telemundo - MDC Faculty Home Pages

TELEMUNDO
and
present…
Telenovelas are the mainstay of
Spanish-language Television
And with Telemundo’s fast-growing
original productions, Miami is becoming
an important center for Telenovela production.
Yet, there are few Telenovela
writers working in the U.S.A.
Aware of this need,
Telemundo and Miami-Dade College North Campus
entered into a partnership to establish…
Taller Telemundo: Escritores
or the
Telemundo Writers’ Workshop
A proposal was presented
to Telemundo last fall,
and accepted.
Working as a team,
Telemundo and MDC SEDT
designed the curriculum…
and established its goal:
To develop proficient and professional TeleNovela writers
who will contribute original works and further the genre
by studying its structure and developing their writing skills
The curriculum was
divided in four phases:
PHASE I:
Faculty, Student Selection, and Curriculum Development
Program Leadership is shared in a partnership between industry and academia
Mimi Belt
Vice President, Artistic Development,
Telemundo Network
Fernando Calzadilla
Lead Professor, Taller Telemundo
Faculty and Staff were selected
Luis Perez Tolón,
Program coordinator
With Mimi Belt: Susana Miguel and Ana Fuentes Arrow,
Special Projects, Artistic Development
Program Evaluators, Taller Telemundo
Dr. Mario Beguiristain,
Curriculum Development
Juan Marco Blanco
Instructor
Telemundo announced the Taller
on the air and began taking applications
through its website.
4,392 applications were received
from over 36 states and 26 countries,
including Japan and Lithuania.
Of these, only 34 students would be accepted into the program.
At a Campus Press Conference,
Dr. José Vicente and Dean Cristina Mateo
announced the program.
Don Browne,
Telemundo CEO, launched “Taller” at the Network’s
Headquarters in Hialeah…
…where the 34 students
selected were announced
PHASE II:
Workshops and “Boot Camp”
Work began
in earnest
PHASE II:
Each student prepared a portfolio for assessment.
Only half of them would be invited to continue on
to Phase III of the program.
When writing got too intense…
…there were guest speakers
from the Television Industry:
Delia Fiallo
world’s leading writer of TeleNovelas
Derek Bond
Executive V.P. of
Network Production,
Telemundo
Arnaldo Limansky
Vice President of Programming
and Telenovela Producer
Martin Halac
Promofilm Director
Anjanette Delgado
Community Connections Director,
Telemundo
Faculty and students
worked very hard during
”Boot Camp,” and when
it was over…
…they partied!
Then came the
announcement of
those invited
on to Phase III
PHASE III:
Preparation and Pitch
Each of the 16 students selected to continue
had to come up with two Telenovela synopses,
but they could only pitch one
to Telemundo
PHASE III:
Preparation and Pitch
On August 9 and 10,
students presented
their stories to a Selection Committee composed of
Telemundo Executives, MDC faculty and staff at the Network’s Board Room
Five stories were selected, which will be announced when
the students return this fall for PHASE IV of the program.
PHASE IV: “Bible” Development
This coming Fall Term, five teams of three students
will be assigned to develop their Telenovela “Bibles”
for presentation to Telemundo on December 8th, 2005
So we’ll have to wait
until December 8th for…
The End
and
in partnership.