WE tv will tap the popular telenovela genre with the development of new docu-series My Life Is a Telenovela, said network officials.

The series will follow the lives of several Latina actors and actresses working in the telenovela genre, according to network officials. Several of the characters within the show will be vying for role in a real life telenovela produced by Spanish-language network Telemundo.

“WE tv is a network that was really built on diversity, bringing viewers personalities and programming it has historically been hard to find on the mainstream dial, and this show continues that commitment to new faces and voices,” said Marc Juris, WE tv president in a statement. “We are so excited to bring this world and the passionate men and women who make these incredibly popular soap operas to our viewers, and proud of a strategic partnership with Telemundo that will bring a high level of credibility and authenticity to our show.”

Patricio Wills, the executive responsible for such hit telenovelas as UniMás’s La Viuda Negra and Telemundo’s La Reina del Sur, has agreed to steward a Miami-based startup that will develop content exclusively for UniMás and its digital platforms.

The first project from Wills’s new venture, which has yet to be named, is expected to debut in October.

Wills is the founder, president and CEO of RTI Colombia. In February of 2011, he added oversight of Producciones RTI, the company’s joint venture with Telemundo that produced La Reina del Sur (“Queen of the South”), one of the U.S. network’s most successful primetime dramas.

By 2013, RTI-produced telenovelas weren’t airing on Telemundo in the U.S., though. Following the 2011-2012 series Flor Salvaje, Mexican media company Televisa joined forces with RTI. The result placed La Viuda Negra on Univision Communications-owned UniMás. (Univision Communications has an exclusive deal to air Televisa-owned programming in the U.S.)

The most recent RTI/Televisa series to air in the U.S., La esquina del Diablo, also aired on UniMás. That series concluded its run in April of 2015.

Now, Wills has been charged with developing “edgy, action-packed series” for UniMás’s primetime lineup — a task that will have the nearly 40-year Latin television veteran develop content specifically for U.S. Hispanic audiences.

 “Patricio is, without a doubt, an innovator and one of the best content creators in media,” Univision Communications president and CEO Randy Falco said in a statement. “As we continue to grow UniMás as one of the leading Spanish-language broadcast networks, we are pleased to join forces with Patricio to continue to innovate and bring our audience the best in alternative formats and stories.”

The agreement with Wills is significant to the evolution of UniMás, which shifted from previous male-focused incarnation TeleFutura in January 2013 to target all Latinos in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-35-year-old demographic. As UniMás grew, it did so with Televisa-owned RTI programming. By bringing Wills in-house, Univision Communications’ sales team now has the power to go full throttle with product integration opportunities and plot customization, as Telemundo has done for the last several years.

Willis’s deal with UniMás arrives at a critical point for parent Univision, which saw the expected resignation of Alberto “Beto” Ciurana as president of programming and content in late January. Ciurana’s exit followed the departure of several other key Univision executives, including Ruth Gaviria, who exited as executive vice president of corporate marketing last August. She resurfaced last month as chief marketing officer for radio-station owner Intercom Communications.

His final project with RTI Productions — La Viuda Negra II — debuted at 10 p.m. Feb. 28 with a world premiere simulcast on Univision, UniMás and Galavisión networks, as well as on Univision Digital platforms.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán has certainly been getting lots of airtime on Univision’s networks these days.

So far, those appearances have been on the network’s newscasts, with in-depth coverage of the Mexican drug lord’s Jan. 8 capture by authorities after his third escape from prison.

Starting this fall, though, El Chapo’s story will become the grist for fiction, as Univision Communications-owned UniMás will air the new, “unauthorized” series Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán: El Varón de la Droga.

The drama is based on a novel by Andrés López López. Univision did not reveal a specific premiere date and time for Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán: El Varón de la Droga, nor did it disclose casting details.

In a statement, UniMás said the series “will bring audiences an extraordinarily authentic view of the inner workings and politics of the drug trafficking subculture.”

Univision Communications president of programming and content Alberto Ciurana said the story of “El Chapo” had been on his radar well before the drug lord’s capture earlier this month. The fact that Guzmán is in custody again — at least for now — gave UniMás the opportunity to start promoting the forthcoming series.

“The Chapo Guzmán story has been one of the most captivating stories of this past year, and we’re thrilled to bring an inside look into his world to our audiences,” Ciurana said. “Our team has been hard at work the past several months, developing a story that takes our audiences deep inside the dark and fascinating world of one of the most feared outlaws of all time.”

Guzmán’s desire to see his life made into a biographical film, ironically, is what led Mexican authorities to find him hiding in a Los Mochis home. As was widely reported, actor Sean Penn interviewed Guzmán last October for Rolling Stone magazine. It then emerged that the interview was arranged by one of Hispanic television’s biggest stars, Kate del Castillo.

Del Castillo has enjoyed a highly successful 25-year career as a protagonist in telenovelas such as Televisa’s 1991 Muchachitas, her breakthrough series; and Telemundo’s 2011 smash La Reina del Sur. The latter series is about a drug lord’s girlfriend who assumes control of his affairs after he is murdered.

Del Castillo has not yet spoken publicly about her involvement in Guzmán’s capture, but said Jan. 15 that she is ready to tell her side of the story. In an English Twitter post on Jan. 13, Del Castillo she thanked fans for her support and said: “Not surprisingly, many have chosen to make up items they think will make good stories and that aren’t truthful. I look forward to sharing my story with you.”

Even so, any validation of a friendship with the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel could greatly damage Del Castillo’s career. On Jan. 13, Mexico City-based newspaper Milenio published a series of text messages between Del Castillo and Guzmán, who had not yet been captured by Mexican authorities. The texts were “flirtatious” in nature, the newspaper noted.

Del Castillo was last seen on Spanish-language television as the lead in the Telemundo series Dueños del Paraíso, which concluded its run in April 2015. She also appeared in several episodes of The CW’s Jane the Virgin.

Pasiones, a pay-TV network dedicated to telenovelas, has gotten a facelift.

The network, available across Latin America and in the U.S., is now sporting a new logo, on-air look and  graphics package.

The new look took effect on the channel’s Latin American feed on Aug. 3 and on the U.S. signal on Aug. 17. The changes are tied to an increased effort to lure Hispanic women to the channel, the network said.

“We have dramatically increased our investment in content and have now updated our look to reflect our identity,” Francisco Gimenez, general manager of cable networks for Pasiones parent Hemisphere Media Group, said in a statement. “This rebrand reflects our premium status and top-rate programming, and reinforces our commitment to make Pasiones the leading destination for women."

Carolina Bilbao, Hemisphere’s creative director, led the channel repositioning and rebranding. Bilbao and the programming team also worked with Eloisa Iturbe, a Buenos Aires, Argentina-based branding agency, on the reimaging.

“Our channel name clearly states what we are about, but we needed our logo and on-air look to convey the emotions that our novelas and dramas incite,” Bilbao said. “Our new look establishes a very personal relationship with the viewer. Our logo is handwritten and the heart is at the center of it, as it is with everything on our channel. The on-air environment is warm and inviting, and its unique handwritten elements will connect to the programming in a very personal way.”

Pasiones has agreements in place with major producers and distributors from around the world, including Televisa, Telemundo, TV Globo, Caracol, Sony, Cisneros Media Distribution, Artear, and Telefe.

WE tv will follow the lives of Telenovela actresses as part of a new unscripted series, the network said Monday.

The Real Women Of Telenovelas will chronicle a group of beautiful and fierce Latina actresses and actors working on Telenovelas, or short-run Spanish-language soap operas, said network officials. The reality series will be produced by Matador.

“The world of telenovelas has everything we look for in a WE tv show – compelling characters, conflict, consequence and comic relief,” said WE tv president Marc Juris. “We could not be more excited about this project and bringing these beautiful women and their stories and highly charged relationships to WE tv viewers.  I think we’ll find the lines on the scripts in these TV dramas sometimes pale in comparison to real life.”

In March of 2010, none other than The Wall Street Journal took notice of a new trend in the ratings and revenue magnet of Hispanic television, the telenovela.

Rather than focusing on the racy (and toned-down) title of the Telemundo drama Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso (“There’s No Paradise Without Nipples”), the Journal instead turned its magnifying glass on the character of Catalina — a “beautiful but poverty-stricken young girl who wanted nothing more than an ample bosom so she could attract a boyfriend in a powerful drug cartel.” For added drama, Catalina’s life is thrust into turmoil when a hit man hired by her narco-novio winds up shooting her.

Nearly five years have passed since Senos ushered in what the Journal dubbed the “narco-novela” — a trend that includes MundoFox’s airing of Colombian series El Capo; the 2012 Telemundo smash Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal; Telemundo’s early 2014 entry Camelia la Texana; and even a Colombian scene-by-scene retelling of AMC’s acclaimed meth-fueled series Breaking Bad — UniMás’s Metásasis.

The latter program debuted June 8 at 10 p.m. on UniMás. As Hispanic Television Update reported in June, lead character “Walter White” is now “Walter Blanco,” a Colombian high-school chemistry teacher who, like a certain Albuquerque, N.M.-based high-school chemistry teacher, turns to methamphetamine production with a former student to provide for his pregnant wife and disabled son after he loses a battle with terminal cancer.

Unlike Breaking Bad, the tale of Señor Blanco was condensed into a typical telenovela arc of four months; the Metástasis series finale was Sept. 18.

Now airing in that timeslot as of Nov. 10: En la Boca del Lobo, which tells the story of the man responsible for the downfall of the infamous Cali drug cartel.

The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, portrayed by Luis Fernando Hoyos (Love in The Time of Cholera), an engineer and soldier who rises to become head of security for the godfather of the Cali cartel, which is at war with the Medellin cartel. After losing his best friend and family, Ricardo has nothing else to lose and is willing to turn in the Cali cartel to the CIA. The operation goes south, forcing Ricardo to fight for his own life.

As of the week ending Nov. 9, En la Boca del Lobo had not placed among the top 25 most-watched Spanish-language prime-time programs; the aforementioned Pablo Escobar-themed telenovela ranks No. 22.

In fact, the top-rated telenovela is a prime example of the tried-and-true Cinderella story. Mi Corazon es Tuyo, airing at 8 p.m. weeknights on Univision, tells the story of a wealthy widower who unknowingly hires a struggling exotic dancer as the nanny of his seven unruly children. According to Nielsen, the show averaged roughly 7.3 million viewers during the week ending Nov. 9.

The No. 2 ranked show, Univision’s Hasta el fin Del Mundo, focuses on the oldest of three sisters who takes over the operations of the family chocolate factory following their father’s death. For added value, the female protagonist is engaged to a man looking to cash in on her wealth but falls for her chauffeur, a former race-car driver. Hasta averaged slightly more than 3.1 million viewers for the week ending Nov. 9, according to Nielsen.

No. 23-ranked Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal attracted an average of 421,000 viewers for UniMás.

Venevision, the Cisneros Media production company based in Miami, said it has formed an alliance with well-known executive producer Cristina Palacio to develop new series targeted at the U.S. Hispanic market.

Palacio recently served as president and founder of BE-TV, a production company based in Bogota, Colombia.  She was responsible for the development and production of a number of highly successful shows, such as “Los Infiltrados,” “El Cartel de los Sapos,” “La Isla,” “Las Muñecas de la Mafia,” and “Minuto Para Ganar”, among others.

“This partnership with Cristina Palacio strengthens our commitment to continue providing high quality original content under the Cisneros Media brand,” said Venevision Studios EVP of Operations Juan Carlos Sosa in a statement.  “We have established a new management team that has implemented the strategy of investing resources for the creation and development of innovative content to satisfy the needs of Hispanic audiences.”

Venevision produces a wide variety of programs from talk shows and variety shows to acclaimed telenovelas and series, which are broadcast in the United States and Puerto Rico exclusively by the television networks of Univision Communications, and commercialized around the world by Cisneros Media Distribution, which distributes television programming to more than 100 countries and 20 languages. It founded its Miami production studios in 2004 and produces three daily shows from that location: “¿Quién Tiene La Razón?,” “Casos De Familia,” and “Tu Desayuno Alegre;” in addition to original productions such as “Eva Luna,” “Corazón Apasionado,” “El Talismán”, “Rosario,” “Cosita Linda,” “DeMente Criminal,” and currently “Voltea Pa’ Que Te Enamores.”

 “It is a pleasure to work with Venevision Productions,” Palacio said in a statement. “I value their years of experience in this market, along with their state-of-the-art facilities and incredibly talented team.  It’s a perfect fit.”