TITLES

• Germany
A marketing hit that goes beyond borders

“We seek cooperation with Latin companies to develop telenovelas in Germany”

• Ex-Yugoslavia

Telenovelas: a sure success Increase in the production of local telenovelas
 


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Contents

 • Editorial

• Telenovelas Giants

• Telenovela Stars

• Taking a look at the world of telenovelas

Telenovelas, Fiction and Formats

• Europe
 • Asia
• Latin America

• Only CEO's

• Global Bussines

• Latin America Writers Seedbed

• Marketing & Promotion

•TVMASNOVELAS
2006 Fourth World Summit of the Telenovela and Fiction Industry
Germany

A marketing hit that
goes beyond borders

Bianca, the first telenovela written and produced by Germans, was the key to open the gate leading towards the powerful telenovela market. Then, the production company Grundy UFA set a craze with the adaptation of Yo soy Betty, la fea. The channel ZDF and this prestigious production company were the ones that not only managed to convince their country’s fierce critics about the feasibility of the genre, but also scored a huge marketing hit that goes beyond borders.
  
 
At the beginning of this year, the US channel Lifetime – leader in the series slots – bought the concept of Bianca to adapt it. It was an unprecedented transaction because it was the first time in the history of German series that an American channel imported a German fiction concept.
The American version of Bianca whose original German version was launched on November 1, 2005 and
carried on for 224 episodes until October 5, 2005 – was shot in Australia and it was due to be premiered last September 20.

ZDF: the first network to take a great leap
For Rolf Barth, one of the writers of this telenovela, the purchase of the concept by the American channel is a great motivation for the production company and for terrestrial channel ZDF, the second major station in German public TV, which was brave enough to be the first to give the Latin American genre a chance. “Everybody thought that commercial channels would first embark on the telenovela business, but ZDF was bolder and more visionary, and by taking the great leap they caused not only surprise but a scandal all over the country,” says Barth, who adds that luckily for the producers and developers Bianca has positioned itself as an original and new phenomenon since its first weeks on air. “It’s a modern romantic and sexy telenovela that tells the story of a woman in her thirties unsuccessfully looking for happiness and who is accused of setting his father’s company on fire and is sent to jail unfairly. When she leaves prison, she starts working in a banker’s residence as a maid and falls in love with the banker’s son,” adds the scriptwriter.