Q&A with Dori Media’s Nadav Palti

Nadav Palti is the president and CEO of Dori Media Group

What are your top properties for NATPE?
Dori Media Group will arrive to NATPE 2010 with its varied catalogue, which now contains over 4,450 TV hours of mostly telenovelas and daily dramas. Among the different combination of genres within the telenovela scope, we can name the following titles as our new top properties:

Ciega a Citas (Date Blind) is a coproduction of Dori Media Contenidos and Rosstoc based on the original story of Lucia, written by Carolina Aguirre. Single and somewhat unattractive, Lucía overhears her mother make a bet with her younger sister that she won’t be able to bring a real boyfriend to her sister’s wedding. Lucía sets out to find a genuine, loving boyfriend, knowing all too well she has only 258 days at her disposal until her sister’s wedding day.

Mia: Mi Amiga Invisible (Mia: My Invisible Friend) is a telenovela for children and family, which tells the story of Mia, an invisible friend, who magically transforms into a teenager so she can save a little girl from losing all hope. While fighting evil forces in order to accomplish her mission, Mia will also find the love of her life.

Money Time is a sexy telenovela in which a long-term friendship leads two successful football players to join forces and form a winning football team, but a dark secret is about to turn the two into arch enemies.

Pilots’ Wives (Mujeres del Aire) is a new daily drama set in an Air Force base, revolving around the lives of fighter pilots and their families. The series, which will be introduced for the first time at NATPE, focuses on the pilots’ wives—beautiful, sexy, strong women, married to the most desirable men, all living in one close knit community.

uMan is a unique and innovative 24/7 cross-platform control game, based on an idea developed by Dori New Media and produced by Dori Media Darset with Cellcom, for cell phones, internet and TV. Eight contestants enter a "Lab" for 21 days during which their every move is controlled by viewers and they have to score life-points to win. The viewers’ control is constant and relates to how they live, what they eat, what they wear and who they sleep with.

We can also name Split as a product with great potential, as it was sold to over 30 countries in 6 months since its launch.

Why will these appeal to buyers?
Each of the properties I mentioned above has a unique angle and each represent in its way the varied combination Dori Media Group’s catalogue has to offer to buyers from all over the world:

Ciega a Citas (Date Blind) is what we call a "New-vela" as it contains all the basic elements of the traditional telenovelas but with an edge —its storyline is more updated and unique; its pace is faster; and the way it is shot and edited is innovative. This comic drama is inspired by the original and successful Lucía Gonzale´s Blognovela, which is the first blog in Spanish and one of the first in the world to be adapted for television. It became a huge success on the web achieving two and a half million views and eighty thousand comments in only 9 months (November 2007 to June 2008). The subject matter of Ciega a Citas is blind dating, an issue being dealt in any country today among all ages, which makes this daily drama appealing to a large range of buyers.

Dori Media Group has developed expertise in the production of telenovelas for children and teenagers, and has had international success with its series including Rebelde Way, Floricienta, Rincon de Luz, El Refugio and recently Split and Mia: Mi Amiga Invisible is another example in this range. Mia stars Brenda Asnicer, who became a big star after her leading role in Patito Feo.

Money Time and Pilots’ Wives are examples of classic telenovelas based on romantic elements with a wide appeal to buyers that look for high standards productions.

uMan represent the new media field of Dori Media Group. It is a unique product that has the ability to attract the most desirable target audience—teenagers, and enable them to influence through their mobile phones and through internet surfing. uMan is an international format that can be easily adapted in different countries and cultures around the globe. It was sold to the trendsetting, independent mobile media and technology company Buongiorno in Spain and is on its way to other countries in Asia.

Are you focusing on your novelas, or other areas of your catalogue?
Dori Media Group is staying "fresh" by offering its clients innovative formats and canned versions with an international appeal. As a rule, Dori Media tries to produce a variety of products, so that buyers from all over the world can find the perfect product suiting their needs. This is a big advantage of Dori Media that we produce for the international market and not to a specific local channel. Our productions are characterized by storylines that break boundaries, international-looking cast, unique editing and advanced shooting techniques.

In the past years Dori Media managed to enlarge its catalogue so it is now contains a varied combination of themes in the Telenovela and daily dramas field. Within that scope we have classical stories, romantic comedies and youth oriented titles. Dori Media Group’s catalogue has it all—Ciega a Citas as a romantic comedy; Split, Mia and Champs 12 for younger audiences; uMan as a desirable 24/7 format, addressing teenagers; Pilots’ Wives and Money Time for general audiences etc.

What are your overall expectations for NATPE?
We believe that at the upcoming NATPE we will witness high interest from buyers for the telenovela and daily dramas genre. Since we are producing for one, singular territory—the world, our productions tend to appeal to a wider target of potential buyers.

Also, due to the general interest in the new media field, I believe Dori Media Group will have a lot to offer to its clients at NATPE, as we quickly understood that with proper planning and by using our advantages we can be in the first line of companies giving solutions to the growing needs of the developing market.

Is there any other info you’d like to share about your plans for this market?
Local programmers and producers are increasingly seeking to program or adapt telenovelas containing elements of comedy and romance. Humor/love are the perfect escapism, a language that is universally recognized and sought after. That mix of ingredients has been a winning formula for countless channels and producers worldwide. Dori Media Group offers to its clients both formats and the original products. Some clients prefer producing a local adaptation of the telenovela and some prefer to air the original series either dubbed or translated.

As of today Dori Media Distribution sells our varied catalogue of over 4,450 TV hours to over 70 territories and 400 TV channels worldwide. Each market helps us to penetrate new territories. The US market is a good example for a relatively new market: we sold Lalola to Sony Pictures, Rebelde Way was sold to a major network and some more of our productions are in advanced negotiation stages.

NATPE will be the first market in the American continent where we will introduce Ciega a Citas, Mia: My Invisible Friend, Pilots’ Wives, uMan etc. We are certain that all our newest productions will be well received by clients from USA, Latin America etc.