Vision Entertainment is a company that manages artistic talent and develops productions for the general US market and the US Hispanic and Latin America. Founded by Andrés Budnik and Liam Scholey, it is currently working on several projects.
One is a fictional series based on the events surrounding the murder of the Chilean diplomat, Orlando Letelier, in Washington during the Chilean dictatorship. The series, in Spanish and English, is in development. Gonzalo Masa is the Chilean producer. Also on the project are David Arata (Children of Man) and directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Apple TV acquired the series.
Another project is House of the Spirits, optioned by Amazon and based on the book La Casa de los Espíritus by Isabel Allende. FilmNation and TopNation are the American companies doing the production. “It will be totally in Spanish, and Eva Longoria will be in the executive production team. It is an American company betting on production in Spanish,” said Budnik. Fernanda Urrejola, managed by Vision Entertainment, does part of the 10-episode series as actress, writer, and co-showrunner, and Francisca Alegría is co-showrunner.
“It is a different example of a US production company, which makes everything very American, with higher budgets than those that usually move in Latin America, but now with an only-Latino production executives team. “These are things from the US that are very entangled with Latin America,” said Budnik.
Budnik highlighted they are seeing an interest from production houses and studios in expanding in Latin America: “to generate products that may appeal to an international audience, to present more global projects. There is openness to that. We have several projects of this bilingual caliber.”
What excites Scholey about this trend is the quality of the scriptwriters and budgets that enhance the content and stories from Latin America, “award-winning material and in Spanish. Being in Spanish does not mean it will have great quality,” he pointed out.
Budnik added that doing projects with Anglo-Saxon production companies “that bring a different experience, that can improve a show, elevate content and working together with Latino production companies so it has the originality and authenticity of Latino, is a mix that can improve the quality a lot.” He added that it also means “giving Latin talent, both writers and actors, an opportunity to appear where they did not before, to give them the freedom to create a different show with a vision of Latin America that Americans cannot understand.”
He highlighted that the advent of streamers has been good for Latin America. “It makes the market more competitive, more dynamic; the content and creators have more leverage. This will lead to better content and series. There is more money behind it, and also for talent in general – writers, directors, etc. – it helps a lot to be on the credits of these streamers, and in the US they value it more because it is coming from Amazon or Netflix. It adds weight to it, it adds real value, and vice versa. For someone who has worked in the US, going to Latin America adds a lot of value.”
Maribel Ramos-Weiner
