowned actor teacher of the realist school, John Strasberg, in his courses in Galicia.
He has participated in training processes, in addition to Strasberg, at the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Madrid as an assistant to the actor and teacher David Boceta in the show * Salem * by José Padilla.
He has also been an assistant film director on El Custodio de Bahía Honda and Madera de Quebracho by Arturo Franco.
He collaborates in different events of the Soy de la cuesta association, which fights to defend the existence of Moyano booksellers, generating dramatized readings and live events about (Stefan Zweig, Pardo Bazán, Galdós...)
His most recent acting job is in a leading role in the international series Noche de Chicas which will premiere on Vix (LATAM) and Disney (Europe).
He has written several series that are in development, a feature film, and a short that he hopes to shoot in the coming months.
Manuel Preto
He is Gastón's co-director, creator of the soundtrack (with different music for each chapter and nods to classic films) and recorded the direct image and sound.
Manuel is an experimental musician, he has worked in theatre, cinema and shows. At the age of 15 he began to play the guitar in a self-taught way, and although since then he has accompanied him as the main instrument, he became interested in learning to play more and more instruments and it is reflected in his works, in which he plays a multitude of them.
He is a guitar teacher, music producer, sound technician, builds musical instruments under his Tunamusic brand, has an online singing school called On the Go! Singing School and has published 3 self-produced albums in his studio, all the tasks falling to him: lyricist, multi-instrumentation, production, recording, mixing, mastering...
Outside of the musical field, in 2017 he held an exhibition of photomontages at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid entitled Walking among bonsai and has been awarded and published in different writing and architecture competitions.
What will we do with your contributions?
The economic contributions will be entirely destined to the production, filming and editing of Gastón. A series requires a large budget, which in this case we are not going to have, so the people involved in the project (both actors and the technical and artistic team) will make a great effort to get this shoot going with the €10,000. The series will be recorded with a technical team that meets the technical specifications that Netflix imposes on its productions. In this way, Gastón will be able to opt for any platform to be exposed online. The rental of equipment (image, sound, lighting...) of this category is very expensive and practically all the money will go to the rental of technical equipment.
In case that more than the established minimum is collected, the extra money will continue to be used to improve working conditions, equipment, etc. Well, as we have said, it is a tiny budget, much more than tight.
Planned schedule
Once the total for the campaign has been collected, we will get to work to start filming between February and April 2023. Our intention is to have the series ready in June 2023 to send it to festivals and premiere it in the same year.
Backers will receive the promised rewards during the year 2023.
Social media
Here you can see the short episodes that we filmed about Gastón during 2021 on both Instagram and Youtube.
2 comments
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Joaola
Venga, a por ello
Arbaizar
Marcello! Marcello!