Sony Pictures Television is bringing to Latin America their US initiative to promote the diversity of talents, specifically directors. Ana Bond, Senior VP and Executive Director of International Production for Latin America at Sony Pictures Entertainment, explained that this program is part of the company’s efforts to find different voices.
Bond participated in the panel “Diversity: Stories That Represent Us All” during the Iberseries Platino Industria, along with Montse García, Director of Fiction, Atresmedia, and Paz Lázaro, Head of Content at Exile Content Studio and member of the Berlinale Selection Committee.
“Diversity is a constant struggle. I am not a big fan of quotas. I personally think this is like trial and error. I believe that nowadays we have many tools to achieve this. This initiative – and surely we are not the only ones doing this – is something new for us and its purpose is to have access to creators and stories that otherwise would not reach our tables,” she said.
She referred to the Sanyú series, which Sony is developing with the Colombian producer, Diana Bustamante, as an example of a way to open windows to stories that have not been told before.
García de Atresmedia mentioned the series Veneno, Vis a vis, Mar de Plástico, Amar para Siempre and Luimelia as pioneers in LGTBIQ+ issues and diversity.
Lázaro from Exile Content Studios considers quotas to be useful, but off-screen. “Art is one thing, and off the screen is something else,” she said.