Gina Rodriguez and America Ferrera have more in common than being the only Latina women to have won Golden Globes for best actress: Both of their series’ were originally Latin American telenovelas.
“Jane The Virgin”, adapted from a Venezuelan telenovela, and “Ugly Betty”, from Colombia, were adapted from the daily hour-long shows in Spanish to hour-a-week programs suited to American sitcom formats.
Ben Silverman, who has worked with other adapted series like “The Office” which appeared in Great Britain before it became a prime-time U.S. show, was the production architect of the two telenovelas.
“`Jane The Virgin’ is the next evolution of what we did with `Ugly Betty,’ the next step forward,” said Silverman, who founded Electus, a TV content and distribution company.
The CW series, which debuted in 2014,…