The 6 p.m. telenovela slot at Globo — the free-to-air channel of the biggest production force in Latin America — has long been known for its highly successful, family-oriented period pieces, from “The Thorn and the Rose” to “Pepper Chocolate.” Currently on air, “She’s the One” is eyeing to join this prestigious rank.
Speaking exclusively with Variety ahead of the launch of “She’s the One” at Content Americas — a Miami-based event aimed at the Latin and Hispanic markets, with telenovelas, series, documentaries and formats — showrunner Alessandra Poggi says she is thrilled with the audience reception of the story in Brazil so far.
Set in 1958, “She’s the One” follows Beatriz (Duda Santos), who believed she was abandoned at four years old but later discovers her loving mother (Carol Castro) suffered a grave accident and was subsequently manipulated by a villainous mother-and-son duo, played by renowned actors Lilia Cabral and Fábio Assunção.
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This is the third period piece helmed by Poggi, joining “Dark Days” and “A Trick of Fate.” On setting the story in 1958, Poggi says she likes “to set a period telenovela in a specific year instead of a certain decade.” She adds, “In ‘A Trick of Fate,’ we were in 1944 when Brazilian soldiers went to fight in World War II, as I like to make the most of our country’s vast and rich history. When I needed to choose a year for ‘She’s the One,’ I went with 1958, which lives in our cultural imagination as the year when everything was going well in Brazil.”
Alessandra Poggi
Credit: Globo
“We had just won the World Cup for the first time,” the author continues. “It was the year Bossa Nova was invented, we had Cinema Novo, the construction of our capital of Brasilia… Then I began to investigate what wasn’t so good about 1958 because things couldn’t have been that idyllic for everyone.”
Straying away from privilege, Poggi found stories of those who lived harsher lives at a time widely considered prosperous in Brazil, imbuing the struggles of her protagonist with still-relevant issues such as racism and sexism.
“This is something I like to investigate in my work: who in society is happy? Who is thriving? Who isn’t? In 1958, men cheated on their wives constantly; society was very sexist and racist. The children of divorced mothers suffered a lot. Queer people couldn’t live truthfully. So, I wanted to talk about these issues, which are unfortunately still relevant today. I couldn’t ignore it.”
Of broaching heavy issues in a family-friendly slot, Poggi says she believes “every story can be told in any slot” as long as authors have “the right approach.”
“I have no reservations in exploring any particular issue; I am only careful with the way I bring these themes into the story so that the audience loyal to the 6 p.m. slot doesn’t reject such discussions,” she emphasizes, adding that her strategy is to broach conversations on themes such as racism and classism in a “softer” tone conducive to the classic period piece. “People embrace it and begin to reflect upon those issues. Many children are watching ‘She’s the One.’ Entire families sit down to watch the novela together. My children watch it. It’s all about the tone.”
As for what the author considers to be the greatest advantage of the Brazilian telenovela, the answer is right at the tip of her tongue: “It’s an open work. And it’s a long open work, too, where you have the space to modify the story according to what people are responding to. I think this is without a doubt the biggest triumph of our novelas.”
“I also love following the telenovela while it’s airing,” she adds of the immediatism of the format. “I’m on Twitter while the episode is on the air to check what people are saying. I love it when my manicurist brings it up, when I hear people chatting about it in the supermarket. People will write to me and tell me about the things they like and the things they don’t.”
While telenovelas lose some of the triumphs of the format when screened internationally since authors are no longer able to adjust the narrative, Poggi still believes they have “incredible” international potential. “Brazilian telenovelas have traveled the world since the very beginning. I was in Chile once, and one of my novelas was on TV. It screens as a closed work, so it has a different quality, but it is still incredible to see the response to it.”
“When we see something we’ve written, or a friend has written, being consumed abroad, we are so very happy because it’s a way of disseminating our culture. People become more interested in visiting our country, reading our authors, consuming our art… Telenovelas take Brazil to the world.”
On top of screening “She’s the One” this week, Globo will celebrate its 100th anniversary at Content Americas with an event titled Globo 360: the Future Has Already Begun, with lauded actress Sophie Charlotte (“Rebirth” and “All The Flowers”) in attendance.