Attributed partly to telenovelas, production in Miami generated about US$250 million in 2011

According to a report recently released by NBC Nightly News, the numbers position Miami as the Latino Hollywood. In the last year, the earnings generated in the production of entertainment programs has increased by 70%, injecting US$250 million to the local economy and producing more jobs within the sector. This growth can be attributed in grand majority to the production of telenovelas. Currently, five telenovelas are being produced in Miami. “We’ve become the mecca of Hispanic production. We’re like the Latino Hollywood” expressed Shandy Lighterman of the Office of Cinema and Entertainment of Miami-Dade County. The growth of the Hispanic population has directly influenced this increase, explained Joshua Mintz, senior executive VP of Telemundo. “The Hispanic population wants to see stories that have been produced where the live. If a show is produced in Mexico, it’s for a Mexican audience, and if it’s produced in the US, it provides the opportunity to produce stories that Hispanics can relate to”.Some careers, like the one of the popular Mexican actor Eugenio Siller, can now be developed in the US. “Now I do from the US what I used to do in Mexico” expressed the star of Una Maid en Manhattan, one out of three Telemundo telenovelas being simultaneously produced in Miami.