Pitch to tackle Luis Figo transfer for Netflix

Pitch Productions, the indie behind Netflix’s Pelé biopic, is returning to the streamer to chronicle the infamous transfer of footballer Luís Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid. 

Netflix has ordered feature-length documentary El Caso Figo (The Figo Affair) which unfolds like a heist film to give the definitive account of arguably the most contentious transfer sagas in football history.

The high-profile commission comes amid promotions at sports documentary specialists Pitch, with El Caso Figo director David Tryhorn appointed creative director and Max Dobbyn, who developed the film, promoted to head of documentaries in addition to his head of development role. 

Spanish-language El Caso Figo draws on insight from leading figures, including Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez and Manchester City manager and then-Barcelona player Pep Guardiola, to reveal how Figo made the move between the bitter rivals.  

The film was commissioned by Netflix director of doc features Jonny Taylor, Pitch’s principal point of contact for the project, and was ordered a few months after Pelé landed on the platform. 

It is directed by Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas, who also directed Pelé, while Pitch’s head of production Marie-Denise Dormis, line produced the film. Dobbyn also acted as consulting producer, having joined as head of development from Lightbox in 2020. Tryhorn is exec producer. 

Dobbyn told Broadcast the film is emblematic of Pitch’s connections in the sporting world, stating that the team sourced insight from “everyone involved in that deal who isn’t dead”. 

“This is the definitive account of this story, which is the most controversial, explosive transfer in history,” he said.

He added Netflix had been quick to greenlight the project, commissioning it off paper. El Caso Figo is one of Pitch’s few straight commissions that the indie hasn’t self-financed. 

Tryhorn said: “It’s increasingly hard to find sports documentaries that are saying something new, that aren’t simply biographies or histories of sporting successes, so we believe El Caso Figo is unique.  

“Focusing on the transfer rather than Figo’s career, the film informs us about truth, greed, morality, and the inner workings of the world’s most popular sport. 

“We wanted the film to feel like a Hitchcockian thriller, one that plays with notions of the truth. We also only wanted to interview people with first-hand testimonies of the transfer so that the drama could play out in the present tense.  

“Everyone, from Florentino Pérez to Pep Guardiola, was generous with their time but Luís Figo was particularly accommodating, desperate as he was to finally set the record straight after two decades of avoiding the question of his transfer.” 

Promotions cement Pitch growth

Tryhorn and Dobbyn’s promotions come off the back of sustained business for Pitch, including recent four-part Sky Documentaries commission The Window, which explores the thorny world of the football transfer window. The series, which is co-produced by NBCUniversal, joins four other feature-length docs in the works at the indie. 

Chief operating officer Jonathan Rogers, to whom Tryhorn reports, said: “El Caso Figo marks the next phase in Pitch Production’s evolution. It demonstrates our desire to break new ground in sports documentary at a key time in the genre’s evolution, when more sporting stories are being told than ever before.   

“Our aim is that the craft, creativity, and diligence that David brings to the projects he directs will become the hallmark of Pitch’s output. This is why he has been appointed creative director, to bring his influence to bear on all of our productions.  

“Each of our current crop of commissions were guided through development by Max, whose originality and sense of story have laid the foundations for the company’s recent growth.”  

This article was originally published on sister site Broadcast.