The idea for Betty, la Fea came from a direct experience of Gaitán's, in which he witnessed an executive treat his secretary poorly, only to realize he could barely function without her once he had finally driven her to quit. That doesn't stop her from secretly falling for him and helping him rescue the company from dire financial straits. Betty is hired precisely because she is not pretty, and thus won't tempt Armando. She goes to work at fictional Colombian fashion house EcoModa as assistant to the president, Armando Mendoza, who is also the son of the company founder and a well-known womanizer. In the late '90s, Gaitán produced two more shows-Guajira and Carolina Barrantes-before launching Betty, la Fea in 1999.īetty, la Fea tells the story of a young woman who is not considered conventionally pretty but who is very bright and holds a master's degree in economics.
Betty la fea new york tv#
Internationally, two high-rated versions of the show were produced: TV Azteca's Cuando Seas Mia and Televisa's Destilando Amor. The show is about a woman, Gaviota, who works her way up through the ranks at a coffee plantation to become the first woman to become a major player in the male-dominated field. Gaitán's first big syndicated hit came in 1994 with a worldwide smash, RCN's Cafí con Aroma de Mujer, which was eventually syndicated to more than 100 countries. In 1992, Gaitán won his first award for writing and producing TV shows for La Fuerza del Poder, a show about government corruption.
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Betty la fea new york series#
At the same time, he was working on a dramatic series that also was successful, Azíºcar. His first primetime hit came in 1990 with Laura por favor, a comedy he wrote for RCN TV, his current employer.
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Gaitán worked at Romero's studio for a bit, then began producing comedies for other Colombian producers as well. However, I was a quick study and soon began writing comedies, which was how I first made my living in TV. Then I began to learn scriptwriting, because I had never done it before. " chief of press found me in the newspaper and invited me. "Many people recognized me as a good storyteller, gifted at telling stories both verbally and via my writing. He then skipped college to go right to work, although later he was awarded two Master's degrees in recognition of his accomplishments.Īlong the way, Gaitán met Bernardo Romero Pereiro, a respected Colombian writer and producer, who had been actively combing the country for new writers.Īs a print journalist, "my favorite genre was chronicles and research, and I always wanted to experiment fusing these with dramatic storytelling," Gaitán says. While he was there, he won a Latin American writing competition. As a teenager, he attended a highly competitive high school in Bogota, Liceo Leon de Grei".
Betty la fea new york professional#
Gaitán got his professional start as a print journalist in his native Colombia, working for El Tiempo (the country's New York Times) and Semana and Magazín al día. "The theme of rejection of the 'ugly woman' is something that unfortunately occurs in all cultures in a similar way." "There's a universal and cross-cultural existence of feminine vanity," says Gaitán, who answered questions for this piece via written questions in English that were then translated back from Gaitán's Spanish. Gaitán, 51, attributes Betty's success to its universal themes set in modern times.
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Yo Soy Betty, la Fea-known among American English-speaking viewers as ABC's primetime soap, Ugly Betty-holds the Guinness world record for the most successful soap opera in history. Fernando Gaitán, vice president of production and content at Colombia's RCN-TV, took the classic story of the ugly duckling and turned it into the most popular soap opera the world has even seen.