Diversification Latin American distribution houses, whose international success has mainly derived from telenovelas, are now diversifying their catalogs. This diversification is ocurring within the same genre (addition of children’s telenovelas, current stories and formats), as well as new genres such as series. This trend is boosting production and setting the stage for new alliances.
There are many indicators of this trend. Venevision International recently announced it would intensify its sales of telenovela formats. RCN took a gamble with its first children’s novela, Cuando salga el sol, a production of Video Base & Tejada Asociados for the Colombian station. VIP 2000 added to its catalog Aladdin, a children’s telenovela produced in India. Telemundo Internacional has been distributing telenovelas from TVN of Chile for a while. It is now adding to the catalog Dance dance dance, a Brazilian novela from Bandeirantes; and it is also distributing Escalera al cielo, from Korea.
A lliances Alliances have become one of the main diversification strategies for distributors.
Telefe International just announced an agreement with Canal 13 of Chile for the distribution of its fictions, which include edgier and youthful telenovelas. The agreement provides their clients with an even broader spectrum of products Televisa had already adopted this alliance strategy when it signed with Argentinean companies Ideas del Sur and Cris Morena, to co-produce children’s telenovelas; and with Pol-ka, to co-produce fictions for adult audiences. These agreements generated Televisa productions such as Atrévete a soñar, the Mexican version of Patito feo from Ideas del Sur; and Mujeres asesinas, a mediamates production for Televisa based on a Pol-ka series. The Mexican televi-
CHIEF-EDITOR: Ríchard Izarra - MAIN EDITOR: Marcela Tedesco - EDITORS: Constanza Kong, Cynthia Plohn, Maribel Ramos-Weiner, Ezequiel Iacobone, Lucas Robledo, Patricia Blanco, María Fernanda Briceño, Diana Rojas - TELENOVELAS ON AIR: Federico Bianchi SALES & CUSTOMER SERVICE: Roko Izarra, Valeria Nardecchia, Sebastián Novacovsky, Lemar Guzmán, Mara Fernández, Amy Ibarra, Kalú Fermandois - PRODUCTION: Andrea Jurado - DATA: Francisco Gutiérrez,
4
www.produ.com
Terminales, from Televisa
sion giant also signed a co-production agreement with Brazil’s Rede Record and GloboMedia Imagina, which will see the creation of a production house to create content for the Spanish market.
series produced in HD, such as Terminales and Mujeres asesinas. Even Televisa Networks started producing series this year. It premiered Adictos and Plantados on its cable channel Unicable.
S eries
Another big player who started producing series is Rede Record. They are introducing at MipTV their first series, The law and the crime. It is a suspense fiction directed by Alexandre Avancini, who also directed Los mutantes, caminos del corazón.
Some Latin American distributors, such as Telefe International, have been offering series since the beginning. Others have followed suit, inspired by the worldwide success of companies such as Caracol: After the triumph of Sin tetas no hay paraíso, it produced El cartel, and this year will launch Las fantásticas, and the sequel to El cartel. A third group started producing series more recently. That is the case of Televisa, which started last year and now has a catalog of
RCN also recently launched a series: Back to the hidden booty, a 26-episode story based on real events, created by Clara María Ochoa and based on a Jörg Hiller story. Marcela Tedesco
Paula Burela, Cintia Baudino, Emiliano Mussi, Catalina Ochoa - ADMINISTRATION: María Paula Capuya, Luciana Conde, Gueilyn Méndez, Verónica Franco - ART: Sergio Szwarcberg, Liliana Martínez - PHOTOS & VIDEOS: Ana Magnani, Sofía Izarra, Luz Nis - SYSTEMS: Mauricio Roda - TRANSLATION: Ana Delon, Eduardo Kondracki 37 NE 28th St. Miami, FL 33137, USA - Info: info@produ.com; ventas@produ.com; subscriptions@produ.com - T +1-305-256-6774