Fábrica Brasil, part of Banijay Americas, delved into the nine-title slate that appears to be a prerequisite for recent success in Brazil on Wednesday’s Content Americas. It’s an ongoing production relationship with Netflix and Brazilian media giants Globo and Globoplay, the company’s energetic VOD service, and a project with young Brazilian crime lord, novelist and screenwriter Rafael Montes.
In fact, of the latter, A Fábrica Brasil has already announced two new Montes shows.
In the biggest news at Content Americas, A Fábrica Brasil announced a new, as-yet-untitled sitcom for Globo, designed to fill the void left at the end of “Vai de Cola.” The sitcom in development is created by Marcelo Andrade, who co-created the 2020 30-something comedy Match, co-produced by Migdal Pictures and Warner Bros. Discovery, and is about a man and woman in their 30s who face dating in a digital world. The director is Gigi Soares, who specializes in relationship comedies such as the cult comedy group Porta dos Fundos’ TV series “Homes”.
In further news announced Wednesday at Content Americas’ Banijay Americas panel led by Banijay Americas CEO Ben Samek, Luminescent, an immersive live music experience produced by Lotchi, owned by Banijay Live, will debut in Mexico and Brazil. A new show, “MasterChef Brazil,” will also appear. A Fabrica also announced a joint venture with Endemol Shine Brasil to collaborate on microdrama.
The ambition written in Fabrica Brasil’s script
Fábrica Brasil, which Banijay announced in December 2022 that he had purchased a majority stake, is already in the news as the producer of the hit comedy series “Vai Que Cola,” and Netflix’s “Desperate Lies,” a 17-episode hybrid novel/series that has been described as Brazil’s first “melodrama” and became the No. 1 non-English language worldwide in 2024 on the U.S. streaming service.
In another announcement, Janaina Tokitaka, known for her screenplays for the Tykes (“Bukaboo”) to Midteen (“Back to 15”) series, has co-written the screenplay for the much-anticipated Netflix feature “A Estranha na Cama” with Rafael Montes, a co-writer on “The Girl Who Could Fly,” produced by Maria Fariña Films and Viola Davis’ Ache Ventures. Esmir Filho (The Famous and the Dead), produced by A Fábrica and Netflix, is currently in production.
“‘Etranja na Cama’ is Montez’s fourth high-profile film, following the 2020 Netflix series ‘Good Morning, Veronica’, HBO Max’s ‘Scarred Beauty’ and Globoplay’s ‘Perfect Days’, all of which were released last year and were named the best of 2025 by Variety “Perfect Days,” which was selected as one of Ko’s international TV series, was also a hit.The film is based on Montez’s new novel and tells the story of a young couple who seduces a third woman through a sex app, but during the encounter, she dies and they have to cover up the incident, when a mysterious blackmailer appears.
The Banijay America panel focused in part on the global spread of scripted drama, highlighted by A. Fabrica’s “Desperate Lies.”
With Brazilian-written originals proving popular on streaming platforms like Netflix, and telenovela Anything Goes setting a sponsorship revenue record for Globo last year by becoming the highest-grossing primetime production of all time, A Fabrica has the potential to become a major source of broadcast programming in Latin America. At least that’s Banjay and A Fabrica’s strategy.
A Fábrica’s second Netflix series, the scripted comedy As Crianças Estão de Volta, follows a couple who are forced to put their personal dreams and priorities on the back burner as they move to seaside Paraty to enjoy empty nesting until their adult children return home. Written by Claudio Pavia (“Cine Holyoudi”), who reunites with director Mauricio Farias since “Slaps & Kisses.”
“Uma Mulher no Escudo” (“A Woman in the Dark”), produced by Globoplay, Casa Montes and A Fabrica and released in Brazil last October while already in development, centers on Victoria, a four-year-old who is the only survivor when a man breaks into her home and stabs her family to death.
Several years later, her horrifying past comes back to life as she lived a reclusive life with recurring nightmares. “There are only three people she can trust. What’s the problem? One of them is a murderer,” goes one of the novel’s plot descriptions.
update comedy
In 2026, A Fábrica will release on Globo the final season of “Vai Que Cola”, which has aired for an incredible 14 years and more than 500 one-hour episodes, and the second season of “Galera FC,” about a 23-year-old Vini Junior-esque Brazilian mega-soccer star playing in Europe who suddenly realizes he wants to give up everything.
“This is about football, but above all it’s about family,” said Luis Noronha Fabrica MD and CCO, creator of “Galera FC”, producer of “Vai Que Cola” and one of the creators of Globo’s most acclaimed ER drama “Under Pressure” since his days as an executive at Conspiração.
With Montez’s dark psychological thriller “Estranja na Cama” and “Uma Müller’s Escudo,” Fabrica is strengthening its scripted series muscles, one of Banijay’s overall priorities.
Comedy also moves with the times. An homage to popular theater from decades ago, “Vai Que Cola” is a sitcom set in a modest neighborhood in Rio, performed in front of a live audience. In contrast, Galera FC used complex VFX to create soccer pitch scenes.
The Rio-based company, led by partners Noronha, Cecilia Grosso, Samanta Moraes and Alberto Elias, is extending its signature humor to theatrical feature films. One is the spy movie “Very Special Agents,” a parody of Elite Squad, written by the late “Vai Que Cola” star Paulo Gustavo, and has already been released in theaters on January 8th.
Upcoming films include another masterpiece, Mission: 171 (Mission: 171), starring Mauricio Manfrini and Fabiana Carla, and the event intellectual cop comedy O Veran da Lata, led by Samantha Schmutz (Vai Que Cola). The piece is inspired by an unusual but true event in 1987-1988 when more than 13,000 cannabis cans washed up on beaches on Brazil’s Atlantic coast. In this movie, the cops try to contain the impact by causing a riot.
Fabrica Brazil Slate:
comedy
Vai Que Cola – Sitcom |Final Season (2026) – Multi-Show (Globo)
Director: Cesar Rodriguez, João Fonseca, Regis Faria, Silvio Guindane
Screenplay: Phil Braz, Renato Fagundes, Rosana Herman
Untitled Sitcom – Sitcom | In Development – Globo
Crianzas Estaão de Volta (WT) – Series | In production – Netflix
Original idea: Patricia Leme
Creator & Screenwriter: Claudio Paiva
Artistic Director: Mauricio Farias
Thriller/Suspense
A Estranja na Cama – Feature film | In production – Netflix
Creator & Screenwriter: Rafael Montes
Director: Esmir Filho
Screenplay: Janaina Tokitaka
Uma Müller’s Escrow – Series | In development – Globoplay
Developed by Casa Montes and A Fábrica
Creator & Screenwriter: Rafael Montes
feature film
Very Special Agents (Agentes Muito Especiais) – Feature Film |Released
Original idea: Paulo Gustavo, Marcus Majella
Screenplay: Phil Braz
Director: Pedro Antonio
Co-producer: Migdal Films
Mission: 171 (Mission: 171) – Feature film | Future plans
Director: Guartel Pupo
Screenplay: Felipe Viana, Gabriel Meyojas, João Paulo Horta, Leandro Assis, Marcelo Andrade, Renato Fagundes
Co-producer: Hungry Man, Star
O Verão da Lata – Feature film | Upcoming plans
Director: Santiago Dellapé
Screenplay: Santiago Dellapé, Davi Matos, Renato Fagundes
Co-produced by: Na Paralela Filmes, Gancho de Nuvem, Nada Consta, Warner Bros. Discovery, H2O Produções
The series is back
Galera FC – Season 2 | Scripted Series | Future Plans
Screenplay: Renato Fagundes, João Paulo Horta, Luis Noronha
Director: Luis Noronha, Claudia Castro
Co-produced by: Warner Bros. Discovery
