TELEMUNDO ADQUIRES THE COMPLETE LIBRARY OF CORÍN TELLADO

Telemundo Global Studios has closed a deal with Spain’s Planeta for the exclusive rights to the complete library of all time best-selling Spanish-language writer Corín Tellado, which reaches nearly 4.000 titles, Variety reported. This long-term licensing deal marks the first time a Spanish-language studio has acquired rights to a major author’s complete work.

Highly flexible, the agreement gives Telemundo Global Studios rights to modern-day adaptations in multiple formats — limited, long-format and returning series as well as films — for both linear and streaming platforms. Planeta will provide consulting services for the selection and adaptation of titles via its transmedia content division, Stories. It will also encourage its authors in Latin America to help adapt Tellado’s novels.

Corín Tellado was listed by The Guinness World Records in 1994 as having sold more books — over 400 million to date — than any other author in Spanish in history, and more than iconic best-sellers in international such as Stephen King, Paulo Coehlo and J.R.R. Tolkein. She is also recognized as one of the grand dames of romantic literature, writing about strong-willed female characters who, miscomprehended, take control of their lives as they search for true or a second-chance.

“As the number one producer of scripted Spanish-language content in the United States, licensing the rights to the entire library of Corín Tellado’s universal and timeless stories is a dream come true. Corín Tellado was a master of the essence of literature, which is story-telling. She gave her readers a mix between fantasy and irrationality, without which we cannot live,”  Marcos Santana, President of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, told Variety.

“Spanish-language viewers are craving great love stories. Especially this decade and the next, they’ll be in huge demand, not just because of the pandemic but global crises, social inequality and violence. There is no other studio better equipped than Telemundo Global Studios to bring these stories to life in a modern, culturally relevant way for Latino audiences to enjoy,”  he added.