Latin Embrace

October 2008

Ready to set U.S. screens on fire with the same passion and smoldering appeal that has long captivated Latin American viewers, a range of novela formats and scripted series are crossing the border. Among them, Telefe International’s Brothers, Detectives & Co., with a pilot in the works for ABC; Dori Media Group’s Lalola, which is being developed for FOX; and Caracol TV Internacional’s Without Breasts There is No Paradise, which has caught the attention of NBC.
This is not only a testament to how much the formats market in Latin America has matured, but also what a proven track record can do for sales. Not coincidentally, Latin America’s major format players are the distribution arms of terrestrial broadcasters. By airing programs to a discerning audience in their own region first, these companies have a competitive advantage for making deals in global markets.
Telefe used its regional success as a jumping point to strike while the iron was hot, explains Michelle Wasserman, the company’s newly appointed head of international distribution for programming and formats. “There was a boom. We became the number one distributor in the region. It was a very good opportunity for us to begin distributing ideas as soon as Argentinean formats were proven successful.…It was not easy to convince new producers and clients to work in Argentina or to produce new original stories in the country. It was a lot of hard work, effort and dedication, and after five years, we finally made it happen.”

GETTING A FICTION FIX
The long-running drama Montecristo, which is a modern update of the classic novel, is a great example of an Argentine favorite that helped open doors for Telefe. Created in 2006, the novela format was adapted for Mexico, Colombia and Chile before scoring its first European treatment in Portugal. This summer Montecristo launched on Channel One in Russia. Outside of novelas, Brothers, Detectives & Co. is proving to be a breakout hit for Telefe. The show has done so well in Spain on Telecinco that Telefe had to write new episodes beyond the number that it had in Argentina. Local versions are also in the works in Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Chile, Turkey and the U.S. The original series The Pretenders is shoring up successful sales outside of Latin America as well. Telefe adapted two seasons for Spain, has a Russian version and is producing a pilot for Italy. The show has recently gained the interest of producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, Pushing Daisies), who is shopping an American treatment. The company is looking to replicate this success with its new series The Successful Mr. Pells.
Novela formats and drama series have also notched up big sales for Dori Media Group, whose hit series Lalola has been sold into more than 50 countries worldwide. Even before its bow on Argentina’s América TV, the series had secured 15 presale deals. José Escalante, the CEO and president of Dori Media America and president and general manager of Dori Media Distribution, says that the deals are “further evidence of the success of a new style of producing telenovelas, based on unique stories, high-quality performances and an original way of telling a story.”
Similarly, RCN Televisión’s director of international sales, María Lucia Hernández Frieri, explains that a part of its success stems from putting an innovative spin on the traditional fiction format. “The market has increased since the world has become aware of our talent and resources for [making] fresh, new, innovative and original series,” Hernández Frieri says. Of these, La Costeña y el Cachaco has been quite popular, but Yo soy Betty, la fea is without a doubt the best known. The series won the hearts of its Latin American viewers back in 1999. Its popularity led to the creation of several similar programs in other countries, and local adaptations have delivered high ratings in the likes of Germany, India and Spain. The American adaptation, Ugly Betty, has been a smash hit on ABC.
RCN’s Colombian competitor Caracol has not only aired a number of standout novelas and series, but its distribution arm, Caracol TV Internacional, is responsible for taking these to markets across the globe. Angélica Guerra, the company’s international VP, says that its sales outside of Latin America have been “excellent. Countries like the U.S., Russia, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and India have become regular buyers of our formats and have started to successfully produce local adaptations of Caracol’s products.”
In the series genre, Without Breasts There is No Paradise has been adapted in Spain by Telecinco and in the U.S. Hispanic market by Telemundo, and in both cases the show is the ratings leader in its time slot, says Guerra. “It is in the process of being adapted in the U.S. by NBC and in Portugal. There are five other countries who want to acquire the option to adapt it, which means there will be at least nine versions of this series in the international market.” Other top-selling titles for Caracol are the telenovelas Newly Rich, Newly Poor and Great Pedro. Newly Rich, Newly Poor has been sold in seven territories for local adaptation, including the U.S., India, Belgium, Russia, the Middle East and North Africa, while Great Pedro was adapted in Portugal and Russia and has treatments in the works in Spain and the U.S.
The Brazilian telenovela The Clone did big numbers on TV Globo when it first aired in 2001. Globo TV International sold the series into 90-plus countries and this year clinched its first format agreement on the show. In a co-production alliance with Telemundo Studios, a U.S. Hispanic version of The Clone is in the works. The director of the original Brazilian version, Jayme Monjardim, and author, Glória Perez, will participate in the adaptation for Telemundo. “There’s no doubt this co-production is an opportunity to take our main strategic asset, our extensive expertise in creating and producing original high-quality stories, to various countries throughout the world,” says Raphael Corrêa Netto, Globo’s international sales director.

COVERING ALL NEEDS
Venevision International has been in the business for more than 30 years, and just recently established its own formats division. Hector Beltran, the company’s director of formats and production services, says that for Venevision, “Telenovelas have always been our core format. Our story lines are well-established concepts that capture audiences and take them through a journey that transforms their lives, if only for a period of time.”
It’s not just the traditional fiction titles that are getting pickups in international markets anymore. Venevision’s catalogue ranges beyond novelas, with a slate for MIPCOM that includes the game shows Battle of the Sexes, Mega-Match and Dating Zone, and talk shows like I Need a Friend and Who’s Right?
This formula of providing a variety of entertainment offerings, alongside fiction, has also been key for Televisa Internacional. “Dancing for a Dream definitely was one that opened the door in different territories,” says José Luis Romero, Televisa’s director of formats and new content. The format has run six seasons in Romania, and is airing in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Serbia, with a launch also set for Ukraine. This success has been mirrored by other entertainment titles in Televisa’s catalogue, such as Dancing for the Wedding of My Dreams and Singing for a Dream.
Romero says that “the twist that our entertainment formats have is that you get into the competition to fulfill somebody else’s dream. That really moves audiences around the world. I do believe that as a content producer and broadcaster, Televisa offers a lot of different options.”
Game shows and dating games often have such worldwide appeal that they don’t require a track record to score sales. A relatively new player in the market, Si Hay Ideas, a Teleset company, has a catalogue stacked full of these offerings, yet is not linked to a major broadcaster like most of its Latin American counterparts. Still, Juan Pablo Gaviria, the VP of Si Hay Ideas, says that the company has had excellent sales beyond Latin American borders. “Actually, we have optioned more formats outside Latin America than in our territory. The European market is more open-minded toward ‘paper formats’ and trying new ideas and concepts. In Latin America, it is very difficult to get a show on the air if it has no prior record, but still our first show to be aired was Vocalist Wanted by RCN in Colombia.”
In its first year, Si Hay Ideas optioned the dating game Heartbeat and the interactive game show SMS Attack to Grundy Producciones in Spain; the music contest Vocalist Wanted to Zebra in Spain; and Loves Roulette, a scripted comedy dating game, to Endemol Italy and Sony Pictures Television for the U.S.
Flor Latina Entertainment Group has also ventured into the format business, creating a dedicated division earlier this year with a slate of game shows. The company recently signed a deal with audiovisual producer Monosabios for a range of titles, including The Three Wise Monkeys Temple, Luck and Truth, Maximum Risk and Take the Chance.
The variety of pickups—both from nonfiction genres and from new players—bears witness to the strength of the formats coming out of Latin America, as well as to the shifting global attitude toward them. Dori’s Escalante says that in terms of open markets, “Germany led the pack, managing a successful format production. France, Italy and Belgium followed suit, and now even the Scandinavian countries are actively seeking and programming some of the best Latin exports.” He adds that eventually even the U.K. is poised to open up to Latin formats.
For Telefe, Wasserman says that the company “would like to increase [its] penetration and position in India, which is a fast-growing market. It’s a very attractive new country, for both ready-made programs and formats. We are working hard to do something in China. And then we are also working hard in territories like Spain and Italy, where we have some options  and we’d like to exercise them. We already started doing our first series there. We opened an office in Russia, and we are doing very well with our formats in Greece and in Turkey.”
Venevision has set its sights on similar markets, in addition to keeping an eye on sales in its own region. “Strategically, we are first focused on Latin America,” says Juan Andres Rodriguez, the VP of production for Venevision International, who oversees the company’s formats division. “Our programming has been broadcast with much success in the region, and we are capitalizing on that. We are also targeting the European market. With approximately 90 million tele¬vision households [across] Germany, England, Italy and Spain, it’s the world’s most active television marketplace, with great potential and opportunities to develop our catalogue of formats. Then, we will move to Asia—Japan, for example, is a land of opportunity with its more than 40 million television households. There is a lot of potential in Asia and we plan on being there…everywhere, in fact, with excellent entertainment formats.”

HOLDING RANK
Venevision’s global focus remains undaunted despite competition from format behemoths like Endemol and FremantleMedia. Rodriguez explains, “Formats are, in essence, a creative business, where size matters, but a history of success and proven experience counts as well.”
Also ready for its global competitors, Caracol says that the story lines within its catalogue are what keep it well positioned to be an international player. “We compete with good stories, that’s our strength,” says Guerra. “The non-Latino public has been getting familiar with telenovelas as a format. That is why there is more demand for this type of product every day. In Russia, for example, we have sold more than seven scripts. This shows that with original ideas that have been successful outside of Latin America, it is possible to enter markets that did not consider us as suppliers before.”
Standing firm on the idea that the two-in-one, broadcaster/distributor combo is a sure-fire recipe for international sales success is Televisa. Romero acknowledges that a shortcoming among a lot of foreign format distributors is that “they don’t have a network or a channel where they can air their shows. We are therefore trying to position ourselves as a powerful producer and broadcaster. We understand that everybody has their own skills, we’re trying to make our own path and by having four different networks in Mexico, we produce a lot of programs. We actually have different kinds of shows already proven to offer to our clients. If somebody sits down with us, we can offer them series, telenovelas, reality shows or sitcoms or game shows. The variety [we offer gives] us an interesting position in this competitive market.”
And the same rings true for a whole host of Latin format distributors, whose success with their own broadcasts have pushed open the market and set the course for international expansion.