José Escalante

President and General Manager
Dori Media Distribution

Dori Media has evolved considerably since its founding as a telenovela distributor in Israel. Today, the company has offices in the U.S., Switzerland, Argentina and the Philippines in addition to its Israeli headquarters, and has become a major player in the production and distribution of telenovelas. The last few years, in particular, have been game changing for the company, driven in part by the worldwide success of Lalola. For José Escalante, who heads up Dori Media’s global distribution efforts, as well as serving as the CEO and president of Dori Media America, the response to the gender-bending Argentinean soap from the international market has been very satisfying. "It has been a great achievement to open new markets," Escalante says of deals clinched for Lalola, "markets that were not into programming telenovelas—for example, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain—brand-new markets for Dori." Other key deals for the series have included India and the U.S., where the series is being adapted by Sony Pictures Television.

A veteran of the novela market—prior to joining Dori Media in 2007, he ran Coral International/RCTV International for a number of years—Escalante is excited to be working with new, innovative forms of the genre, such as Amanda O. Billed as the first novela for use on the Internet and mobile phones as well as TV, the series is a top offering for Dori at NATPE, along with other new series, like Cupid: The Business of Love and the youth-skewing Champs 12. Also available is La Maga, a live action/CGI hybrid.

Finished product remains a priority for the company in its Latin American business, Escalante says, while Western Europe is particularly open to format rights. In Asia, meanwhile, the trend is for both finished versions and formats. However, Escalante notes that with the current economic downturn, canned product may be more favorable. Broadcasters, he says, "don’t know if they’re going to have the resources to produce [their own versions]." This opens up opportunities in markets that have traditionally been closed to Latin American novelas, such as Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. "I think [the economic crisis] will affect the sale of the formats, but benefit the sale of the canned products," he says.

For this year, Escalante is keen to continue driving expansion in Dori Media’s worldwide business. Japan, Korea, Thailand, China and India are all priority markets in Asia, while in Europe, Escalante has his sights set on Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Scandinavian countries. "We also want to keep penetrating the African market," he says. At NATPE, meanwhile, continued sales across Latin America will be the main goal. Escalante says of the breadth of the Dori Media offer: "I have products for teens and kids; I have comedies and traditional telenovelas."