U.S. HISPANIC
Telemundo: Focused more on dramas for 2022 and 2023 working with key writers like José Vicente Spataro and Luis Zelkowicz
Maribel Ramos-Weiner| 23 de febrero de 2022
Sergio Mendoza De Telemundo
Last year, the writer Sergio Mendoza was appointed VP of Scripted Development at Telemundo. He has been part of the network team since 2012, working from Mexico as a scriptwriter in a couple of unitaries, and later as a dialogue writer in La Impostora, Señora Acero 1, 2 and 3 and in Mariposa de Barrio.
For four years he has held the position of senior director of Development at Scripted, working with Perla Farías and Juan Marcos Blanco.
“When Mariposa de Barrio was concluded, I had the opportunity to come to Miami, as head writer of Falsa Identidad I, an original story of Farías which we wrote together,” he said. Then he became Senior Director of Development and worked closely with Farías and Blanco, from whom he learned a lot, particularly about the corporate side, which was something new for Mendoza. “I think my performance working with Blanco and Marcos Santana was great,” he said. He was responsible of leading the development of 100 Días para Enamorarnos, La Doña 2, La Suerte de Loli and Buscando a Frida.
Currently they are working hard in what will be the writing of the new stories of the channel for 2022 and 2023.
“We have a very solid strategy, understanding who our audience is, what they are looking for, trying to reconnect with melodrama and working with authors who were once very solid pillars of Telemundo, such as José Vicente Spataro (La Doña and Bajo el Mismo Cielo); one of our star writers Luis Zelkowicz (creator of El Señor de los Cielos and Malverde); Rosana Negrín (Mi Gorda Bella and head writer of Tierra de Reyes and Mariposa de Barrio), Julio Giménez, who did all the development of the second season of Pasión de Gavilanes. And also working on a project with José Ignacio “Chascas” Valenzuela and Sebastián Arrau (La Impostora),” he said.
He explained that they are looking for more drama-focused projects. “We feel that there is a great public demand for these more emotional stories, more led to the drama. It doesn’t mean we won’t do more dramedy, but we are focusing more on the dramatic side,” he said.
