Ever wondered why Telemundo telenovelas have such a hard time beating those of Univision? For starters, Univision’s fare is mostly comprised by novelas imported directly from the mero-mero del drama, the so-called dream factory, her highness Grupo Televisa. But there’s also Telemundo’s insistence on producing its own shows, or as the network’s president likes to say (quite often) to control its own destiny.It was with this in mind that the NBC-owned network launched Taller Telemundo, a six-month program in partnership with Loyola Marymount University to “inspire, discover, recruit and train the next generation of fiction writers.”

Well, this week the workshop graduated its Class of 2007, a group of eight lucky hopeful writers. Among them, according to a story in Los Angeles Times, is Liliana Hung (right), a 35-year old Colombia-born mortgage banker who was selected from 1,500 applicants from around the world to write a 10-page telenovela script. Graduation doesn’t guarantee Liliana a writing gig at Telemundo, but her chances are obviously greater than the rest of us. Funnily enough, and as my friend from Clemenseando smartly pointed out, Hung admits to not watching a lot of Spanish-language television.

In fact, she says her favorite TV shows are Law and Order and Nip/Tuck. She grew up reading Mark Twain and watching M*A*S*H and The Streets of San Francisco.

Ay dios! I cannot wait to see what a Hung-authored telenovela will be all about.