Christian Gabela, general manager at Story House Entertainment
In the context of the panel Trends in Programming; Latino Lovers, Music, Drama, Pop Culture and Más, Christian Gabela, general manager at Story House Entertainment highlighted that there are stories that need to be told in Spanish. He added that they are looking for captivating stories.
For his part, Doug Darfield, general director of Research and Programming at Hemisphere Media Group, said that “the Hispanic market of today is not the Hispanic market of 10, 15 or even 5 years ago. We’ve got a Spanish-language market that is stable, in terms of people, but the demographic, even if it is still younger than the general population, it is going to get a little older in average each year. Now, we have an adult Hispanic market that has exploded into the 18-49 demographic in the last five years, that represents a challenge and an opportunity.”
Paul Presburger, CEO of PantaYA and Pantelion Films, mentioned the success achieved with films like Instructions Not Included and No Manches, Frida, in which language has been integrated organically. “The key is to find universal stories. We need to find new things and take risks,” he added. He said that Instructions Not Included generated US$100 million three years ago, with a film that cost between US$2 and US$3 million. “The success was so huge that companies around the world asked us for the rights to make versions. This film already has versions in France, Turkey, Korea, China, and India,” he commented.
Presburger announced that they are preparing a musical film on the novela La Usurpadora. “We are looking for stories all around the world,” he said.
Story House Entertainment: Our bet is on trying new storytelling structures
