Endemol Shine Americas’ Cris Abrego

Cris-Abrego-NATPEAs CEO of Endemol Shine North America and chairman of Endemol Shine Americas, Cris Abrego is responsible for both the North American and Latin American divisions of the group known for such hit worldwide brands as MasterChef and Big Brother. Abrego also oversees Endemol Shine Latino, which covers all of Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market and is headed by Laurens Drillich. Abrego joined Endemol Shine North America in 2014 with considerable experience producing reality programming and helping to create the celeb-reality genre. Today, he is looking for opportunities for Spanish-language and English-language programming across the Americas, not only for unscripted but for scripted fare as well.

WS: Does the U.S. Hispanic audience have different sensibilities from the audience in Latin America?
ABREGO: Yes, it does. And it’s obviously because of the influence of other television programs. They have so many more choices, and the U.S. Hispanic audience has changed so much. But what’s encouraging is that for a long time, when you had just one television in the house, and your mom had novelas on, you had to wait [to watch what you wanted]. But now, you have so many choices. The exciting part of it, and where the opportunity is in all of this change, is that you look at what’s happened with Telemundo and Univision, you see that they’ve started to make some compelling super-series. They’re getting more sophisticated in their storytelling because they have to be competitive. The U.S. Hispanic audience is very different, bilingual, and has a lot of choices, not just in television but in films and other forms of entertainment, so they have had to step up their quality, and they have.

WS: What are you producing for the U.S. Hispanic market?
ABREGO: We have a lot of new, exciting projects. One that we’re very proud of is El Vato, which stars the Mexican musical sensation El Dasa and is currently in production for its second season. That’s done with our production partners Boomdog in Mexico. I remember that when they brought El Vato to me—speaking of the advances in storytelling—in the sizzle tape, there were so many exterior shots. You’re used to seeing just interior shots in novelas and other dramas [from the region]. But watching El Vato’s promo tape, the fact that it had so many exterior shots blew me away, and I felt like I was watching something that could easily have been made here in the U.S. I started calling it the Mexican Entourage, and it resonated with me right away. So just those little adjustments like shooting more exteriors on location make a huge difference for the U.S. Hispanic audience and make something they can identify with and want to watch.

WS: You produce that for NBC Universo, but there is also a deal with Netflix, correct?
ABREGO: Correct, the first season is now available on Netflix; our colleagues at Endemol Shine International made that deal. It’s a great opportunity to expose a wider audience to El Vato and hopefully bring more to our second season with NBC Universo. We’re also in discussions about a deal for MasterChef in the U.S. Hispanic market. We have a lot of other projects that are quickly coming up, and we expect to be announcing those soon.

WS: You are also adapting a book about the singer Selena.
ABREGO: I had the opportunity to work with Major TV and Raymond Garcia [formerly publisher and founder of Celebra at Penguin Random House] to make a deal on some of his IP, including a book, To Selena, With Love, written by Chris Perez, Selena’s husband. It’s an incredible book, and it’s unique because it gives his point of view. Selena was iconic, not just for Latinos in the U.S. but for all Latinos around the world. This book gives insight from Chris’s point of view because he was there from her beginnings to her rise to fame. We’re very excited that he’s decided to partner with us and share that story.

WS: What opportunities do you see for scripted in the U.S. and Latin America?
ABREGO: It’s a very exciting time globally for scripted, and as a group, we have companies in the U.K. and Scandinavia that have truly talented people—I’m talking about premium-quality storytelling and productions. The Kudos team has some new stuff. At MIPCOM, they rolled out three or four projects, and I [was very] impressed. That’s what is so exciting about being part of a much larger group, especially one that’s entrepreneurial and creative at its core; we get to share ideas. We’re focused, with Laurens Drillich and his team [at Endemol Shine Latino], on creating a big scripted business in the U.S. Hispanic market, Mexico and Latin America, and that might start by taking some big IP, like The Bridge or Black Mirror—there’s some great stuff.

WS: Over the course of your career, what have you learned about the pitching process?
ABREGO: It’s so humbling. You have to go in there and be as authentic and as passionate as you can be without seeming fake. You can go into a room to pitch something you believe in and just be told, No, I don’t see it, I don’t get it. It’s frustrating. It’s one of the toughest parts of this business. You cannot be over-prepared when pitching. When you go in to pitch, and it’s just you and an idea, you could be an incredible salesperson, but if you haven’t done everything you can to make this sale [by preparing] materials—sizzle tapes, promo tapes, stats, people attached to the project—then your chances of making a sale are diminished immensely. I’ve seen that recently with some experienced people, who, just because they have a track record, will go to an executive and say, “Hey, I think we have this great idea, it’s XYZ, it’s amazing, what do you think?” And I’ve had the buyer call me and say, “Your person came in and had nothing on them.” So track record or no track record, you cannot be over-prepared with materials when pitching.

WS: What are the keys to casting, whether for scripted or unscripted shows?
ABREGO: Casting is the fun part. It makes or breaks your project, in scripted or unscripted. [Either] you’re the person who has a knack for finding talent, or you hire someone who can do that really well for you. I would say that a great format will do the heavy lifting in a show, but the cast is what will make it a hit.