The event came to life with the opening of its market floor, the activity in the suites, and its powerful conference agenda, in addition to the celebration of a new edition of the Rose D’Or Latinos.
By Luis Cabrera and Ana Paula Carreira from Miami, USA
This Tuesday, Content Americas officially kicked off its fourth edition, once again hosted by the Hilton Miami Downtown. The opening of the market floor, with a strong presence of distributors, film commissions, and international pavilions; the start of activity in the hotel suites; and the beginning of the talks and conferences gave the event its traditional dynamism.
The event opened with a breakfast hosted by Egeda, as part of its Platinum Go To Content Americas initiative, which provides 16 audiovisual projects with the opportunity to meet with key industry executives. Carlos Antón, EGEDA’s Business Development Director, emphasized that they sought projects with international potential and commercial value. “We’ve brought 16 projects here to Miami that are currently being interviewed by financiers, talent agents, and networks like Televisa, Univision, VIX, and other similar organizations,” he stated.
Regarding the event’s activities, Globo stole the show early in the afternoon with a spectacular showcase that presented its full potential, featuring the star presence of Cauã Reymond, star of Vale Tudo, one of the network’s biggest hits in recent years.
The Brazilian giant also presented the rest of its catalog and highlighted the international adaptations of its successful titles, including Páginas de Vida in Portugal, produced by SIC; and the announcement of its agreement with MFF & Co. to adapt three telenovelas for the U.S. market.
The first strike packs more punch
In terms of news, Kanal D International confirmed on Tuesday the first sale in Latin America for its drama Sins & Roses, one of the most successful titles of the new Turkish season. “We closed the sale of Sins & Roses in Panama to Medcom,” shared Duda Perman, Sales Manager for Latin America at Kanal D International. “We are very happy. (Telemetro) is a channel where we are sure it will be the first. We don’t know when it will premiere, but we know they are clients who run good promotional campaigns and will treat our production very well.”
Turkish content is always a major draw at industry events, and ATV Distribution, with the recent spectacular premiere of A.B.I: A Broken Inheritance, hopes to begin the first stage of fruitful negotiations for the new drama in Miami. “We had very good results,” celebrated Müge Akar, Sales Director of ATV Distribution. “We achieved almost a 25% audience share for the first episode, which represents the best premiere in the last seven years. It’s an excellent start for the first episode.”
Yeşil Yapim, the production company of the Haciyatmaz group, is producing a new miniseries for TRT’s Tabii platform, while also preparing to begin production on the highly anticipated Narim. “We have more than 100 episodes written. We will film them in Istanbul,” shared Özkan İpek, founder and director of the production company.
Fresh Content
The start of the year offers the opportunity to bring recently released or upcoming content to market. This is the case for RCN Studios, which is launching Las de siempre, its new telenovela, among other major titles, including its collaboration with Netflix on Simplemente Alicia. “Simplemente Alicia is a truly interesting story,” said Juan Pablo Posada, Creative and Production VP of RCN Studios. “It’s a very different story, never before told. A story about a bigamous woman has never been told before. That was the secret to making the story a real heart-stopper. We’ve had good feedback, and the series has been in Netflix’s top 10 for several months, with very strong competition.”
In the case of SIC International Distribution, the new releases include the sequel, set 15 years after Luna Roja, titled Luna Roja: Nueva generación; as well as the fiction miniseries Azul, described by Carlota Vieira, the distributor’s manager, as “a more European series, absolutely beautiful, with incredible visuals, filmed in the Azores and Iceland, [set in] a dystopian future where the planet is threatened and there are no more whales.”
For TV Azteca, meanwhile, within its wide range of productions, the current distribution strategy clearly focuses on reality shows, where they have found enormous success with brands like La Granja VIP, Masterchef, and Exatlón. “At TV Azteca, we have fiction, and that’s what we know how to do; we know how to tell stories. However, as a free-to-air television network with a strong digital presence, which we also strive for, we realize that reality shows are the content that truly sets us apart and gives us much more variety, allowing us to offer genres of all kinds, like Exatlón, a hit we’ve had for many years and continue to produce,” commented Jesica Stescobich, Director of Distribution and Strategic Alliances at TV Azteca Internacional.
From Spain, Mediterráneo is bringing a premium catalog of fiction, headlined by Pura Sangre: “Mediterráneo presents as a world premiere the upcoming series Pura Sangre, which will air on Telecinco,” Silvia Cotino, Deputy Director of Mediterráneo Mediaset España, told ttvnews. “It’s our Spanish Yellowstone,” the executive stated.
Seriella, meanwhile, continues to work on epic series with biblical themes and is preparing Ben Hur for this year. “It will have 50 episodes. It’s the story of a very famous book; there are connections to Jesus. It’s going to be a super production. A very beautiful story. People are sure to love it. We’re creating a super production in every aspect,” explained Natan Oletto, International Sales Executive at Seriella Productions.
Globo and Movistar Plus+ Among the Night’s Winners
The third edition of the Rose D’Or Latinos Awards closed out Tuesday’s activities. The awards, hosted by comedian Sofía Niño de Rivero, featured the sardonic humor of the presenter, handing out 14 awards and honoring Argentine director Juan José Campanella with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Among the winners, Globo stood out, taking home the award for Best Telenovela for Vale Tudo and also celebrating with Terceira Metade in the Docu-Reality or Factual category; Movistar Plus+ won in two categories: Miniseries or Limited Series for Querer and Comedy or Dramedy Series for the second season of Poquita Fe.
Also celebrating were Canal 13 of Chile, thanks to the reality show Mundos Opuestos; Telefe with the variety show Susana; and Disney+ with the teen series O Som e a Silaba.
