Vanesa Varela Entrelineas
Vanesa Varela, operational director and screenwriter of the company Entrelíneas Producciones, was at #PRODUprimetime with Ríchard Izarra where she talked about the growth of the company in its seven years of operation and, in particular, the company’s evolution during the pandemic, and also the one that has been going on with the melodrama genre and its characters. She pointed out that at this time of great demand for the content they have a lot of work, which has delayed their aspirations to become producers, but they do not rule it out.
A NEW WAVE
Varela commented that Entrelíneas has grown enormously, and after several operational directors, she was appointed in that position two years ago, during difficult times. “It was a gigantic challenge because we were in the middle of the pandemic, it was very difficult. We had to adapt to everything,” she recalls. Operating remotely from their homes forced them to change processes and ways of working.
They have advanced in several projects and now a “new wave” of Entrelíneas is coming. “We are renewing ourselves again, we have more writers – some left, others stayed – there are different contract conditions, in the way we are working with the writers, so there are many surprises prepared for everyone,” she commented, after calling this process a “refreshment” of the company.
Varela also spoke about her relationship with Güero Castro, the founder, and with whom she has been working for 15 years.
She explained that the transition to the coordination of writers came naturally because she also has a very good relationship with the writers of Entrelíneas since the basis of everything is communication. “We have very good communication and creative freedom.”
She explained that although Televisa is one of their main clients, they also work for different platforms, and even have films in cinemas thanks to Pato (Patricio Saiz) work. “We have several movies in theaters, on platforms, such as Netflix, and soon on HBO, on Amazon,” she said, after commenting that they are even making podcasts and content for corporate communication for companies.
Soon they will work on a project as co-producers. “This business is little by little, baby steps, and suddenly the right project arrives and things line up and everything begins to flow, surely, very soon I will be letting you know that, in addition to the projects that we are developing only as writers, we will also be doing things like production,” Varela said.
ADAPTATION AND FLEXIBILITY
She commented that with the demand for content and the conditions requested by each platform, they have learned to adapt to each requirement, adjusting both in the number of writers assigned to each project, and the type of contract. “Before we were a bit rigid in terms of the contracts we had and with the exclusivities and everything, and now we are much more open, we are more flexible,” she said.
All their writers are busy and many new projects are coming. In addition, they have devoted themselves to giving courses. In particular, she explained that the lockdown due to the pandemic was ideal for these workshops. “This year I think we are going to let this part rest. Last year we focused a lot on that, but this year has been complicated because all our writers are full of work,” she said, although they will continue with the courses later.
For Vanesa, writing is something that can’t be taught as if it was a cooking recipe. “It is based on work, experiences and learning from those who have already done it,” she said.
STARRING WOMEN
Varela is excited that a new type of women protagonist is a reality, female characters who now are hard-working, strong, risk-taking women who break patterns, who are no longer victims who stay home. “Women in fiction are reflecting that we have this ability to go out and fight, and I love seeing it in all kinds of content,” she said, after commenting that many of the female characters she writes have something of herself.
She explained that melodrama has evolved, and has become more daring, with other types of leading actresses, but the public also likes telenovelas, something that platforms have realized. “Definitely, telenovelas, melodramas, all of that is content that will always be consumed.”
View interview here
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