Adaptations and Remakes Take Center Stage at MIP Cancun

CANCUN: Mega’s Juan Ignacio Vicente, The Kitchen’s Alexis Cárdenas and RCN Televisión’s Catalina Bridge talked to Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari, editor of TV Latina, about their experiences in making telenovela adaptations and remakes in a session at MIP Cancun.

The conversation kicked off about the factors they consider before making an adaptation or remake. Bridge, the production manager at RCN Televisión, said, “You have to evaluate everything when you choose a production you want to make, whether the characters and situations work in a given country or if you have to modify it a bit.”

She mentioned the adaptation of Desperate Housewives, Amas de casas desesperadas, stating that much was learned in the process because “the women in the original show didn’t reflect the reality of the Latina woman, even though they were Latina. You have to make sure that what you include is credible in our culture.”

The panelists then talked about their project highlights. Vicente, the director of content and international business at Mega, mentioned the adaptation of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, titled in its first season as The Switch: Drag Race: El arte del transformismo and the upcoming second season The Switch: Drag Race.

“When I called the people at Mega to tell them we wanted to buy the license they said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said yes, this is the show we want to make,” said Vicente. “It took a long time from the moment I saw the format in 2012 to finally having it ready in 2016.”

He also stated that the show doesn’t discriminate nor is there any mention about the participants’ sexuality, but rather it is a talent show and a story about their lives.

Mega also adapted Telefe’s novela Sres. Papis (Dear Daddies), which Vicente saw at a market and immediately closed the deal. “The show is about single dads and the stories they create around their kids,” said Vicente. “I felt that this was very ingrained in Chile’s contemporary culture. Part of the innovation was to include a different topic, with a certain value, but that would be very much be part of Chilean culture.”

Vicente also mentioned that proper cast selection is crucial. The production was put on standby for a year until they found the actors they wanted to work with.

In regards to the modifications that had to be made for the Chilean version, Vicente stated that a lot had to be done. “Telefe’s version starts with the same premise, but then turns very dark and violent, with a very strong dramatic narrative. We wanted our version to be a dramedy, an emotional comedy showing the relationship between a father and child. We’ve done well with Sres. Papis. It’s garnered 26 ratings points, which is around 40 percent share, leading its time slot.”

The conversation then shifted toward The Kitchen, which offers subtitling and dubbing services. Cárdenas, the VP of international sales for the company, said: “Dubbing is an art. The beauty of it is being able to adapt a script for a region or territory that has different beliefs or sense of humor.”

Asked about the dubbing process in neutral Spanish, considering the different meanings a word can have in different countries, Cárdenas said, “The idea is to dub in Spanish as neutral as you can, incorporating a very precise vocabulary without trying to adopt Spanish idioms, but generic terms. You have to use words that aren’t offensive in any region. Latin America is special because it is a territory where you speak the same language, but there are different versions of that language. So creating a script that is understood in every country and that doesn’t offend is very difficult.”

RCN Television’s Bridge then talked about the successful novela Azúcar, launched originally in 1989. “Azúcar was easy to remake. What we had to adapt was very little. Our biggest challenge was the way the characters spoke. In the past, these stories were so slow in their narrative that you would end up dozing off on your couch. The idea then was to find a way to add some dynamics and rhythm to the same story.”

She highlighted that Azúcar’s new version, some 30 years after the original debuted, received mixed reactions from audiences. “On one hand you have folks that never saw the original and on the other you have people that did see it and eventually start comparing versions.”

Asked about which was riskier, adapting or remaking a novela, Bridge said: “Today you have to adapt remakes. In the past you would usually take the script, change the names and that was a remake. It was very similar to the original. Today you have to change those scripts because we speak and behave differently. They need to be adapted to current situations.”

RCN Televisión has made many adaptations of successful American series, among them Grey’s Anatomy and ER. Regarding what she’s learned with this experience, Bridge said: “These adaptations are the ones that have taught us the most because they need a lot of modifications. For example, we did really well with Grey’s Anatomy. It’s one of the most watched shows in Colombia. But Grey’s Anatomy starts off with the protagonist having sex with a stranger. In Latin America, how do you start a series with your star having sex with a perfect stranger? Here’s where you need to make changes. We didn’t make her too pure as in a novela, but not too liberal either like in the U.S. These are the productions that have taught us the most because we have to adapt them to who we are.”