MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's largest broadcaster, Televisa, will produce a telenovela in Miami, its first produced entirely in the U.S.
"Amandote" (Loving You) will begin shooting after producer Salvador Mejia finishes the soap "Mariana de la noche" (Mariana of the Night). Skein will be co-produced by Venevision Intl. and Fonovision.
Mejia told press the decision was based on overcrowding in Televisa's Mexico City studios. Net produces roughly a dozen novelas every year, and now has seven shooting in its soundstages.
However, the location decision is just the latest in a series indicating the increased importance Televisa is placing on the U.S. and Miami in particular. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Televisa chairman Emilio Azcarraga would move to Miami in March.
Meanwhile, the net has expressed increasing interest in Spanish- and English-language co-production deals with U.S. firms, including a rumored linkup with Voy and deals with Vivelo!, a sports broadcasting and production enterprise.
"Amandote" will bow on U.S. Spanish-language net Univision, partially owned by Televisa, before airing in Mexico on the net's Channel 2, the so-called Star Channel.
Skein is based on a Venezuelan show by the same name, which was also remade in Argentina in 1988. The latest version has yet to be cast, Mejia said.
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