Pepe Nacif, Francisco Gonzalez Compean, Rodrigo Santos and Ramiro Ruiz Team On ‘Diablo Guardian’ For Blim
LOS CABOS, Mexico – In its continued bid to ramp up its original content, Televisa’s budding SVOD platform Blim has tapped Mexican film producers Jose Nacif (“Gimme the Power”), Ramiro Ruiz (“Gueros”) Francisco Gonzalez Compean (“Amores Perros”) and Rodrigo Santos (“La Dictadura Perfecta”) to produce the TV adaptation of iconic bestseller “Diablo Guardian” by Xavier Velasco.
“People said it was impossible to adapt,” said Gonzalez Compean of the coming-of-age story. “Diablo Guardian” tracks an upper class teen from Mexico City who absconds with a large sum of money to New York and Las Vegas where her life spirals into a world of prostitution, drugs and dangerous men when the funds dry up.
Currently in production, the 10-episode series stars Paulina Gaitan (“Sin Nombre,” “Narcos”) and Adrian Ladron (“Gueros,” “The 4th Company”). Shot in English and Spanish, the project was presented at the 5th Los Cabos Int’l Film Festival on Saturday, November 12.
“We are seeking a new lineup of series that bear a different seal, with a more cinematic language, such as the kind Nacif, Gonzalez Compean and the others can bring to the table,” said Eduardo Clemesha, Televisa’s VP of New Content & Formats.
“We are working with different production teams of the film industry in various projects and diverse genres: Dramedies, thrillers, dark humor, suspense, sitcoms, etc.,” he added. “It’s a privilege to work on this gem,” said Nacif, who is a co-producer with Gonzalez Compean on cop comedy “Compadres” and Catalina Aguilar Mastretta’s second film, “Everybody Loves Somebody,” to be released by Videocine in Mexico and Pantelion Stateside next year. Aguilar is a co-scribe of the “Diablo Guardian” TV adaptation along with Maria Lopez Castano (“Gran Hotel”) and Carlos de Pando (“El Ministerio del Tiempo”).
Blim is said to be offering more than Netflix to produce original content in Latin America. The only caveat is that the producer gives up all rights to the project. On the plus side, Blim and Netflix’s push into original content in Latin America has burst open the market. “There is a production boom and a diversification of projects in Mexico, which used to be so closed,” said Gonzalez Compean.
Blim has commissioned a slew of original content from several of Mexico’s top filmmakers. In June, it inked Lemon Films, run by Fernando and Billy Rovzar, which is producing two dramedies for Blim. Michel Franco of Lucia Films (“Chronic,” “After Lucia”) is making a satirical comedy series. In January, Blim will bow a new teen live-action series starring Laura Esquivel, “Love, Divina,” a co-production between Argentina’s Pol-ka, Televisa, and Paris-based Federation Kids & Family.
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