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Venevision Productions: 10 years producing from Miami for the US Hispanic and Latin America markets

October 16, 2014

Maribel Ramos-Weiner

Sosa: El proyecto sería una teleserie acerca de un narcotraficante

Juan Carlos Sosa is the EVP of Operations of Venevision Studios –part of Venevision Productions, the production arm of Cisneros Media, headquartered in Miami, Florida-. The company has been operating in the market for over 10 years. Sosa says one of the most important elements in producing for the U.S. Hispanic market is the incredible evolution of the profile of its audience.“In contrast with Latin America, the U.S. Hispanic market was perceived as the sum of its different nationalities: Mexicans, Colombians, Dominicans, Central Americans, Cubans, among others…Nowadays, it’s a culture with its own characteristics that continue to be tied to Latino culture, but following American values, principles and standard of living,” says Sosa to PRODU.He points out that in order to appeal to this audience, it’s not enough to have a diverse cast, but it’s necessary to feature stories that can connect with the acculturated Hispanic of first, second and even third generation.Venevision Productions projects in Miami include telenovelas (Voltea, an adaptation of the original story Voltea Pa’ Que Te Enamores), series (DeMente Criminal and Ruta 35) and talk shows (El Palenque and Tu Día Alegre). The company is also working on the pilot of a new talk show.According to Sosa, a great advantage the company has over its competitors is having the main TV network in the Hispanic market –Univision- as its ally, which in turn makes a difference for the classic telenovela and the types of stories that need to be produced.“Our strategic objective is to position ourselves as the main provider of relevant content for the market. We’ve allocated a lot of resources to this end: the largest Spanish-language content production infrastructure in the U.S. 120,000 square feet; 50,000 of which are distributed among six studios, and a 70,000 square-foot area for production services. We’re 100% self-sufficient, with all aspects of the production process taking place in-house,” the executive said.