AMONG TELENOVELA WRITERS: FERNANDO GAITAN AND LEONARDO PADRON

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about a conversation among telenovela writers Delia Fiallo and Leonardo Padrón. The context of this exchange was Padrón's radio program Los Imposibles, broadcast in Venezuela by Onda.

I'm particularly interested in conversations among telenovela writers because they illuminate the difficult craft of writing these stories that can hijack the lives of its authors. Today I bring another conversation among telenovela writers that took place in the first season of Los Imposibles. This time Leonardo Padrón talks with Colombian author Fernando Gaitán (Café con Aroma de Mujer, Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, Hasta que la Plata nos Separe, etc.)

Here is the "postcard" that Padrón wrote for Fernando Gaitán: (If you understand Spanish and prefer to listen to it, click here)

José Ignacio Cabrujas said it once: "Latinoamérica invented telenovelas". It can't be further denied, telenovelas are one of the main non traditional exports from Latin America. Intellectuals around the globe rack their brains trying to understand how come telenovelas seduce millions of people in every latitude of our planet. Today there are telenovelas for every possible taste. But, there are some that garner collective applause and earn a standing ovation. This is what has happened with a good portion of the stories written by Colombian Fernando Gaitán. It could take us a long time to read his resumé. But, really one of its lines is sufficient. Fernando Gaitán is the author of Betty, la Fea. Enough said. Betty, la fea was the twist the genre needed. Gaitán was the genious who drove his car the wrong way, who moved counter current. In an industry where the female protagonist MUST be beautiful, he placed his bet on a woman with thick eyeglasses, childish bangs and braces. And he discovered the evident. Today we're in front of Fernando Gaitán. We will explore the labyrinth of a writer that is impossible not to mention when we underscore one of the best moments in telenovela history. We're about to enter the secret world of one of the best writers of love stories in Latin America. Welcome, Fernando.

The interview is too long to report it here. It's really interesting and has no boring moments. Following are a few fragments that illustrate the difficult job of writing a telenovela:

People always want to know what is the methodology used by telenovela writers. What is your methodology?
Well...it's a disaster. I could be one of the best telenovela writers, but I'm the worst regarding methodology. Generally, as we say here in Colombia, I work with a gun pointed to my head.

There are writers that have great methodologies. They are organized and have the flight plan for the whole story before they even start writing. But, there are others who discover the story as they write. Which is your method?
I've always said that the telenovela is an imperfect genre that we perfect as we go. When we write a telenovela that is on the air, we make a pact with spectators. We ask, "what do you want?" and tell them "let me tell you the story I have", and we agree in the characters.

So, it's like playing a four hand piece in the piano. You write with the spectator, no?
Telenovelas are the last arrogant act one can commit. It's a popular genre that always finds twists and variants on its way. New characters and situations may arise, but we never veer too much from the flight map.

Why have you never dealt with the harshest aspects of Colombian reality, like the drug traffic, guerrilla, and the paramilitary? Have you ever been tempted by those topics?
Yes, of course, and I believe every writer is under the obligation of dealing with them, sooner or later. In my case I feel that my mission, as a Colombian writer, is to keep showing the other facets of Colombians. Who we are and what we live.

The full interview can be read in the book Los Imposibles: Conversaciones al Borde de un Micrófono (Padrón, 2006). It's a marvel to witness the conversation between two writers who know the genre's codes so well that they can transgress them successfully.

MY FAVORITE TELENOVELA QUOTES

Through the years I've been studying telenovelas I've read my share of pages and authors about the topic. Here are my translations of some of my favorite quotes about this TV genre. These are my favorites because they illuminate with honesty and intelligence the intrinsic codes of the "show of sentiments" (Cabrujas):

Because it's so quotidian, because we watch it on television, we don't ask where does it come from, where is it grounded, what are its conceptualizations, what is there that is universal and human?
--Cabrujas, José Ignacio (2002). Y Latinoamérica inventó la telenovela. Caracas: Alfadil.

Telenovelas are part of Latin America's sentimental education.
--Gaitán, Fernando (2006). Interviewed in Los Imposibles: conversaciones al borde de un micrófono. Caracas: Aguilar.

The writers are the hidden protagonists of a telenovela, even though the majority of viewers don't know their faces or read about the decor of their homes in the entertainment magazines. It is the writer who defines the fate of the characters that gather multitudes in front of the TV screen on a daily basis.
--Alvarez, Valentina (2007). Lágrimas a pedido: así se escribe una telenovela. Caracas: Alfa.

It is true that a telenovela is a carrousel of melodramatic clichés. But it is also true that, as Umberto Eco would say, two clichés produce laughter, but 100 are moving.
--Vilches, Lorenzo (1997). La fuerza de los sentimientos. En E. Verón y L. Escudero Ch. (comps.) Telenovela: ficción popular y mutaciones culturales. Barcelona: Gedisa.

A telenovela is a "Great Love Story" administered in easy installments.
--Espada, Carolina (2004). La telenovela en Venezuela. Caracas: Fundación Bigott.

He or she who places words in the gut of a telenovela knows this very well: love without rating doesn't last.
--Barrera Tyszka, Alberto (2002). Desde las tripas de un culebrón. Revista Bigott.

This isn't a genre, like film, that goes from the heads of the writer and producer to the head of the spectator. Here, it goes from heart to heart, from gut to gut. And when the spectator's heart starts to get cold, it's time to twist the storyline.
--Gaitán, Fernando (2006). Interview in Los Imposibles: conversaciones al borde de un micrófono. Caracas: Aguilar.

The spectator know what's going to happen. But, I still have to surprise her or him when it finally happens.
--César Miguel Rondón in Lágrimas a Pedido de Valentina Alvarez. Caracas: Alfa.

This job, of course, is filled with failed attempts. There are many dignified intentions that never made it. But, there is only one possible commandment: to insist. This is why I don't accept the argument that says that telenovelas can't be improved, that they have a chemical formula that cannot be corrected, that it needs a high dose of stupidity. Every genre has a process and an evolution. It would be easier to resign ourselves to the headstrong ignorance and proverbial lack of risk of our television executives.
--Padrón, Leonardo (2002). La telenovela: ¿género literario del siglo XXI? Revista Bigott.

But, what kind of love are we talking about in a telenovela? We're talking about a love that isn't like ours, but still resembles it. Its apparent incoherence and unreal nature can also be its coherence and realism. The sense of truth and falseness in a telenovela is only given by its ability to move its audience. What is real is what is deeply unreal, what is felt.
--Barrera Tyszka, Alberto (2007). Una intimidad. Prologue to Lágrimas a Pedido de Valentina Alvarez. Caracas: Alfa.

Venezuelan television can now change, redoing what already exists. The important thing is that its roots dip into the humus of popular culture as it is, with its preferences and trends, that it feels passionate about its past, and that it doesn't avoid its creative spontaneity. Only in this way will we be able to have the lyricism of the intimate, the daring of liberty and the value of truth.
--Rondón, Alí E. (2006). Medio siglo de besos y querellas. Caracas: Alfa.

But whatever is the path for telenovelas, they have the ability to reveal the cartography of both feelings and social tensions, cultural imagination, and the secret and explicit aspirations of those who follow them with fervor.
--Martín-Barbero, Jesús y Rey, Germán (1999). Los ejercicios del ver: hegemonía audiovisual y ficción televisiva. Barcelona: Gedisa.

The different versions of Betty

On Sunday, November 4, the Spanish newspaper El País published a story titled Hay 'feas' por todo el mundo (There are 'uglies' all over the world, describing the characteristics and success of the different remakes of Yo soy Betty, la Fea, underscoring the local differences of each of these "Bettys."

This news story generated in me two reflections:

Reflection 1.- The success of Fernando Gaitán's telenovela suggests that there are universal storylines that work everywhere. At the same time, each of these versions is adapted to the local culture that produces and consumes it. Therefore, even though all these "Bettys" use eyeglasses and sport braces, each one of them is a different version that is culturally acceptable in the social formation that consumes it. (Following are: Lisa-Germany, Katia-Russia, Jassi-India, Betty-USA, Lotte-Neatherlands, Letty-Mexico, Bea-Spain and Maria Asximi-Greece)









The success of Betty and its versions begs the question of whether her global success is due to the universal nature of the tale of the Ugly Duckling, or if it's because its versions are tailored to each culture. This question underlines one of the facets of the local-global debate that permeates the telenovela both as an industry and a form of art and ertaintainment.








Reflection 2.- These days the number 120 is frequently used as the standard number of episodes for a telenovela. There is such strength in this standard that many often lose sight of the fact that some stories cannot or should not be told in 120 episodes. As I read the article in El País, I couldn't help noticing that these versions of Betty are way longer than 120 episodes: Spain (300+ episodes), Germany (364), India (556), Russia (700). This presents an interesting paradox: The 120-episode standard is frequently use to gauge the "export-ability" of a telenovela. The argument is that only 120-episode telenovelas sell well in non-Latin American countries. However, when these cultures produce their own telenovelas, they are longer. What is the meaning of this apparent contradiction?

In sum, the success of Betty and its different remakes suggests a set of interesting questions re: the universal quality of storylines and their ideal length, measured in episodes, and highlights some of the paradoxes and tensions inherent to the genre.

What would Jose Ignacio say?

"This country deserves a television that is different, contemporary, maffia-free, novel and willing to be adventurous."

"I never saw an executive that was certain, only a moment that was certain because of those who do, not those who decide."

"The nine million tv spectators are still worthy. They are waiting for something sensible, varied, new and able to confront them."

--My translation. Cabrujas, J.I. (1995). El Nacional.

This week José Ignacio Cabrujas would have celebrated his 70th birthday.

His contribution to telenovelas is immense. He broke the paradigm that telenovelas could only tell the same basic story with redundant language. In a genre populated by cinderellas, Cabrujas gave us heroines with agency over their destiny and characters that escaped the traditional telenovela rosa manicheism. He taught us that the story's context also matters, be it contemporary or historic.

Today, twelve years after a heart attack prematurely took him away, his impact on the telenovela landscape is still evident. In Venezuela, César Miguel Rondón, Leonardo Padrón and Mónica Montañés are some of the authors that display more clearly his influence. But it's also obvious in the most successful telenovela author of the last decade, Colombian Fernando Gaitán (Café con Aroma de Mujer, Yo soy Betty, la Fea, Hasta que la plata nos separe):

"I had a marvelous encounter with José Ignacio Cabrujas that marked me for the rest of my life and was determinant in my appreciation and knowledge of television. [...] Colombian television was very closed, until the telenovela Café con Aroma de Mujer. I say it with modesty, but this telenovela opened the door for Colombia. In my country we didn't know the television world. It was maestro Cabrujas who probably was the first person that showed us this enormous universe and how he had studied it in Venezuela.".

--My translation, Fernando Gaitán, interviewed by Leonardo Padrón in radio show Los Imposibles, 2005.

In this era of globalization in which the remake seemingly reigns, we witness how Yo soy Betty, la fea transforms into Ugly Betty, and read definitions of the telenovela as a mere variant of the soap opera, it's necessary to remember Cabrujas's words when he affirmed that "Latin America invented the telenovela".




We shouldn't forget either that studying telenovelas in-depth can provide clues to understanding our culture(s) and society(ies):

"Because it is so quotidian, because we watch it on television, we don’t ask ourselves where does it come from, what supports it, what kinds of concepts does it deal with, what is in it that is universal and human"

--My translation. Cabrujas, José Ignacio (2002), Y Latinoamérica inventó la telenovela, Caracas: Alfadil, pp. 21-22.

Cabrujas was a visionary that understood Venezuela with enviable and necessary clarity. Two weeks ago I had the immense pleasure of attending in Caracas the latest staging of his amazing play "El día que me quieras". I felt as if Cabrujas had written it the night before, not almost 20 years ago. That is how actual this magic text is, how assertive Cabrujas was...and how permanent Venezuela's problems seem to be.

Throughout the many years I have been researching telenovelas, there have been many actors who have said to me "¿What would José Ignacio say today about Venezuela, television and telenovelas?"

Personally, I think we know what he would say...

"the message that Cabrujas left us is that every day that we are inside television, making television, has to be like signing a declaration of independence. In synthesis, it must be an act in which there are capital letters and risk. [...] I believe that his message is that the trench is still there. That we still have to fight stupidity, even if stupidity is who pays our monthly check."

--My translation. Padrón, Leonardo (2002). A propósito de Cabrujas.

Original Stories or Remakes?

This week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Luis Clemens, a freelance reporter who covers Hispanic marketing and media for trade publications such as Multichannel News.

In his blog, Clemenseando, Clemens wrote a post titled Too Many Telenovela Remakes? in which he describes the current telenovela landscape in U.S. Spanish speaking networks:

All three of Univision's primetime telenovelas are remakes. "La Fea Más Bella" is a Televisa remake of Fernando Gaitán's "Yo soy Betty, la fea." "Destilando Amor" is the Mexicanization of another Gaitán novela "Café, con aroma de mujer". In the new Televisa-produced version, Colombian coffee has been replaced with Mexican tequila. (The original setting of a coffee plantation has been replaced with an agave plantation and agave is the basic ingredient of tequila). "Duelo de Pasiones" is yet another Televisa remake. This novela is a remake of "Flor de las Nieves", which first aired in Cuba in the late 1950s.

To be sure, remakes aren't exclusive to the U.S. telenovela landscape. Remakes ("refritos", as they are commonly called in Venezuela) are present in many television stations across the world which, like Univisión, purchase their telenovelas from Mexican giant Televisa.

In Venezuela, remakes also have a place in television production. In the last few years, RCTV re-made as single shows some of its most successful telenovelas like La Señora de Cárdenas, Natalia de 8 a 9 and Silvia Rivas, Divorciada, all originally written by José Ignacio Cabrujas. In 2006, RCTV broadcast to low ratings a remake of Julio César Mármol's El Desprecio. And before being taken off the air by the government's cancellation of its license, RCTV was airing Mi Prima Ciela, written by Pilar Romero as a remake of her two successful telenovelas Elizabeth and Maite. Venevisión has also produced remakes of variable quality and degrees of success. (By the way, the question why remakes aren't always successful in Venezuela merits a separate post).

As I told Clemens, when he interviewed me, I'm not against remakes. But, I am against producing an excessive number of them. I also disagree with those who see the remake as the only production option, or as their preferred production choice. I firmly believe that it isn't healthy for the telenovela industry that one of its crucial players--Televisa--produces almost exclusively remakes. This focus on remake production will gradually asphyxiate creativity, diminish the generation of new plots and the possibilities of Latin Americans telling the stories of who we are and how we love. In the long term, remakes may produce fatigue in the audience as the genre will lose its freshness.


Last summer Produ.com published on its website a collection of videotaped interviews with key producers and writers discussing the issue of remakes. In his interview, Colombian writer Fernando Gaitán, whose marvellous Yo soy Betty, la Fea has been successfully remade in many countries, and is the inspiration for ABC's Ugly Betty, states that "television can't continue repeating itself, they're going to kill the genre", and adds "the remake is eating up the telenovela".


Award-winning Venezuelan author Alberto Barrera Tyszka hits the nail on the head when he states that the current emphasis on remakes "is related to one of the telenovela industry's strongest anxieties: how to guarantee success".
Certainly, the percepction among many networks executives is that remakes are sure successes. This is particularly true in Mexico.


And, even though Mexican producers like Salvador Mejías argue that they are the ones taking risks "because the issue is that people don't feel it's a remake", it seems obvious to me that the preference for remakes is a telltale sign that the "business" aspect of the telenovela is paramount and more important than any of the other facets of this media/cultural product that so defines Latin Americans.

I alway say that telenovelas have a little (or a lot) of Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, The Count of Montecristo, The Prince and the Pauper, The Man in the Iron Mask and Ugly Duckling, among other classic plots. Notwithstanding this common ground, Latin American creativity has produced wonderfully diverse love stories with characters we know and recognize. These are stories about ourselves, and as such they must evolve with the social formation and not get stuck in a vicious cycle of repetition.

(Note: Here you can find several video interviews with Fernando Gaitán in Spanish, including the one in which he discusses remakes. Also, through the link Ver más opiniones del Remake, you can access other interviews on this same topic).