Lessons from our talk with el Chascas

Talking to el Chascas last week was so exciting. Actually hearing from the writer of a successful and on-air telenovela made the entire process of telenovela production and broadcasting seem that much more tangible and real. Talking to Chascas was really exciting because he reiterated so many of the things we've discussed in class. He discussed the production and writing process in the same way we learned about it in class; it was interesting to hear his take on the crazy schedule and the sheer amount of writing he has to do for each telenovela and to then think about how we've learned about that and about the writing method. I thought it was also really interesting to hear Chascas talk about his methods behind how he creates a story for a telenovela. His technique of creating situations and characters from circumstances and situations he dislikes is really clever and creative. I really appreciated that he uses these situations that bother him to send a message. Some telenovelas that I've seen and that we've talked about in class really don't have a very profound message outside of the generic love story, so hearing Chascas say that he deliberately creates his telenovelas with a purpose and significance in mind was awesome. Just knowing that Santa Diabla  has been carefully set up to make the audience think and reflect is really convicting. I also really appreciated that he even noted that some writers and producers of telenovelas assume that their audience is stupid, when in actuality they are very intelligent. I really enjoyed hearing how down to earth el Chascas was and how much of himself he has put into writing telenovelas for his audience.