Disney Latin America: Language barriers are collapsing and opening up opportunities for producers

In the talk Mental Shifts = Bigger Wins in Latin American Partnership, in the context of NATPE 2019, chaired by Roko Izarra, director of PRODU, Fernando Barbosa, SVP, Distribution and Production at Disney Latin America, commented, answering the question asking if they were now more local that “until now, our productions have been very local with local resources,” and added that content is becoming global. “Language barriers are collapsing,” he said. He thanked Netflix for driving this and gave the example of Roma by Alfonso Cuarón.

“This has opened opportunities for us producers,” added Barbosa.

To the question posed by Izarra about what Latin American producers can learn from Hollywood, the second panelist, Marcos Santana, president of Telemundo Global Studios, answered it is necessary to change the production process to make it more participative. Barbosa added that the production discipline “is something we can take from Hollywood, to remain within the budget”.

As for Latin America as a production hub, Santana expressed that it is a very interesting market to invest, there is a lot of talent, unique locations, and in terms of costs, it is very profitable. It allows producing with the same quality that in the US with a 30 or 40% lower cost.

Barbosa highlighted that Latin America can be the hub for many regions and that there are great advantages in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.