Endemol Shine Boomdog Acquires Rights to Carlos Fuentes Vampire Novel “Vlad,” Developing TV Series

Endemol Shine Boomdog is vlad about Carlos Fuentes’ work…

The Mexico City-based production company, a unit of Banijay Americas, has acquired the rights to the late Mexican novelist and essayist’s vampire novel “Vlad.”

Carlos FuentesEndemol Shine Boomdog will develop a series based on the bestseller with lauded showrunner J.M. Cravioto attached as both showrunner and executive producer.

Jerry Rodriguez, Endemol Shine Boomdog’s senior VP and head of scripted content, and Clara Machado are developing the project for Endemol Shine Boomdog.

Carl Zitelmen is adapting Fuentes’ novel for television.

The story follows the mythical vampire who arrives in Mexico City in search of the soul of his beloved Mina, reincarnated as a Mexican woman. To his consternation, Vlad finds her inhabiting a progressive liberal who is not impressed at all by him. Having lost touch with the modern world, the 600-year-old predator struggles with panic attacks and blackout episodes, while he satiates his cravings for fresh blood.

“Vlad offers us the opportunity to reimagine a classic horror story and transform it into a modern thriller. It’s a love story, a high-concept drama that shows us both the savage and the vulnerable side of an immortal being,” said Rodriguez, adding: “We are always seeking out, adapting and creating interesting stories that navigate between genres with ease, stories that can take us from terror to tenderness, from tears to laughter and connect with different audiences in many levels and ‘Vlad’ is a great example of this kind of story.”

“We are looking at ‘Vlad’ as a multi-season series; It’s a character-driven show with complex characters that everyone can relate to,” Rodriguez told Variety. “The vampire himself is going to face a lot of conflicts that are part of the human condition nowadays,” he said, adding that rights negotiations with Silvia Lemus, Fuentes’ widow, was “always amicable and in the best of terms.”“She cares a lot about the property and we went to great lengths to ensure that we would produce a high-concept series that would honor both the author and his story,” Rodriguez explained.

Noting that Boomdog is currently developing a number of horror genre IPs, Rodriguez remarked: “This adaptation of “Vlad” goes way beyond a classic horror, or even a horror show; it’s a mixed genre project that has elements of a modern thriller, a love story, a powerful drama and even some comedy… just like life itself.”

“I find it very attractive and well-timed to propose a new look at classic genres such as thriller and horror through vampirism and romance,” Cravioto agreed. “I think ‘Vlad’ pays homage, preserves and rethinks this classic story from Fuentes’ novel, which on a personal level as a director and story seeker, poses a new narrative and formal challenge,” he added.

Cravioto, one of the most celebrated of film and television directors, producers and screenwriters in Mexico, served as showrunner and director for Netflix’s Diablero and as director of series Monarca, among others. His feature film Malvada will debut in theaters later this year while Corazonada is heading to Paramount+.

Winner of a slew of top literary honors, including the Miguel de Cervantes Prize and the Belisario Dominguez Medal of Honor, Fuentes was regarded as one of the illustrious writers in the Spanish-speaking world before his death in 2012. Some of Fuentes’ most acclaimed novels include The Death of Artemio Cruz, Aura, Terra Nostra, The Old Gringo and Christopher Unborn.

Vlad was first published in 2004 as a short story as part of Fuentes’ Inquieta Compañía and was later released as a novel in 2012, shortly before his death. The New York Times in its 2012 review of Vlad, said “it displays the strengths of a great writer’s late oeuvre to excellent effect” and Publisher’s Weekly stated the novel “follows the pattern of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but infuses the story with a modern sensibility and vivid imagery.”

Interest in the legendary vampire has sparked recently in the wake of news in September about two separate takes on the making of the Spanish-language version of the Bela Lugosi classic, Dracula.

In the first project, Eugenio Derbez is attached to star and executive produce comedic series They Came at Night (working title), which is in development at TelevisaUnivision’s SVOD platform Vix+.

Separately, Gato Grande announced at Madrid TV event Iberseries & Platino Industria that Money Heist star Alvaro Morte would play the actor Carlos Villarias who took on the Dracula role in the Spanish-language version.

YouTube Originals to Premiere “30 Days With: Anuel,” About Anuel AA’s Road to Success, This Week

Anuel AA’s success is being documented

YouTube Originals has announced plans to launch a new docuseries following the 29-year-old Puerto Rican rapper and singer’s road to success will premiere this week.

Anuel AATitled 30 Days With: Anuel, after the YouTube Originals franchise, the four-part documentary series, helmed by director Jessy Terrero, captures the Latin trap artist’s beginnings in the music industry and the story behind his arrest in Puerto Rico.

According to an official statement, “The project was filmed over 30 days during the final days of Anuel’s probation period, and his first week of freedom.”

On April 2, 2016, Anuel (real name Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago) was arrested on gun possession charges and denied bail, despite having a clean record. He was sentenced to 30 months, which he served in full, spending time in four different prisons in Puerto Rico, Atlanta, and Miami, with a brief stint at a halfway house. On July 17, 2018, he finally walked out a free man, just hours after releasing his debut album, Real Hasta La Muerte (on Glad Empire and distributed by The Orchard).

An Endemol Shine Boomdog production, the docuseries is executive produced by Alejandro Rincón, Javier Pérez Teuffer, Flavio Morales, and Miguel Batz, with Nicole Emanuele overseeing the Anuel miniseries for YouTube Originals.

30 Days With: Anuel premieres at 12:00 pm PT on Wednesday, December 29, on Anuel’s official YouTube channel, with a new episode premiering every week.

Chef Benito Molina Returning for Next Installment of EstrellaTV’s “MasterChef Latinos”

Chef Benito Molina is heading back to the kitchen…

The 53-year-old Mexican superstar chef will be returning for the next season of MasterChef Latinos alongside Chef Adrián Herrera and Chef Claudia Sandoval.

Chef Benito Molina,

The series is set for the first quarter of 2022.

Produced by reality powerhouse Endemol Shine Boomdog for EstrellaTV, the show has also issued a call for chefs interested in competing on the show. Would-be contestants can apply at www.MasterChefEstrellaTV.com.

“We are excited to start production on MasterChef Latinos with three of the most popular and influential chefs as the cornerstone of the series,” said Ivan Stoilkovich, EVP of television content. “Chef Molina, Chef Herrera, and Chef Sandoval each bring a very colorful and unique approach to the culinary arts. The show is now casting throughout the U.S., and we have been seeing some amazing talent. It will be fun to watch them compete to win the title of ‘MasterChef’ and be able to showcase their talents in front of three of the most well-known Latino Chefs in the world.”

“We are thrilled to be teaming with EstrellaTV to bring MasterChef Latinos to the U.S Hispanic audience,” says Endemol Shine Boomdog CEO Alejandro Rincon. “We have tremendous experience producing the world’s most popular food competition series, and we have lined up an amazing team of experienced and skilled chefs to serve as our judges.”

MasterChef Latinos sets out to find the nation’s best amateur cook.

Now produced in over 50 countries worldwide and broadcast in over 200 territories, MasterChef is watched globally by over 250 million viewers and has transformed over 100 amateur chefs to professionals. MasterChef Latinos is based on a format created by Franc Roddam.

Álex Pina’s “La casa de papel” Wins International Emmy Award for Best Drama

Álex Pina is feeling the Emmy love…

The winners of the 46th annual International Emmy Awards have been revealed, with the 48-year-old Spanish television producer/writer’s La casa de papel (Money Heist), taking home the prize for Best Drama.

Alex Pina

The hit Spanish heist television series, created by Pina, revolves about a long-prepared, multiple-day assault on the Royal Mint of Spain.

The series, which premiered in May 2017 on Spanish network Antena 3, was initially intended as a limited series. Antena 3 distributed the first two parts of the series in Spain, before the series was acquired by Netflix in late 2017, who edited and re-released the two parts worldwide, and will release a new, third part in 2019.

La casa de papel

La casa de papel stars Úrsula CorberóItziar Ituño, Álvaro MortePaco Tous, Pedro Alonso, and Alba Flores.

The Best Non-English U.S. Primetime Program prize went to NBC Universo’s El Vato. The second season of the series was produced byNBC Universo, Endemol Shine Boomdog and NBCU Telemundo.

The series centers on Regional Mexican singer El Vato (portrayed by El Dasa)and his friends as they struggle to succeed in the enticing but deceptive music world in Los Angeles, California.

This year, there were 44 nominees across 11 categories and 20 countries including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom & the United States.

The International Emmy Awards were hosted by comedian and The Problem with Apu producer Hari Kondabolu at the New York Hilton.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

BEST ARTS PROGRAMMING
Etgar Keret, gebaseerd op een waar verhaal
Produced by Baldr Films, Omroep NTR

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Lars Mikkelsen, Herrens Veje (Ride Upon the Storm)
Produced by DR, ARTE France, SAM le Français

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Anna Schudt Ein Schnupfen hätte auch gereicht
Produced by Zeitsprung Pictures / RTL Television

BEST COMEDY
Nevsu
Produced by Endemol Shine Israel, Reshet13, Gesher Multicultural Film Fund

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Goodbye Aleppo
Produced by BBC Arabic

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Money Heist (La casa de papel)
Produced by antena 3, Vancouver Media 

BEST NON-ENGLISH U.S. PRIMETIME PROGRAM
El Vato – Season 2
Produced by NBC Universo, Endemol Shine Boomdog, NBCU Telemundo 

BEST NON-SCRIPTED ENTERTAINMENT
Did You Get The Message?
Produced by SHELTER

BEST SHORT-FORM SERIES
Una Historia Necesaria

BEST TELENOVELA
Ouro Verde (The Payback)
Produced by TVI

BEST TV MOVIE/MINISERIES
Man in an Orange Shirt
Produced by Kudos TV BBC, Masterpiece

Nicky Jam’s Scripted Bio-Series “Nicky Jam: El Ganador” Headed to Netflix

Nicky Jam is headed to Netflix…

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American singer-songwriter will star in Nicky Jam: El Ganador, an authorized bio-series based on the life and career of the Latin music superstar.

Nicky Jam

The scripted drama, from Endemol Shine Boomdog, will debut on Netflix everywhere except the U.S., where it will air first on Telemundo.

Nicky Jam: El Ganador began production in Medellin, Colombia this week. Starring the Reggaeton sensation himself, the 13-episode bio-series will tell the life story of award-winning Nicky Jam, a singer-songwriter, who has become a worldwide music phenomenon. The bio-series documents his humble and troubled start in Boston, to his downfall on the streets, to becoming the king of one of the most popular musical genres.

Acclaimed film and music video director Jessy Terrero helms the project. In the U.S., the show will be made available on Netflix after premiering on Telemundo.