Netflix: To remain relevant our screen must reflect society

Francisco Ramos, VP of Content for Latin America at Netflix, said in an exclusive interview with PRODU that variety and looking for its avant-garde is what prevails in the supply of content produced in Mexico, of which 13 projects will be released in 2023. For this they have recruited new voices, but also the well-known talent that delivers out-of-the-box products, as well as different genres (documentaries, films, series, and entertainment formats).

“Six or seven years ago we were at the forefront of the world of local content, with Club de Cuervos and Casa de las Flores. We always want to set a new trend and avoid what’s in the past. We want to get closer to what viewers demand to see and how they want to see it on the screen. Therefore, we are always looking for relevance.” said Ramos.

He explained that the objective is to find what really matters, amuses, and entertains Mexicans, for which portraying society through that mirror, which is the Netflix screen, is the key.

The reflection in Netflix’s mirror

“It is what somehow marks the connection with our users: that what they see has to do with what they experience. That is why we are very interested in documentaries, because they allow us to tell in an intimate way, without intermediaries, stories of issues and events that are a very integral part of society and what people talk about, what worries and concerns them,” he said regarding two soon to premiered documentaries: La Dama del Silencio: El Caso de la Mataviejitas and another on the case of the leader of the church La luz del mundo.

La Dama del Silencio is produced by Laura Woldenberg and directed by María José Cuevas, and is about the crimes committed beginning in 2000 by a serial killer in Mexico, whose victims were women over 60 years of age. The still untitled documentary about La luz del Mundo is also produced by Woldenberg and directed by Carlos Pérez Osorio, and addresses the allegations of human trafficking, rape and child pornography against Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of that church.

According to Ramos, they have been very successful with documentaries, as happened with The Cassez-Vallarta case. “They portray Mexican society with its complexities, contradictions. And the viewer is interested in that intellectual challenge. They like to feel that you are proposing complex things and that you expose them to look at themselves in the mirror as we are in each country, in each story. That is why documentaries work for us, not only in Mexico, but in all of Latin America,” he said.

Contest shows are also a mirror

He highlighted the premiere of Pasteleros Contra el Tiempo, a Mexican contest cooking show produced by Martín Solmesky, with Paola Pérez de la Garza as creative producer and content director, and Ariel Burta as director. “It is a very interesting format, which allows us to have something similar to what happens with documentaries, but from another point of view, because people are involved in funny and complex situations, which allows them to discover themselves.” He added that these are formats that the audience loves, because they may wonder what would they do in a similar situation and he likes that feeling of containment, meaning that all the roles take place in controlled contexts.

“We are in this process of expansion, in understanding more and more how we build these stories of formats and reality shows, because of course Mexicans love it,” he said.

Fiction: the most complex mirror

Ramos is very satisfied with the fiction offer, and in particular highlighted the series Las Viudas de los Jueves, based on the homonymous novel by Claudia Piñeiro, directed by Beto Hinojosa; written by Gibrán Portela, Javier Peñalosa, Gabriela Vidal, María Glz by Leon and Marina Ríos, and produced by Mariana Aceves, Vanessa Castro and Rafa Ley.

“We took this novel that takes place in Argentina in 2000 to Mexico in 2020, because it seemed to us that it’s very relevant to Mexican society. It has a very powerful producer and director, and a very good writing team. It is in post-production and it can be seen in the middle of the year,” said Ramos, after describing Piñeiro as “possibly the most important current writer in Argentina.”

Ojitos de Huevo, directed by Pato Safa together with Analein Cal y Mayor, is another relevant installment, according to Ramos, with the production under Perro Azul, Santiago Limón, and Alejandro Ricaño. It is a comedy series, with a cast including Alexis “Ojitos de Huevo” Arroyo, Kike Vázquez, Alejandro Calva, Verónica Merchant, Memo Villegas, Paola Fernández, Teté Espinoza. “It has two wonderful characters, Alexis and Charlie, who, faced with the possibility of undertaking the search for happiness, leave their town Querétaro, and move to Mexico looking for their place, for love and, above all, for happiness. But they are two very special characters, Alexis is blind, and Charlie has cerebral palsy. Both are unbeatable,” explained Ramos.

Ramos highlighted more content, such as Los (casi) Ídolos de Bahía Colorada by Mónica Lozano; one still without title by Carolina Rivera, and the version for teens by Cindy La Regia.