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Down Mexico way

Posted By tonis On 09-01-2017 @ 12:26 pm In Features | Comments Disabled

Once a closed shop due to vertical integration, Mexico has opened up to indie production and formats are leading the charge, says Resonant TV’s Gonzalo Cilley. Toni Sekinah reports.

Gonzalo Cilley

Gonzalo Cilley

Mexico’s TV industry is the largest in the Spanish-speaking world, with its population of 127 million watching an average of two hours of television a day. So cracking the market is essential for any Latin American production outfit.

However, Mexican TV has been a closed shop for years, owing to the duopoly of two major broadcasters, Televisa and Azteca, which together account for 75% of the market.

Gonzalo Cilley, CEO of indie Resonant TV, estimates that two years ago, 95% of shows on free TV in Mexico were produced in-house by the networks. But the tide is turning.

He says TV production, especially scripted programming, has been growing “tremendously” over the past 12 to 18 months. Cilley estimates that two or three shows per year were being produced two years ago but now there are probably around 10 to 15 series in production at the same time – to the benefit of indies.

“The market for independent production in Mexico was almost non-existent. You wouldn’t have a chance to compete for those slots. But this is changing. Networks are opening their doors to production companies that can deliver interesting ideas,” he says.

Resonant is well placed to capitalise on this. The seven-year-old company now has bases in Latin America’s three major TV markets. It was founded in Argentina, branched out into Colombia within a year and in 2014 set up shop in Mexico.

Furthermore, its three founders – one based in each country – collectively have 50 years experience of Spanish-language TV production.

Resonant has taken inspiration from recent history for one series that it is producing. Comandante Bonita centres on the first woman in Mexico to lead a self-defence group – an armed group of civilians defending their village from narcotics gangs.

“It’s a show that has a strong resonance with audiences today because it is happening right now in some parts of Mexico,” says Cilley. Comandante Bonita went into pre-production [1] in August for Univision and Network Grupo Imagen in Mexico. Mariano Carranco, one of the producers of Netflix hit Narcos, is also producing.

Resonant is not just tackling heavy subjects. It produced a comedy telenovela in Colombia for RCN called Pobres Rico, about a wealthy family who loses everything overnight. The show was subsequently adapted [2] by Rosy Ocampo for Televisa, titled Qué Pobres Tan Rico.

Televisa’s comedy telenovela Qué Pobres Tan Rico is based on RCN’s Pobres Rico

Televisa’s comedy telenovela Qué Pobres Tan Rico is based on RCN’s Pobres Rico

Another scripted production is Había Una Vez, a thriller that puts a modern spin on classic children’s tales. Resonant is producing the show, an adaptation of Spanish series Cuéntame un Cuento, with Plataforma TV for Televisa.

Cilley has found it’s not just scripted that Mexican networks want. Resonant produced 150 episodes of lifestyle show Yoga con Luz in 2015. The series – the first wellness show in Mexico, according to Cilley – airs on Unicable, part of the Televisa cable group.

Other Mexican projects are on their way, he reveals. “We’re going to do a big entertainment show, hundreds of hours per year, and a morning show, airing three hours a day, for Grupo Imagen,” he says. “We have 25 projects in development and we finance the development ourselves.”

Cilley says the increased number of coproductions and indie productions in Mexico is a consequence of new financing models. The free TV networks are these days just one of many options for funding.

“Today you can finance your show by selling rights to the free TV networks and an OTT platform, and the pay TV rights for Latin America to another channel,” he says.

Cilley adds that it is also possible for indies to go to networks in the lucrative US Hispanic market, “so we now have more alternatives and more ways to finance our programmes.”

These days Lat Am indies have a wealth of opportunities that are as-yet untapped. “Mexico is a huge country with a huge TV market. And in terms of independent production, it’s now a giant.”


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URLs in this post:

[1] went into pre-production: https://www.c21media.net/narcos-producer-plots-new-drug-drama/

[2] subsequently adapted: https://www.c21media.net/colombian-sitcom-gets-mexican-remake/

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