Between paralyzed recordings and stories in recess: Chilean TV series face total uncertainty

Monday night, the public of the TV series 100 days to fall in love He was informed of an inevitable outcome: after stopping his recordings on March 18 as a result of the coronavirus emergency, Mega’s fiction ran out of chapters to continue airing. “Due to the contingency that affects us all, since this Wednesday the 22nd your 100 day TV series to fall in love goes into recess. We hope to return as soon as we can with new and exciting chapters ”, explained the message broadcast by the channel.

The TV series starring María Elena Swett and Luz Valdivieso thus became the channel’s first dramatic production that sold out all of its episodes after five weeks without recordings, and with an uncertain return date. The same situation that his other two fictions will experience in the coming weeks: I am Lorenzo and Hidden truths.

The first, which runs from Monday to Friday at 8:00 p.m., has a little more advantage than “air”, and can be extended until the end of May or part of June. The next series that will go into recess is Hidden truths (15.20 hours), the afternoon drama that next July will be three years old. Your return will depend on how the current emergency context unfolds.

The channel, the only one with a dramatic area as such on local TV and whose productions are highly relevant to its program offer, will not only have to put these projects on hold. At the same time, he had to stop his next series: the next one at night and the next one at 8pm, the latter, which would start its recordings days before phase 4 of the health emergency was decreed.

Although television has generally been affected as a result of the pandemic, entertainment, news or talk shows have found ways to continue with entertainers and virtual guests. But the TV series do not have great alternatives, being the most affected.

“The essence of our language has to do with contact. It is impossible to make scenes two meters away, ”says one of the Mega actors consulted for this note.

Added to that is the size of the teams. The TV series 100 days to fall in loveFor example, it works with two units that record in parallel, each with its own producers, assistants, illuminators, makeup artists and more, which reaches about 45 professionals per group. And many times they both run into each other recording scenes in the producer’s premises.

“Going back to work in a company with 104 people goes in the opposite direction to what the health authority asks us to do,” explains Pablo Díaz, executive producer of the project from the company DDRío, which produces the fiction for Mega.

In addition, he acknowledges that there was enough fear in the team when the first cases of Covid-19 were known, and that the cessation of recordings was the best decision in that context. But the measure had numerous consequences; therefore, the parties, channel and producer, had to talk.

When asked about this, Díaz explains that in an unexpected case such as the one caused by the coronavirus, “there are force majeure clauses, and clearly this is a matter of force majeure, which protects both parties, the producer and the channel. But I would say that here what prevails is good faith, and the desire to continue doing things in the long term ”.

Regarding this, his first dramatic project with Mega -and which has already been executed by 75% -, deepens: “We had a super good production and a super good production alliance with the channel, so I think that here it will prevail the good faith and the desire to continue before the contracts come out of the table ”.

One of those points to analyze is the situation of the workers. Regarding the subject, Díaz comments: “Just part of the conversation we are having with Mega is how we are going to resolve the issue of the cast and other talents who also participate in the TV series, but in principle we are all at the point of understanding that this It has been a matter of force majeure, which has not been something that is in the hands of the channel, or the producer, or the technicians, or the actors. So we are looking for the best formulas to make it as painless as possible. Now, painful will be the same. It has been painful since we closed, a month ago that we have all been hit hard by the situation. ”

According to the producer, these conversations with the channel should arrive in port in the next few days, before the end of the month.

Regarding how this situation could affect his production company, Díaz analyzes: “The truth is that if we reach a good agreement with our client who is Mega, it should not affect us as much, we should be able to pass the wave, and I think we are reaching a good port, I have hope in that. Now if it were not so, (it would be) very hard, I would say super hard. I don’t know if we would get through this storm ”.

In the case of the actors who work in television fictions, the situation has some variations between those who have a contract with the channel versus those hired by the producer. One of the actors that make up that first group and who participates in one of these dramatic projects, comments: “For us it is a positive scenario because within the uncertainty that everyone lives, we know that we have work to return.” The private channel, however, announced a few days ago a plan to face the current economic crisis, which involves, among other things, a reduction in the wages of workers who receive a salary of more than $ 750,000.

On the other side, one of the actors hired by producers tells that the item wages in the TV series 100 days to fall in love “are being handled with a certain agreement”, something that in all things he sees with optimism. “That gives us confidence, because it deduces an interest from the channel in finishing that production,” he says. And he adds: “I have the idea that the entire cast of mine did what they had to do with respect to being flexible in favoring the production of the channel so that it could continue”.

Channel 13

The former Catholic station, meanwhile, suspended the recordings of its next nighttime soap opera The Mabel Tower, starring Paloma Moreno, Álvaro Gómez, Blanca Lewin, Elisa Zulueta, among others. After three months of recordings, filming went into recess in mid-March, and like all projects of this nature, with no return date.

From the station they explain that “the fiction area of ​​Channel 13 continues to prepare news and within these our next night series stands out, Mabel’s tower. His recordings are being held and it is being evaluated when they will resume. ”

It is the position of both the channel and the company AGTV, which produces the project. From within the latter they assure that “the producer is fine”, and that “until now the projects are still underway in coordination with Canal 13”.

The same has been transferred to the cast: when the health authority allows it, he will immediately return to filming.

As for the situation of the actors, those who are hired by the producer, have seen their salaries suspended until the recordings are resumed after the company accepted the Employment Protection Law.

But despite the good intentions of the channel and producer, for many the situation remains critical. “Feeling safe is impossible, even more working on what I do,” says one cast member: “I have a terrible uncertainty, I don’t even know what I’m going to return to, because this is a TV series, but I have a few months left on my contract And what do I do after. There is no theater, all productions are paralyzed. Tranquility I don’t feel anything, it’s just uncertainty ”.

Meanwhile, the channel continues to project itself in the genre: last week it confirmed the arrival of actor Álvaro Rudolphy, who arrives from Mega to headline the next night. “In the channel we continue to work hard in our fiction area and it is one of our priorities,” the executive director of the signal, Max Luksic, said in a statement. “On Saturday the 25th we will premiere the series Helga y Flora and within the next few months we will air La torre de Mabel. We have several other projects in the pipeline and now we have just closed a contract with one of the most iconic actors on the screen, ”added the executive.