Caracol TV Internactional

Alejandro Toro
Sales Executive, Asia and Africa

What have been some of Caracol’s top-selling titles in Asia?

The Cartel and Roman x 2 are the top selling titles for Caracol in 2009, offering the Asian Channels trendy series of 40-60 episodes that have aspects of a Telenovela mixed with different plot lines that go aside of the typical Cinderella stories that Telenovelas normally offer.  

What are your top properties for ATF ?

Our top properties for ATF are:

The Mafia Dolls: The life of the women of the drug dealing world is the central theme of THE MAFIA DOLLS, a production full of action and suspense, where the romantic relationships that are woven in the drug dealing world will be the main subject. Braulio Bermúdez, an important gangster who is tired of his relationship with his wife, Lucrecia, decides to have affairs with women that are much younger than him, and that is how he meets five young women, who, dazzled by the luxury and extravagancies that surround the world of the mafia, decide to change their lives and they will become from that moment on, a nightmare and a torture for them and for their families.

The Swindler: This is the story of a man with a humble origin that becomes the greatest swindler in the history of the country. Rolando Castaño is daring, skillful for businesses and charming with women. With his casual look, very soon he manages to win the confidence of all the people that he meets. Nevertheless, his excessive desire to get money in a fast and easy way, without considering the consequences and with no qualms at all, will take him to swindle the people of entire neighborhoods; people that believed in his businesses and that trusted him by giving him all their savings, expecting that Castaño will double their utilities. It wasn’t enough for him to become the tsar of the enterprises that collect money and to position his huge empire. Rolando is determined to penetrate the highest social circles where he dazzles many people from the elite, but especially, the family of a well known business man and president of an important lawyer’s office, from where Castaño will perform his most dirty tricks and that he will use to launder millions of dollars. He will also get involved with the lawyer’s daughter, a rich and sophisticated girl that also ends up falling into his traps, like many other women that Rolando will get to fall in love with him, looking for his own interest or just for the fun of it. Up to where will the ambition of this “enchanter” get”? Who will set the limits to his dreams?

Gabriela, turns of Destiny: Gabriela Rueda is one of the biggest up and coming talents of skating in the country. One of her goals is to win a place in the Skating National team. Pablo Córdoba is the son of a powerful and rich businessman. Their lives meet when Pablo, after having drunk a little too much and driving at a high speed, knocks Gabriela down, who was training to compete at an important race the next day. After taking her to a hospital, unconscious, Pablo, following his mother’s advice, leaves the country because he is afraid of going to jail. Six month later, Gabriela has no other chance but getting a job, because after the accident, she couldn’t skate again. She gets a job at a factory in order to be able to help with the expenses of her house. Meanwhile, Pablo comes back to the country and his father has a special surprise for him: he tells him that from that moment on, he has to earn his living by himself, because he has been a “good for nothing” and therefore he has to work as a regular worker at one of his factories. The same day that he begins to work and when he is being introduced to his co workers, he meets Gabriela face to face and he cannot believe that the girl he abandoned in a hospital is just in front of him. They both fall in love and Pablo will try to give Gabriela back everything that he took away from her, due to his lack of responsibility. The dilemma for Gabriela will be when she finds out that her great love is the same person that ruined her dreams.

Why will these appeal to buyers in Asia?

These titles will appeal to buyers in Asia do to its original stories, The Mafia Dolls and The Swindler are series of 55 and 40 episodes respectively and Gabriela is a Classic Romantic Drama of 120 episodes, offering diversity to our clients in terms of number of episodes and story types that are interesting for multiple type of buyers. For example Gabriela will be a production that will appeal very well to buyer in Indonesia, The Philippines and Malaysia were they seek for long lasting classic romantic dramas, The series have appealed very well in countries like Vietnam, China, India and the Middles East where they are more accustomed to shorter dramas and they are a bit more open to different plot lines.

What are some of the trends you are seeing in Asia Pacific?

We see that some countries like Vietnam opening up a lot to Latin American dramas or Telenovelas both as finished product and formats, and we see as a general trend that formats are gaining more market year after year despite the supposed crisis where buying canned formats is much cheaper than producing.

Are you focusing on novelas, or other types of titles from your catalogue?

Our main focus is on telenovelas, we produce an average of 5 telenovelas per year and two series and our portofolio is composed mainly by fiction dramas offering also some entertainment programs and some documentaries. 

What kinds of novelas are in demand in Asia?

Normally the market has demanded classic romantic dramas but the market is diversifying itself and now the Romantic Comedy Telenovelas have started to open some slots in some countries and that´s the major asset of our telenovelas, we can say that this sub-genre was created in Colombia and has travelled very well not only in Latin America but throughout the world.    

What are your overall expectations for the ATF?

2009 has been a very good year for us in Asia augmenting our sales in the region exponentially and we hope that we can wrap up this year in ATF by closing some new deals in the market.