| |
Children and teenage
telenovelas
|
Children and teenage
telenovelas have an exclusive referent
in Latin America. Producers like Televisa
in Mexico, Globo in Brazil, and
Cris Morena in Argentina develop
plots and formats according to the audience
and business standards required by modern
times. The wide creation of multiplatform
content, which generated local and international
succ-essful telenovelas like Rebelde
Way,
Chiquititas, Daniela, Clase
406 and Codigo Fama is rising.
The working method includes training actors
and creating formats that turn into talent
seeds.
|
Multiplatform
developments
Leadership
in the production of children telenovelas
When the little actress Daniela Aedo reached the
hearts of children from different countries, she
became the biggest TV star. With her character
in Carita de Angel, she got to number one in the
ratings in Idonesia, audience target and market
participation. The fact is that having made telenovelas
for 45 years, gives Televisa an undeniable leadership
as producer and pioneer in children shows for
the world. The RCTI net from Indonesia reached
the first place thanks
 |
 |
| |
De
Pocas Pulgas,
Televisa Estudios. |
|
|
to this telenovela due to the
press and the great spreading that defined such
a success with no precedents in this target. Nanang
E. Gani promotions director of this channel, one
of the most distinguished in Asia, confirmed the
enthusiasm for this telenovela and for the beautiful
child whose visit became historical. CARITA COMES
TO JAKARTA was the name of the campaign that promoted
the event that took the little superstar to the
country.
RCTI executives, Soemijato Muin and Oerianto
Guyandi confirmed that they acquire products
from Televisa Studios by all the business sources
represented by its products. In many countries
promotions and quizzes looking for “Carita’s
double” were successful. In Canal
13 from Argentina, it also won the first place
in its second week premier. Televisa’s
successful productions directed to the children
have been vital for many clients that got very
important results with children telenovelas
like: Vivan los Niños, Complices
al Rescate, Maria Belen, Amigos por Siempre,
Luz Clarita, Gotita de Amor, De Pocas, Pocas
Pulgas, Burbujas, Alegrijes y Rebujos.
The
repetition of books confirm success
The producer Silvia Roche, confirms the success
of this knowledge adventure with Burbujas,
which was on Canal 2 from Televisa in Mexico
during the 70’s and 80’s. In this
new version of the show the characters travel
through history (by an internet connection of
virtual reality) to learn about people who had
left their trace in the world, including artists,
musicians, inventors, political leaders, philosophers,
etc. The show also teaches positive values like
friendship, family relationships and ecological
topics such as water control and recycling.
Televisa knows how to recreate stories like
El Chavo del 8, which continues to be a
success in several countries of Latin America,
and that could be adapted in other places in
the world with the same or even a bigger success.
Teenagers:
a target that responds immediately
|
 |
|
| |
| |
A
production of Rosy Ocampo, an
exclusive talent from Televisa
Estudios, Mexico. |
|
|
Testing this audience is Televisa’s
constant challenge. El Lugar de tus Sueños
in its 100 episodes of one hour each produced
by Roberto Gomez and starred by Ana Layevska,
a well-known international actress with a polish
origin, and Lidia and Ari from the popular music
band OV-7 is being as successful as Amigas y Rivales,
a great success in all Latin America and the USA
– Univision – immediately.
In
Argentina Cris Morena: Strategy with art and show
Each of Cris Morena’s telenovelas has associated
sub products that go with each episode: ten video
clips a season, CDs, magazines, stickers albums,
theater plays and their video editions, musicals
and movies, and at the same time, the merchandising
licenses of leader clothes, accessories, cosmetics,
school products and sweets brand names.
This business formula was created by Cris when
she was producing the entertainment show Jugate
Conmigo between 1991 and 1995 in TELEFE, during
the program administration of her then husband
Gustavo Yankelevich. “I realized
that there were a lot more possibilities besides
the TV program, through what today is called
PNT. We were pioneers in making castings of
new children, we released seven CDs, some by
the stars of the show, which sold 250.000 copies
each. It was a sort of anticipation to what
today is the format of Operacion Triunfo.
When I finished this show and started with Chiquititas,
the products got together right and I was proposed
to create licenses with their names. From then
onwards, the figure of “new business director”
appeared in TELEFE, a position that did not
exist either and that now most of the channels
try to have,” states the experienced producer.
 |
|
| |
Cris
Morena, successful children and
teenage telenovelas producer,
from Argentina. |
|
|
Her working method includes
training actors since young age and discovering
talents but not to turn them into idols but into
sensitive and capable people. Acting, singing
and dancing workshops precede the contract.
Why are there so few products in these segments?
“You have to know how to work with children
and know clearly what the target is, how to develop
it and make an important investment. I plan the
magazines with the publisher weekly. We take the
best licenses for each product. The musicals are
amazing and we have a plan producer because children
up to 16 can only work for 6 hours. They need
support, they need to be happy and comfortable.
We have created a special place for children younger
than 12, with teachers located 50 meters from
the studio, where they do the school homework,
play and have fun.”
A good comedy script must have at least 40 shots
with everything: action, tenderness, comedy and
adventure. The acting level must be a first quality
one. At least four cameras, Jimmy and Steady cam.
The scenery must be solid and very well set up.
The technical, production and creative levels
are high quality ones and they make an episode
a day, which means lowering the costs 15 to 20,000
dollars per episode.
The
products
The children telenovela Chiquititas (Tiny
Angels) had seven seasons and two version
produced in Argentina for TV Azteca
from Mexico and SBT from Brazil.
|
 |
|
| |
| |
Chiquititas,
first children show to receive
merchandising proposals from big
names, such as Warner Bros |
|
|
It was followed by the teenage
telenovelas Verano del’98 (Endless
Summer), with three seasons between 1998
and 2000. In 2001 Cris started her own production
company independently, Cris Morena Group,
with which she developed Rebelde Way
(Rebels way) for teenagers during 2002
and 2003 and Rincon de Luz (Little
House of Light) the last year for the little
ones. The telenovelas created by Cris are traded
by TELEFE Internacional and Chiquititas
is one of the telenovelas that sells better
among all the products of the distribution company.
In the five countries where Rebelde Way
has already been shown, the Erreway band
was a huge box-office hit with its concerts.
The most recent case is Dominican Republic,
where the tickets for the two shows planned
for more than 1.000 people were sold out and
another one for 10.000 has already been arranged.
During 2003, the band, attracted Warner Bros’
interest and for the first time it signed a
contract for the whole world on the merchandising
of a product that is not theirs and of a telenovela.
New
projects
 |
|
| |
Patricia
Maldonado, writer of the upcoming
“Floricienta” and many
of cris morena’s successes. |
|
|
In 2004, Erreway, the
music band of Rebelde Way, goes on with
its tour around the country, it is going to Uruguay
and it is coming back to Latin America in March,
where Dominican Republic, Peru and Costa Rica
have already been confirmed. In April, they will
travel to Eastern Europe. The Erreway movie,
a road movie co produced along with RGB
(of Yankelevich), will be holding its premier
at the end of June and the third CD of the band
will be released.
Meanwhile, in Argentina, the comedy Floricienta
will start on Canal 13 in April. Defined as
“a teenage product for the whole family”
it would be shown at 6 pm, starred by Florencia
Bertoti (Son Amores) and written by Patricia
Maldonado. During the winter holidays its musical
play will take place in the Gran Rex theater
and the first CD with Sony and the magazine
with Editorial Atlantida are already
planned. The trading of the show will be carried
out by TELEFE Internacional as a package
and a format and in Chile they have asked to
take it to the local screen. While finishing
this article, the co production of Floricienta
or its rights for Israel were being negotiated
with Yair Dori International (Co producer of
Rebelde Way and Rincon de Luz).
Floricienta is a classic story, but with
absolutely modern direction, edition, scenery,
esthetics and costumes. It follows the Rebelde
way line, with video clips, split screen
and music to be danced in a disco. It also has
a street drum music band, which combines pop,
hip hop and tap, marked with the sound of shoes
with taps, and other home made resources. The
story starts with the entrance of the main actress,
half Cinderella, half rebel nun (Like
in “The Sound of Music”), as the housekeeper
and nanny of six brothers of a high-class family.
The day of her arrival the youngest son renames
her contemptously as Floricienta.
Rebelde
Way in figures
Rebelde Way TV: Sold to 30 countries, among
them Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Chile Ecuador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Nicaragua,
Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Greece,
Rumania, Turkey, Ukraine, Macedonia, Serbia and
Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina- Kosovo.
Rebelde Way Website: 9.000 visits a day.
Rebelde Way magazine: 17 monthly editions
up to December 2003. Circulation: 40.000
copies. Pages: 100.
CDs: Señales: 107.000 copies
sold upto July 2002. Tiempo: 44.000 copies
up to April 2003.
Target: Main: teenagers between 13 and
15. Secondary: children between 9 and 12.
Main strategic partners: Warner Bros Consumer
Products, Sony Music, Yair Dori Internacional.
Product licenses: Music, magazine, cosmetics,
make up, bath products (shampoo, conditioner,
gel, foam, perfumes), back to school products
(diaries, folders, notepads, pencil cases, etc),
sweets, clothes (sweaters, T-shirts, skirts, trousers),
stickers album, accessories (glasses, cases, pins,
key rings, bags, necklaces), bijou, graphics.
| Latin
American Writers Seedbed
|
|
| |
Monica
Agudelo, creator of the successful
La Costeña y el Cachaco,
belongs to a new generation of Colombian
scriptwriters that established a turning
point in the traditional telenovela,
making stories with contemporary topics
and deep contents. Her telenovela
La Costeña y el Cachaco,
shown in the prime time of Channel
RCN won the first place in
rating.
Since 1995, Mónica Agudelo
has written stories by herself and
has triumphed again with the series
Sueños y Espejos and
Hombres, with which she got
the Media de España Award as
best family series and the bronze
medal at the New York Festival in
the same category.
According to you, how has the Colombian
telenovela evolved?
“We have advanced a lot in the
way of making telenovelas. Colombia
has known how to make telenovelas
for 30 years, but now the genre has
entered the globalization era and
that has implied a bigger effort in
the way of planning the conflicts,
creating the characters and taking
care of language. It is fascinating
to see how a story that hypnotizes
a whole country is also liked by audiences
of all continents.
Do you think the telenovela is
still a literary work?
“Of course when I took a course
with Garcia Marquez in San
Antonio de los Baños, he used
to wonder why somebody who writes
an average of nearly 2000 pages a
year, should not be called a writer,
when a top writer reaches just 400…”
La Costeña y el Cachaco
is a little bit autobiographic, since
the writer describes the experiences
and adventures of people that decide
to leave the capital city and live
in cities or towns by the sea and
deal with a completely different culture.
“The countryside and the coast
of any country are two universes that
definitively have many elements and
characters to explore,” concluded
the remarkable writer. |
|
|
|
|
