Director Luis Manzo: Telenovelas are capturing the audience again because those stories of 200 chapters taken to 80 are more fun

Luis Manzo, a Venezuelan director with more than 40 years of experience making telenovelas between Caracas, Miami, and more recently in Mexico, in an interview with Ríchard Izarra on #PRODUprimetime, highlighted that the evolution of the classic telenovela format of about 140 episodes to one of 40 to 80 episodes, led him to have more discipline in staging, to study much more working with actors, sound and light.

“I think that the most important step is to start thinking in terms of the content, not just efficiency, not just speed, but that the content has a narrative. That is why it is recorded with two independent cameras where the response of the listener is much more important than the interlocutor, and the editor has more possibilities to tell the story,” he pointed out.

LESS EPISODES
Manzo expresses that the cutting of the number of episodes came as a result of the TV executives perceiving viewer fatigue. “They were smart enough to say ‘what can we do so the product does not fade’, because additionally, Netflix reduced the open TV audience from 3 or 4 four million to half, to almost 60%. ‘So how do we face this so that the viewer doesn’t leave us’ – that’s my speculation.”

He added that it is a fact that “telenovelas are capturing the audience again because those stories of 200 chapters taken to 80 are much more fun, things happen faster, conflicts are resolved much faster, you have to rethink the iteration, It is no longer copy-paste, but creatively restructuring the iteration that is so important in telenovelas, in all narrative.”

TRANSFORMATION DETAILS
This new telenovela format means changes. “Now instead of the zoom lens system that worked with fixed cameras are variable objective lenses. When you change the optics, you also change the way of telling the story, the way of doing placement, and the staging, all this makes you think from another perspective; you have more time with the actors, and with the characters. It’s a different dynamic.”

He mentioned that these technological and format changes were difficult to swallow the companies in order to invest a little more.“But finally, they understood. At the time there were people like Marcos (Santana), Luis Silberwasser, and Ricardo Cueto working in the format. Making that decision was very important.”

He mentioned that before the transformation directors used to only have a floor manager and producers ordering everything. “Right now the relationship is much more synergistic. That cabin that was insulating no longer exists, now you have them next to you and they contribute to you. And working with the actors is essential. Today we try to get them to work without the prompter and when they do, the memory muscle is activated and emotions can work more efficiently.”

MELODRAMA IS A GREAT GENRE
Manzo pointed out that melodrama is not a minor genre. “Melodrama is a great genre, very much ours, a genre with rules, with a very clearly defined structure.”

He pointed out that with the change writers have to be much more rigorous in how they approach the dramatic structure. “Directors have to consider another way of narrating without losing the hook of the melodrama, the music also can’t be the same because it is no longer that final ‘bang’ that the great Delia Fiallo used to say: ‘in the final scene dramatic bangs’. Now the music is more in line with the story, with the emotions. The relationship with the writers, who were previously untouchable, now you can talk to them. Photography also changes. Everything changes and you see it on the screen.”

MARIPOSA DE BARRIO MARKED THE TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
Manzo said that the first series that was made under technological change was Mariposa de Barrio, about the life of Jenni Rivera, and then came Al Otro Lado del Muro, “and from then on Telemundo’s work did not stop.”

He indicated that the changes were not overnight, but a process that was taking place before. “We had discussions, analysis, Netflix appeared and that gave us another narrative option. When we did Mariposa de Barrio with Telemundo, the word was that for the first time, we left our comfort zone and we had to work rigorously, and its first period episodes were the result of a complete and very interesting research of the period, costumes, makeup, and setting.”

STRENGTHS
Asked about his strengths, Manzo indicates that he is a good person and does not argue over trifles. “I think that the great secret of this is that one has made so many mistakes in his professional life, that anything new that pops out does not scare you, it does not constrain you. On the contrary, it forces you to rely on your experience, on your 80,000 flight hours to land.”

View Luis Manzo of Telemundo Studios on #PRODUprimetime con Ríchard Izarra