BBC Studios: We are looking for alliances to adapt comedy and drama formats in LatAm at Content Americas

BBC Studios attends to Content Americas with an offering led by the series Blue Lights (6×60′) about three rookie police officers in Northern Ireland who must survive their probationary period; The Diplomat (6×60′), produced entirely in Barcelona, with a couple of Spanish talents, and the comedy and thriller Am I Being Unreasonable? (6×30′).

Karina Dolgiej, VP of Content Sales for Latin America and the US Hispanic at BBC Studios, highlighted the documentary series, Frida (3×60′), which BBC Studios produced for the first time with Disney Latin America, and which reveals how Mexican independence and politics shaped both Frida as an individual and as an artist and explores the impact of her epic love affair with fellow artist Diego Rivera.

André Renaud, SVP of Global Formats at BBC Studios, hopes to close deals for local adaptations of comedy and drama formats. “We want to remind people of all the great and successful shows we have and bring them a couple of new entertainment formats, including shows like 1% Club,” he said. Also, during the market, he will offer a sneak peek of a new physical competition show: Breaking Point.

Renaud referred to their success adapting formats -predominantly- in the region. He mentioned The Great Bake Off, which has local shows in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Uruguay. “It’s been very successful for us, but what I’m looking forward to most is having conversations, not just about our big entertainment shows, but dramas. We are very lucky to have local adaptations of the British series Mi Tío con Pantaya and Amazon produced last year. I’m very excited about finding those comedy stories that can be told in the region. I think there is a unique way to adapt local humor content. Historically, they have always told us that comedy does not travel, but it can, as long as you get to the core of the story with great characters.”

Also in Content Americas, BBC Studios will continue to seek distribution partners in US Hispanic and Latin America for its new FAST channels, Top Gear en Español and BBC Kids en Español.