The family comedy Junta de Vecinos with two seasons and more than 100 episodes; the animated series Hola Flinko, with 26 episodes, both distributed by Tondero; the 20-episode unit series Encrucijada; a 40-hour sports fiction package; six Christmas movies from VIP 2000 TV; and the 13-episode Mexican suspense series 13 Minutos Antes de Dormir (13×30’) from Spring Media, were among the projects presented at the US Hispanic content pitch during the first day of the second edition of the WAWA Business Forum.
The pitch was hosted by Flor María Torres, programming consultant in Ecuador, with a panel that included Rosalind and Roxana Rotundo from VIP 2000; Cecilia Gómez de la Torre and Edyuli Barrios de Tondero; Vanessa Velázquez, commercial director for Latin America at Spring Media; and directors Johana Ibáñez, from Catapulta and Orlando Pardo, who presented the feature film Sabana. The US Hispanic channel executives who attended were Ana Lydia Montoya, CEO of Mexicanal; Nora Seoane, Acquisitions Executive and Maggie Salas Amaro, Director, both from Canela Kids.
Salas-Amaro and Seoane from Canela Kids were drawn to the series Hola Flinko, distributed by Tondero, and the Sabana project. “At Canela Kids we are looking for productions in Spanish, made in the region. We want to support Latin America and US Hispanic productions,” said Salas-Amaro. Both requested more information about these productions. Ibáñez and Pardo, representatives of Sabana informed us that the teaser for the feature film will be ready in 10 days.
Montoya from Mexicanal showed interest in Junta de Vecinos distributed by Tondero and the unitary series Encrucijada on VIP 2000 TV. Two Venezuelan films also caught her attention. “For us, it is important to be able to geo-block these from US social networks. It is something essential for us, it is a request from our cable operators. We cannot consider any content if anyone goes to YouTube and watches the content for free,” she said.
Montoya asked WAWA for the opportunity to make Mexican film projects suitable for the Mexicanal audience.