BOGOTA – Fox Telecolombia, the Colombian outpost of Fox International Channels in which it holds a 51% stake, is in post production on one of the first — if not the first — Latin American sci-fi cable TV series in the region.
“2091” is set to debut on Fox Latin America in late October. The 13-episode sci-fi thriller is set in the year 2091 when most people have been converted into game addicts [shades of Pokemon Go!]. Games are banned as a result but a game-obsessed billionaire gamer takes the top players to an artificial moon where he pits them against each other. Sets include a gleaming space station decked out in the tradition of such classics as “Star Trek.” Despite its high production values, each episode of “2091” is said to cost a fraction of a standard episode in a U.S. series.
The “2091” cast is led by Manolo Cardona (“Narcos”), Angie Cepeda (“Jane the Virgin”) and Christopher von Uckermann (“Kdabra”). “It’s very different from what’s come out of Latin America so far,” said Cardona. “I’m glad we’re taking bigger risks and breaking molds to show the international market what we’re capable of doing.”
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Netflix is also in production in Brazil on a dystopian thriller, “3%,” which is slated to launch later this year. This is Netflix’s first original project to shoot in Brazil.
Fox Telecolombia is also in pre-production on an equally ambitious series titled “Sitiados” (“Siege”), set in the year 1750. Plans are to shoot the period series – featuring pirates among other characters – in Cartagena by late March. The first season was shot in Chile and was a massive hit in Chile and Argentina in particular.
“Fox Telecolombia produced up to 240 scripted hours and 60 non-scripted hours last year,” said production chief Nelson Martinez who added that the studio is currently producing the series “Sin Senos si hay Paraiso” (“Without Breasts there is a Paradise”) for NBC-U’s Telemundo as the start of a new multi-year pact for Fox Telecolombia to produce two shows a year for Telemundo. “They were very happy with our production of the musical bio-series about singer Celia Cruz, “Celia” which we did for RCN, and that they had licensed for the U.S. Hispanic market,” he said. “Sin Senos” is the sequel to Telemundo’s ratings hit “Sin Senos no hay Paraiso,” (“Without Breasts There is no Paradise”), originally produced by Colombia’s Caracol TV and remade by Telemundo.
Fox Telecolombia boasts of eight sound stages on its 237,000 sq. ft. lot. Sound stages range in sizes from 1,600 sq. ft. to 9,000 sq. ft.
