The XI World Summit of the Telenovela and Fiction Series Industry will take place November 13-15. The 11th edition of the event will be held at the Convention Center at the Sheraton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on the Puerto Rican Bay. TVMAS Magazine is the creator of the event, and organizes it each year. The goal is to promote the fiction business, which encompasses telenovelas, series, miniseries and specials, worldwide. The event will address a wide range of topics and issues facing the industry, including issues such as the design of 360 degree audiovisual products, marketing strategies, online marketing, crowdfunding and other new forms of financing, collective creation and contents outsourcing, the Internet as a catalyst for audiovisual sector, and multiple platforms: Webseries, Webnovela, Phonoseries, Phononovelas and transmedia contents in audiovisual production (video games, merchandising etc.).

Bogota will host the 7th Annual World Summit of the Telenovela and Fiction Industry from November 18th to 20th.

The Colombian capital city is a popular location for the production of both national and international television.

Among those attending the summit will be writer Bogota native Fernando Gaitan, the author of successful telenovelas ‘Café con aroma de mujer’ and ‘Yo soy Betty la fea’.

Pedro Torres, Mexican producer of the series ‘Mujeres Asesinas’, will hold a conference at the convention.

The Meeting of Latin American Writers will also be held in conjunction with the summit.

Among the themes to be discussed at the summit are ‘the adaption of history to television’, ‘television versus literature’, ‘the similarity betwen soap operas and best sellers’ and ‘what is a well told story’.

The summit expects attendance from all sectors of the industry from businessmen to executives, producers, programmers, advertisers, writers and academics.

A gathering of the media giants. Experts and gurus from all around the world in the panel. This year with Fernando Gaitán (creator of Betty la Fea – Ugly Betty), as the central figure of the Summit. And a well deserved tribute to the great master Bernardo Romero Pereiro (r.i.p) and the outstanding figure of Don Arquímedes Rivero, honoring us with his presence at the event.

TVMAS and ONLY TELENOVELAS Fictions & Formats, International magazines specialized on the TV Industry, sponsored by the Colombian domestic industry, are pleased to invite you as a speaker to the VII WORLD SUMMIT OF TELENOVELA AND FICTION TELEVISION INDUSTRY, to be held on November 18th, 19th and 20th in Bogota, Colombia at Carlton Hotel. The attendance to the summits held in 2006, 2007 and 2008, of the United States, Africa and many countries of the Asian continent and Arabic market, opened a huge opportunity for miniseries and long series as well as for Telenovelas within the most ambitious markets with a grater projection. The formats came in strongly and modified the slots and strengthening the domestic production. Canned series got a new horizon in pay channels and platforms creating in this way a new dynamism which transformed the industry in deep.

This year in Bogotá, the capital of a country that stands in the region for its creation, exploration and export of original formats and remakes, and for the further development of production in the last five years, gathers important representatives of industry at regional and global levels: entrepreneurs, executives, producers, programmers, marketers, writers, editors, cinematographers, advertising agencies, talent agencies, music companies, merchandise licensing, investors, researchers, academics, representatives of public and private channels, open and pay, mass media and journalists, and everyone involved and interested in the business of soap opera and fiction (Entertainment).

The meeting will be held for 3 days in order to create some development strategies, arrange contents and make joint venture, buy and sell as well as to work out the distribution procedures so as to reach different targets and audience.

Main topics: A WORLWIDE POINT OF VIEW ON THE FORMAT BUSINESS and fiction remakes: Successful and unsuccessful ones. The impact on business and audience.

Another hot topic: THE QUALITY OF THE CONTENTS AND ITS DISTRIBUTION IN MULTIPLE PLATFORMS (Open and paid TV, Internet, video, DVD and phone) THE FISSURES IN THE INDUSTRY AND THE NEW WAYS OF PROFITABILITY.

Arena one to one: A closed business circle in which the participants may have the chance to negotiate face to face as well as to exchange ideas and projects.

Latin American Writers and Producers Meeting: El día 20 habrá una jornada entre escritores y realizadores latinoamericanos, que vendrán de distintos países del mundo para compartir las experiencias y analizar los distintos esquemas de creación y los distintos nichos y targets.

The ninth annual World Summit (or Cumbre) of the Telenovela and Fiction Series for the Spanish-language television industry is one of the many international TV conferences taking place this fall. Organized by TVMAS international magazine, the event, which rotates venues, will call Miami home for its second time in the 2011 version. VideoAge talked to Amanda Ospina, journalist and TV producer, current editor of TVMAS and ONLY Telenovelas Fiction & Formats and creator and of the conference to find out what to expect at this year’s Summit.

VideoAge International: Can you tell us a little about The World Summit of Telenovelas?
Amanda Ospina: The ninth World Summit of the Telenovela and Fiction Series Industry will be taking place November 2, 3 and 4 in Miami’s financial center at the JW Marriott Hotel in the Brickell area of the city.
VAI: What is new at the Summit this year? Any special events?
AO: We have a few surprises. On one hand, we have a thematic agenda focused on the rise of series and telenovelas in open and closed platforms, “new” TV audiences, social networks and how all these topics relate to a booming business. On the other hand, and most importantly, creators, writers, screenwriters, directors and producers linked to the telenovela industry will receive recognition for their work with the [Cuban-born prolific telenovela screenwriter] Delia Fiallo Awards. Awards will be presented to renowned Chilean writer, Pablo Illanés, creator of the successful Donde Está Elisa?; Alex Hadad, Cuban writer of the successful Eva Luna, who also advised U.S. channel Univision on series Rebeca and Angel Rebelde; actor Guy Ecker, protagonist of Cafe con aroma de mujer and Eva Luna, among other important talent, entrepreneurs and executives that comprise the most important industry of Latin American television.
VAI: How many attendees are you expecting?
AO: We expect participants from more than 25 countries, among those confirmed are companies from Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Finland, Brazil, Belgium, the United States’ Hispanic market, the North American general market, as well as countries from the Middle East, among them Jordan, Eastern Europe and Asia.
VAI: Where do most of the attendees come from? Is one country better represented than the rest?
AO: Most of the participants come from our natural Latin American market. Spain and Chile will be the core countries with the goal of developing partnerships, co-productions and acquisitions.
VAI: What panels are going on this year and who is participating?
AO: The thematic agenda includes the following:

-Production and distribution systems as key elements in the new low cost content industry

-The challenges of the Latino and multiculturalism in the United States

-The boom in series: trends, themes and business models

-Addressing child/adolescent audiences

-Licensing, merchandising, soundtracks

-Webnovelas, Webseries, phonovelas, videogames

-Understanding the 3D market: its tendencies and impact on the business

-Much more

Plus, the event offers opportunities for buying and selling stories, scripts and formats, developing co-production projects, bilateral agreements or strategic alliances, securing talent or known faces for remakes and stories and much more.
VAI: Where has the Summit been held in the past, and why will it be in the U.S. this year?
AO: After eight Summits, held in Miami; Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru, this year the host country is the U.S. because it has a high potential for both the Latino and in the North American general markets.

The talk was about telenovelas and where they’re heading, and the hope was that the genre would continue to be the main programming staple of the Latin networks well into the future.
That’s how the ninth annual Cumbre Mundial de la Industria de la Telenovela y Series de Ficción, or Telenovela Summit, began and ended early last month at the JW Marriott in Miami, Florida.

Organized by the indomitable Amanda Ospina, publisher and editor of the Miami-based TV Mas magazine, the Cumbre registered some 150 Latin TV executives from the U.S., Latin America and Europe.

Over a three-day period, some 33 panelists touched on subjects such as licensing and merchandising, Hispanic (Spanish-language viewers in the U.S.) audiences, acquisitions and scriptwriting, among other topics. Disney’s Leonardo Aranguibel spoke about co-productions and adaptations in Latin America, Telemundo Network’s Leonor Sotillo touched on the subject of Web channels, Ecuavisa’s Ana Cecilia Alvarado discussed the power of drama series in Ecuador, Telefutura’s German Perez-Nahim moderated a seminar on various business models and Latin Media’s Jose Escalante presided over talks about production and content supply. An entire day was devoted to scriptwriting, and Cuban-born, Miami-based Delia Fiallo, one of Latin America’s most well known telenovela writers, received an award for a prolific career.

Televisa’s Martha Zavaleta offered an artistic view of telenovelas at the event, illustrating the need for new actors in the TV sector by comparing a star to a leader. “Nowadays the work schedules of the top actors are absurd and the stars cannot keep up with the pace. This is why the industry needs more stars,” she explained. Zavaleta also pointed out that, at times, TV stars lose their leadership roles due to an awkward attitude or troublesome circumstances. Over time, some actors become too passionate on camera, appearing unnatural and unbelievable, she said.

Venevision’s Cesar Diaz explained the changing world of international content distribution, touching on the challenges facing telenovela sales internationally. After Europe — first Western Europe and later Eastern Europe — then moving to countries such as Romania and Russia, telenovela sales boomed in Asia, especially during the 1990s. Nevertheless, each territory in the region presented its own unique challenge, since, for example, kissing couldn’t be shown in India, and in Indonesia no violence is allowed on screen. Today’s challenge, according to Diaz, is represented by territories such as Italy, Turkey and Greece. As far as Africa is concerned, the continent is a Babel of languages, key channels are government-controlled and there are too few commercial TV outlets.

Peruvian TV director Dan Relayze Gerhardt illustrated the Peruvian experience with telenovela production that began in 1959. “During the initial period,” explained Gerhardt, “they became very popular, but later their popularity declined. Today, however, the Peruvian public is rediscovering the genre and stations are broadcasting up to five telenovelas per day.”
Mexican TV director Jorge Rios Villanuevas pointed out that those who publicly say that they only watch news and sports are, in reality, all telenovela viewers.

But telenovelas weren’t the only topic being discussed at the event. At times, the equally interesting conversations fell outside the scheduled program. For example MGM Networks’ Marcelo Coltro spoke about En Busca De La Nueva Diva, a reality show that searches for the next diva or estrella (star).

The Cumbre is a creation out of the fertile mind of TV Mas’ Amanda Ospina, who tenaciously and, at times single-handedly, managed to bring it to its ninth edition. The Cumbre began in 2003 right here in Miami, in the very same location where the 2011 edition was held. After its inaugural year, it took place in Spain (two years in Madrid and two in Barcelona); Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bogotá, Colombia, and in 2010 it was held in Lima, Perú. This year, the Cumbre returned to its birthplace in Miami where, curiously, it honored the same person whom it honored in 2003. The awards were cleverly dubbed “The Delia Fiallo Awards.” Participants witnessed a very heartwarming and emotional ceremony recognizing this living giant of the telenovela industry.

Although it’s a relatively small event in comparison to other markets such as NATPE, the Cumbre brings to light new challenges facing Latin America’s most celebrated serialized dramas and offers top-level Latin TV industry executives the unique opportunity to mingle in a cozy environment — a rare treat despite their close proximity to one another.

Ospina, a former telenovela actor-turned-publisher, is not known for her meticulous organizational skills, and even though each Cumbre is often considered the result of a miracle, the fact remains that her devotion and dedication to the Latin American TV industry — and telenovelas in particular — are well appreciated by participants and sponsors alike. Many may at first resent her persistent sales pitches, but ultimately they relent and let Ospina be Ospina, helping her Cumbre succeed.

VideoAge has never been involved in Cumbre’s event structure or organization, but over the years it’s been one of the few international TV trade publications to give Ospina its support, reporting on the summit’s outcomes.