WarnerMedia preps Lat Am originals

WarnerMedia has begun production on its first exclusive series for HBO Max in Latin America ahead of the service’s launch around the region in June.

Tomas Yankelevich

The productions will span both series and feature films and will cover scripted and unscripted, in addition to children’s programmes and animation, the US media giant said.

The first two projects, Dias de Gallos: The Series (10×45′) and Bunker (8×30′), are currently in production in Argentina and Mexico respectively, under Covid-19 safety protocols designed to protect cast and crew.

Youth drama Dias de Gallos: The Series, currently filming in Buenos Aires, is set in the world of freestyle rap battles.

Produced by Zeppelin Studios, it follows a community of young, talented artists competing against one another as they navigate friendship, love and sex and try to learn from their mistakes.

Comedy Bunker, meanwhile, follows a man who has lost the respect of his wife and children and can only find peace in and old bunker in his home’s basement.

The show is being shot in Mexico City with a cast including Bruno Bichir, Miguel Rodarte, Ricardo Polanco, Liz Gallardo, Adrián Vazquez, Claudette Maille, Giselle Kuri, Victor Oliveira and Jesús Zavala.

“In Latin America, we are producing a wide variety of original content that will soon be available on HBO Max,” said Tomas Yankelevich, chief content officer for general entertainment at WarnerMedia Latin America.

“Our content will be about great quality and also variety, featuring stories from a number of genres – from drama to comedy, from suspense to animation – addressing a broad audience with a new, absolutely creative outlook.”

WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer platform HBO Max initially launched in the US in May 2020 and is scheduled to expand into Latin America and the Caribbean in June.

Plans for a Lat Am roll-out of the service were unveiled at the end of 2020 and the US firm has been rejigging its team in the region in preparation. HBO Lat Am veterans Roberto Rios and Luis F Peraza left last month and MBC Group’s Luis Duran came in as general manager.