Keshet to coproduce Telemundo drama

US Hispanic network Telemundo has entered an agreement to co-develop and coproduce a Spanish-language drama with Israel’s Keshet International.

Telemundo Studios and Keshet will co-create the series, with the project coming under the KI banner and marking the first Spanish-language series the company has produced.

Telemundo Studios’ senior VP, scripted development, Perla arias will oversee development, with Kelly Wright (below, right), KI’s head of Latin America, looking after the project for Keshet.

Plot and cast details for the series were not revealed, but Telemundo president Luis Silberwasser (above, left) said KI was “known for producing powerful, unconventional and bold scripted series”.

TBI understands it will take Telemundo’s ‘super-series’ format – meaning it will run for between 60 and 80 episodes, compared with the normal telenovela format of 120 to 160.

Since joining NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo in 2014, Silberwasser has attempted to make the channel’s scripted output more relevant to Hispanics living the US, as he has outlined to TBI.

“As we step up the pace of our expansion in Latin America, original development will be a top priority,” said Wright, who was upped from a sales director post in January this year.

“Telemundo produces excellent, gripping content that commands impressive numbers in the US, and this collaboration between our best developers will deliver a new pipeline of premium programming to the channel.”

For KI, the deal comes soon after it appointed Frank Scheuermann as head of development and production for Latin America.