Did you miss this year’s NATPE? Worry no more; this blogger was there and had some very special access to famous gathering of TV producers. The NATPE, Content First (“Primero contentos”) 2013 conference took place this week in Miami, welcoming more than 1,000 attendees, of which “a huge percentage” was either Hispanic or Latin American.
So, without further ado, here are the Ultimate Hispanic Highlights (UHH) of the 3-day gathering, brought to you exclusively by Mi blog es tu blog:
1. The percentage of Spanish-language attendees to this year’s conference was “huge,” said NATPE President and CEO Rod Perth, who doesn’t seem to be very much into hard data.
2. Many non-Hispanic attendees seemed puzzled about why everybody was walking around wearing a name tag with the name “Rosario” printed on it, making introductions and business dealings awkward at times.
3. A San Juan-based company pitching a cooking show from Puerto Rico stuffed its contact information -and informative USB- inside a coffee bag. My laptop smells delicious.
4. A Spain-based company named ERREQUERRE announced the opening of a Miami office… and a very wise decision to undergo a name change very soon.
5. Sierralta Entertainment has produced, and sold, a new TV show called Latin Angels, featuring bikini-clad reporters that look like this. (No chance for me to get a job there.)
6. For some reason I have yet to comprehend, Ecuadoreans are crazy about Korean telenovelas dubbed into Spanish.
7. The folks over at Venevision International handled business from an amazing suite on the 30th floor of the Fountainbleau Hotel (from which they threatened to throw this blogger at some point.)
8. Mojitos -what else?- were the beverage of choice during NATPE’s inaugural bash Sunday night.
9. Univision’s Programming Chief Alberto Ciurana swears there’s great menudo at a Mexican fonda on Calle Ocho and promised to take me there one day. We’ll see.
10. Telemundo’s VP of corporate communications Michelle Albán is the evil twin of La Doctora Polo (in addition to being the Hispanic evil twin of Sandra Bullock)
(NOTE: Alban continued to ethnic profile this blogger by ordering nachos during a luncheon/interview at Eden Roc Hotel)
11. Harris Whitbeck, CEO of Zodiak Latino, hosted a Spanish-language panel, leaving many gringos in the room scratching their heads upon learning Whitbeck is white AND Guatemalan. [Yes, we have güeritos there too. Now you know.]
12. Catherine Fulop and Fernando Carrillo are back together! They “star” in a yet-to-be-produced telenovela (La Magia del Amor) which will in fact star two young kids who are neither Fulop nor Carrillo. The reason? They do NOT look like this anymore.
13. Telenovelas continue to dominate the market; though reality series featuring boys and girls who text all the time (i.e. Gossip Girls Acapulco) seem to be taking off.
14. Christy Haubegger, funny as hell as she usually is, was actually serious when she stated at a panel that: “It’s exciting to see that we’re moving from Spanish-language programming to programming to Hispanics.”
15. I sat next to Juan Soler at a Telemundo luncheon and failed miserably in my attempt to pinch his butt.
16. I saw Soler once again Tuesday night and while I was not yet able to accomplish my pinching goal, he graciously agreed to pose for a photograph. (Thanks, Veronica!)
17. A short visit to the Univision headquarters gave this blogger a first-row seat to a live airing of El Gordo y la Flaca. Alas, Raúl de Molina declined to go into the jacuzzi with me pretending he had a broken foot or something.
18. Rodner Figueroa showed up and gave me a peace sign.
19. Overall, media companies and media outlets have gotten pretty good at writing “Colombia” and not “Columbia” when talking about the South American country.
20. “Content First” is English for “Primero contentos.”
BONUS CONTENT: Watch 9:33 minutes of La Magia del Amor below:
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