In a warehouse in Osasco, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Camila Pitanga and Camila Queiroz prepare in dressing rooms before going in front of the cameras. They star in “Beleza Fatal”, the first Brazilian soap opera made by the streaming platform Max, which was called HBO Max.
In Rio de Janeiro, the service also records “Dona Beja”, a remake of the TV Manchete serial made in 1986. A scenic city with buildings from the early 1800s was built on an empty plot of land, where Grazi Massafera and Bianca Bin, dressed in time, they act together.
And Max is not alone in this endeavor. Netflix, which avoids the term soap opera, is producing what it calls melodrama series, such as “Pedaço de Mim”, with Juliana Paes. The focus on the format is a way of trying to communicate with the masses, says Camila Pitanga, who signed a contract with Max to work not only as an actress, but also as a producer.
Pitanga, who left Globo three years ago, sees the market’s advancement positively. “Streaming is not tied to advertising, time, or audience. The soap opera is there for anyone who wants to play it,” he says. Fernando Medín, president of the Latin American arm of Warner Bros. Discovery, which controls Max, chimes in. “If we want to reach all strata of society, we need all types of content.”
The companies, which have their headquarters in the United States, make profound changes to the language of the serials, which are being filmed in full before they premiere, unlike Globo’s production scheme, which conducts research with the public and changes the plot according to the audience’s reaction. court hearing.
Another change is the size of productions. Max’s will have 40 chapters, a quarter of the length of a standard Globo soap opera. Netflix reduced the size even further, making 18 episodes for “Piece of Me.” “Our brand is to release several chapters at the same time, so we choose shorter works. We see them as miniseries”, says Elisabetta Zenatti, vice president of content at Netflix in Brazil.
Maria de Médicis, director of “Beleza Fatal”, who worked at Globo for 29 years, says she is “much happier and more creative”. “I don’t have so much external pressure anymore. Today I work with more consistent texts because they are smaller, there’s no fluff, like what happens in a traditional soap opera.”
But a different production scheme also poses new challenges. Proof of this is that “Dona Beja” suffers from delays and dissatisfaction on the part of its cast, who are irritated by the extension of contracts and uncertainty regarding the final product.
“It’s difficult”, says Grazi Massafera, who plays the protagonist, on the film set. “We have a soap opera team together with a film team. There is a management that needs to coordinate everything, and a production company that has never done this. We have structure, but sometimes we lack organization.”
Grazi does not hide that she fears the result of “Dona Beja” and says she feels agony for not having yet seen how the scenes are being edited. “Things must move quickly because time is money. Until everything is organized, it’s natural for there to be noise. Everyone is learning to make a soap opera here.”
In a statement, Warner Bros. Discovery stated that “the recording flow was adjusted naturally” and that “cast and crew went through a period of adaptation to get to know each other better and seek the ideal dynamics for the set.”
In the plot, Beja is kidnapped at a young age by her grandfather to serve as the Portuguese king’s ombudsman. After freeing herself, she returns to Brazil and opens a kind of brothel, where she prostitutes herself. Her closest friend is Severina, a transgender character played by Pedro Fasanaro, who is a non-binary person.
Despite this, Fasanaro rejects the idea that there is an advance in trans representation. “We can count the number of trans characters in the drama on one hand, and we are still telling very similar stories.”
Another change in relation to the traditional serial is the freedom to be more daring, as Globo attempted to do by launching “Verdades Secretas” and “Todas as Flores” first on streaming, on Globoplay. “Dona Beja” will have around 80 sex scenes, according to intimacy coordinator Roberta Serrado, who supervises these recordings.
“Streaming gives you freedom. If you watch something that bothers you, just pause and stop watching,” says Serrado. “We didn’t want to leave sex for sex’s sake. It’s sex for dramaturgy.”
“Fatal Beauty”, in turn, wants to seduce audiences who like suspense. At the center of the story is Lola, played by Pitanga, who carries out a series of scams in an attempt to get rich and open a beauty clinic.
Her tormentor is Sofia, played by Camila Queiroz, who decides to take revenge on the woman after seeing her mother suffer at her hands. The promise is that the girl also has a dubious nature, a recurring trait in the stories of Raphael Montes, author of “Bom Dia, Verônica” and “Uma Família Feliz”.
Neither of Max’s two soap operas has a defined release date. “We are inaugurating the format here. At Globo, the employees have decades of experience. Their structure, very well done, is our reference”, says Queiroz. “Competition is fundamental, because the market is heating up. But we’re not going to dictate rules. Maybe we’ll think about adjusting something later.”
The reporter traveled to Rio at the invitation of Max
Leonardo Sanchez collaborated
Tags: Dona Beja Max format soap operas streaming Illustrated
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