JC Acosta, president of ViacomCBS International Studios and Networks Southern Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa, announced that they gave the go-ahead to 40 productions in Latin America and that they determine to create local content can be measured by their recent decisions to acquire TeleColombia Y TeleMexico. “Both are part of our ecosystem to produce more content. We also operate with Telefe in Argentina, Chilevisión in Chile, Paramount+ and Pluto, an ecosystem that includes free and paid streaming, pay-TV channels and open TV, so that everyone can consume our content,” he pointed out.
Acosta’s remarks took place at the launch of Los Enviados, Paramount+ ‘s first production in the region, which will premiere in the US next year to be seen globally.
Paramount+ is the priority of the company, so all its studios -from preschool, kids, teenagers, comedy, etc.- will be building content to feed the platform. The content will be displayed later on pay-TV, open TV, Pluto TV, in order to reach all audiences. 2021 was the year that the platform was launched, but 2022 will be when the product will stand out, with all the productions that have already been approved to go.
A few days ago an agreement was announced with the Korean company CJ Entertainment, producers of Parasite, and that in addition to co-productions, will go hand in hand with the launch of Paramount+ in Korea. “We are evaluating whether the content produced with them is launched in Latin America and vice versa. We are at a time when there are no longer borders,” he said.
In addition, they have a division dedicated to issues of equity and social impact. This is a line of work that they have already explored with a room of writers of afro-descendants’ voices in Brazil which helped to identify content for a film that has been approved. They’re planning to do something similar with indigenous voices in Mexico. According to Acosta, it is not only about looking for diverse content but of investing in it. Even if it does not exist, the idea is to invest so that this talent can be trained by more experienced talent, in order to open up to issues of equity, not only social but also gender, race, sexual identity, environment, among others.