In the midst of one of the most important moments in Globo’s television drama, director José Luis Villarim’s contract will be renewed for another three years, contradicting rumors that he will leave the network after the poor results of the series Elas por Elas and Vozoy. According to Mauri Soares, Director of Estúdios Globo, Villarim’s contract expires only in March, but will be renewed in the coming days. This is a clear sign of trust.
Director of such prestigious miniseries as Amores Roubados (2014) and Justiça (2016), Villamarim took over as director of Globo’s Teledramaturgia in December 2020, amid the pandemic that paralyzed the screening of Amor de Mäe (2019), the last TV series he directed.. He replaced playwright Silvio De Abreu is in the process of restructuring the leadership of Globo.
Villarim has been questioned a lot behind the scenes and on social media Due to the bad moment of the series in the sixth and seventh respectively Elas por Elas and Fuzuê, in the sixth. The former is struggling to reach 20 points over Ibope in Greater Sao Paulo, one of the worst at the time.
Elas por Elas no more than 15. This week, it had fewer viewers than the final chapters of the second rerun of Mulheres Apaixonadas (2003). If it didn’t react (it was on the air for just over two months), it might go down in history as the worst-performing series in that time period.
Terra e Paixão, the nine o’clock series, was not a failure. Last Thursday, it broke its record in Greater São Paulo, but it has generated little ripple effect and has yet to exceed 30 points, 20 points below the mark followed by Globo 20 years ago, when home entertainment consumption was almost entirely directed to open TV. .
The situation raised speculation about Villarim’s departure, as happened with Ricardo Waddington, who left the management of Estudios Globo in the middle of the year, after only two and a half years in the position. Behind the scenes, lists of potential replacements were circulating, all authors: Ricardo Linhares (currently Fuzoy’s supervisor), Gloria Pérez and Rosanne Svartman.
A sensitive, suave and easy-going director, Villamarim is much loved by authors and actors. But, especially among screenwriters, there are those who secretly admit that they miss an experienced professional like Silvio de Abreu, who has 27 TV series under his belt, and who shares responsibility for the text of the plots, often rewriting entire chapters, providing more details. Security for the author.
Villarim was nominated by Waddington, but has the full support of Amaury Soares, who took over as director of Estúdios Globo in June this year. In conversation with the newsSoares defended Villarim and disagreed with the need for an auteur in charge of television drama.
Soares reminds us that this position has “historically” been held by directors, not authors. The label “Director of Television Drama” came into existence in 2014, with Silvio de Abreu, but previously the tasks had been carried out by directing specialists, such as Daniel Filho and Paolo Operatán (1947-1998).
Soares says that in addition to being fully qualified to analyze TV series scripts, Villamarim has a team of professionals who specialize in evaluating synopses and chapters, and those that don’t hold up dramatically are eliminated, as happened recently with writers Licia Manzo and Christian Friedman.
Having a director in charge brings another advantage: there’s no competition to write a hit TV series, Soares says. “Having an author in that position was an exception,” he says.
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