Tag Archives: NATPE

Rita Moreno to Receive NATPE’s Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award

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Rita Moreno is a legacy…

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) will honor the 86-year-old Puerto Rican actress, dancer and singer with its Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards in 2019.

Rita Moreno

The 16th annual Tartikoffs, as their called,will be doled out at NATPE’s conference in Miami in January. They are named for the late NBC Entertainment chief who assembled the network’s top-rated programming lineups in the 1980s.

Moreno, whose career has spanned more than 70 years, is an “EGOT” winner (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), as well as a Kennedy Center honoree who currently stars in Netflix’s One Day at a Time.

She’s also one of 23 people who have achieved what is called the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards for acting. She has won numerous other awards, including various lifetime achievement awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.

In addition to Moreno, other honorees include Betty White, Henry Winkler, Byron Allen, Bob Greenblatt and Mara Brock Akil.

Conference organizers said the award recipients are recognized “for exhibiting their extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision through their diverse work in being a part of the creation and distribution of content for the world’s traditional and digital marketplaces.”

Gloria & Emilio Estefan Receive TJ Martell Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award

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Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio’s philanthropic spirit is being celebrated in their hometown of Miami…

The TJ Martell Foundation honored the Estefans with the lifetime achievement award at their annual cancer fundraiser.

Gloria Estefan & Emilio Estefan

Scheduled as part of the NATPE market at the Eden Roc hotel on Thursday (Jan. 19), it was the foundation’s inaugural event in Miami and the first since the death of founder Tony Martell in November.

“To receive this award the first time TJ Martell celebrates an event in Miami is incredible for us,” said Gloria Estefan, while accepting the award alongside her husband. “We love Tony Martell, we love what he did. He turned a lot of pain into a lot of wonderful things.”

“When I used to go to Sony, Tony was always there with a beautiful smile,” added Emilio Estefan. “In [music], it’s important to use our career to make people’s lives better. It’s not just about us.”

On Thursday, it was about different sectors of Miami’s Latin music community coming together for a cause that is close to many. Hosted by Enrique Santos, the popular radio host who now heads iHeartMedia’s new Latin division, speakers included Maria Elena Marroquín, widow of CAA agent Rick Marroquín, who died last year of cancer.

In turn, the Estefan’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by Afo Verde, Sony Music Entertainment’s Chairman/CEO of Latin America, Spain and Portugal, who was a TJ Martell honoree in New York in 2014. Verde, who has a long history with the Estefans, spoke to the couple’s musical and cultural legacy.

“Gloria is one of the great music artists,” he said to applause. “To hear one measure and say, ‘That’s Gloria Estefan,’ that’s what all artists dream of.”

“I think we’ve never had a more beautiful introduction,” a smiling Estefan responded.

The event was punctuated by two excellent musical performances. First came Emily Estefan — daughter of Emilio and Gloria — soon to release her debut album. Backed by a powerful band that included horns, Estefan sounded uncannily like her mom, but applied her vocals to a hard to a blend of funk, soul and jazz. Both the pipes and the level of musicianship were impressive.

Next came the soulful Diego Torres, who sang an acoustic set accompanied only by guitar, keyboard and light percussion, which included new anthem “Igualdad,” and his perennially beautiful “Color Esperanza.”

Juanes Developing Autobiographical TV Series “Persiguiendo el Sol”

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Juanes is looking to break into the television…

The 43-year-old Colombian musician and his manager, Rebeca Leon, have partnered with Golden Globe-winning producer Ben Silverman for an Empire-like television drama.

Juanes

The three have joined to develop and produce a television show titled Persiguiendo el Sol that will chronicle Juanes’ rise to stardom, from his beginnings in Colombia through his arrival in Miami, according to Billboard.

“It’s a mix of Entourage and Narcos,” Silverman told Billboard, referencing the Netflix drug drama not for its content, but as an example of a show shot in Latin America for mainstream audiences.

Producer Eric Newman, the showrunner for Narcos, will also be executive producer and showrunner for Persiguiendo el Sol.

“He’s the first American producer to bring American show running to American production,” said Silverman, who has worked several Latin-themed projects in recent years, including Jane the Virgin and Killer Women.

Silverman, who is the founder and chairman of entertainment production company Electus, arrived in Miami on January 18 in time for the NATPE global television market. He’ll be shopping the show concept to potential production partners in both Latin and mainstream media with plans to start shooting as early as spring or summer.

Persiguiendo el Sol, which is named after Juanes’ memoir, will be a bilingual show and will feature cameos from multiple artists in both mainstream and Latin worlds.

The notion of the show began to brew after Silverman met Juanes through Leon in 2014 and enlisted him to perform in an episode of Jane the Virgin. Silverman was already heavily vested in Latin themed productions. Among other projects, he was putting the finishing touches on bilingual film Hands of Stone, which is due out in April and tells the story of boxer Roberto “Mano de Piedra” Durán. Its cast includes Edgar Ramirez, Ruben Blades, Usher and Robert de Niro.

Juanes has also been dabbling further in mainstream film and television. Last year, his song “Juntos,” co-written with fellow Colombian Fonseca, was used for the ending credits of Disney film McFarland USA.

Pitbull Inks Development Deal with Endemol North America

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Pitbull is ready to branch out beyond music…

The 33-year-old Cuban American rap superstar, who will be performing the official World Cup song with Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte, has agreed to an exclusive overall deal with Endemol North America to develop and produce original content for television and digital platforms.

Pitbull

The digital aspect of the “Timber” singer’s deal, which was announced at NATPE, also entails a Pitbull channel on the newly launched Endemol Beyond.

The latter, a new global venture, will look to create a premium network of international and local channels across platforms such as YouTube, Yahoo and AOL. As part of the pact, Pitbull and his manager, Latium Entertainment CEO Charles Chavez, will executive produce fare.

“The U.S. Hispanic consumer and gigantic global stars like Pitbull have been the underpinning for the major Latin music and cultural influences in the U.S. and around the world. By offering the support, global infrastructure and reach for television and digital that only Endemol can provide, we look forward to the output and to the multitude of possibilities that this collaboration will generate,” said Endemol N.A. co-CEO Cris Abrego.

Added fellow CEO Charlie Corwin, who has actively looked to beef up the company’s brand roster since taking the reins of the company months earlier: “Combining Pitbull’s already massive global presence with our Endemol Beyond digital dream team and our creative scripted and unscripted teams in a first of its kind deal will give us an opportunity to create ground-breaking content across all media.”

The news comes as Pitbull’s latest breakout, “Timber,” sits atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the third consecutive week. The musician-turned-entrepreneur’s career sales exceed 5 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide, and he boasts No. 1 hits in more than 15 countries.

Azcárraga Jean to Receive NATPE’s Tartikoff Legacy Award

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Emilio Azcárraga Jean is being heralded for his impact in the world of television…

The 45-year-old Mexican businessman, the head of Grupo Televisa, has been named one of the recipients of the 11th Annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award.

Emilio Azcárraga Jean

Other honorees include veteran producer James L. Brooks, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and NBCUniversal exec Lauren Zalaznick.

“We are honored to celebrate this extraordinary group of talented people who have made such remarkable contributions to the world of media,” said NATPE President & CEO Rod Perth in a statement. “We’ve chosen each of them because they’ve raised the bar of achievement, and are some of the absolute best in their fields of our business.”

The Tartikoff Award is intended to recognize television professionals “who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming.”

He became the CEO of Grupo Televisa at the age of 29, after the death of his father. He’s widely credited from turning Televisa from a near-bankrupt business into the prosperous company it is today

Azcárraga Jean, ranked as the seventh richest in Mexico with a fortune estimated at $2.3 billion as of March 2011m is also a Board Member of Teléfonos de Mexico, Univision and Banamex.

He’ll receive the award at next year’s NATPE  Television Market and Conference, taking place on January 27-29 at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach.