José Alberto “Güero” Castro de TelevisaUnivision
A “simpler” narrative and a lighter version than the original (La Tormenta de Kiko Olivieri) encourage family co-viewing of Tierra de Esperanza, according to José Alberto “Güero” Castro, producer of TelevisaUnivision.
“With the characters, I tried to keep agility in certain parts of the narrative and make a lighter version for the evening, so the novel was a little more accessible to co-viewing without compromising the project. We worked a lot on the appearance of the characters, trying to avoid the typical guayabera regardless of being in Mérida or the ‘botín’ although we were in Veracruz; we tried to do something more natural and universal to stay away from stereotypes in the looks or ways of each of the characters,” he said.
Castro also explained that this version is shorter. “We addressed directly the problems of the love story of the characters. They extended Kiko Olivieri’s version as the public requested it. I decided to take what worked for me, condense it, and focus on the love story of María Teresa and Santos”, he highlighted.
Regarding the production boom in Mexico, he said: “I am surprised at the rise of open TV. I think the platforms have suffered a bit right now, perhaps due to the economy, the Internet problems, and the quantity or volume of products produced. But I am happy to be surfing this wave of great demand for content. I am also glad that long-term content is beginning to prevail again with more space than content with few chapters. They are beginning to realize that diversity has a cost and is difficult to maintain. On the other hand, products as noble as a novel, of 60 to 80 hours, are much easier to handle and to engage with the audience.”
He highlighted that streaming has forced the quality of the content to rise, but open TV still has a long way to go and space.
View the interview with José Alberto “Güero” Castro about Tierra de Esperanza of TelevisaUnivision
José Alberto “Güero” Castro de Televisa habla sobre la telenovela Vino el amor
