José Luis Romero

World Screen Weekly, July 19, 2007

Director of Formats

Televisa Estudios

A giant in the Spanish-language programming arena, Televisa Estudios has been working hard to expand its reach in markets that historically have not been importers of telenovelas. Last year, as local versions of the Latin American programming staple were increasingly cropping up on broadcasters worldwide, the company hired former FremantleMedia executive José Luis Romeroto develop its format business. Having spent more than a decade at FremantleMedia, Romero was prepared, and excited for, the prospect of building the Mexican media giant’s nascent format operation.

“When I was at FremantleMedia, I not only supervised—I was also a flying producer and I was a seller,” says Romero. “What I did there was part of what I’m doing here, and a bit more. When I arrived I started to create the brand for our division. I edited the trailers of the formats we have. I started from scratch to create a structure to help [our clients] adapt the formats locally.”

Romero has already seen success with the variety format Dancing for a Dream, which delivered record ratings in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Romania. That format was followed up with Singing for a Dream and Dancing for the Wedding of My Dreams.

Televisa is also working on selling the formats to its substantial telenovela catalogue, particularly as broadcasters in Western Europe, Asia and the U.S. are increasingly looking to the genre to deliver loyal viewers. “Our priority is to understand the needs of our current clients and to create a product to satisfy those needs,” Romero says.

Romero adds that telenovela adaptations can be more difficult than formats of variety or reality shows, given the challenges of translating scripts and of the novela production process itself. Here, Romero notes, Televisa has a distinct advantage over many of its competitors. “We are not only distributors—we are also producers and broadcasters, so we know firsthand that this is not an easy job. We offer our 50 years of expertise in creating and producing telenovelas. We are developing content for the four channels we have in Mexico, so we are producing every day, we are testing every day.”

What also gives Televisa a leg up in this increasingly crowded arena is the depth of its catalogue, as well as its long-standing relationships with broadcasters worldwide who have been acquiring the company’s original telenovelas for years.

Going forward, Romero is looking to build on Televisa’s already successful business in Central and Eastern Europe, and he is also targeting the U.S., India and China, as well as the key Western European markets. Among the company’s top titles heading into MIPCOM are The Magnificent Five, a reality/variety show; the mystery and suspense series Thirteen Fears; and SOS—Sex and Other Secrets, about five female friends struggling between traditional life and modern ways.

The key to rolling out successful local versions, Romero explains, is flexibility. “When you buy [a format] everyone is telling you, don’t do this, don’t do that. We think in a different way. We know there are key elements. We keep those key elements but we do work with our clients to really increase the possibility of success [of the show] in their territories.”

Having spent the early part of his career in music and radio before making the transition to television, Romero says he is thrilled to be part of the format business today. “You have the ability to create and sell and supervise and also produce. It means a lot to me. It’s been more than 11 years and it’s been really wonderful.”

—By Mansha Daswani