São Paulo – Born and bred in London, the young Kuwaiti Layla Abdallah had always believed her father was dead. On losing her mother, Layla discovers she had been lied to and that her father was alive, living in Kuwait. She therefore decides to travel to the Gulf country to trace her roots. During her search, she falls in love with Waleed, the son of one of the men who may be her father.
The story above is the plotline of soap-opera Between Love and Past, written by the Brazilian Daniel Ortiz and which has been enjoying great success in the 22 Arab nations in which MBC, the main entertainment network in the region, is broadcast. "Soap operas tended to have average viewing of 14 to 16 points, but with this one, the level has increased to 22. It is in first place in prime-time,” said Ortiz. Most of the viewers, according to the author, are in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the main markets for MBC.
Graduated in International Relations and with experience in the United Nations, Ortiz began his career in the entertainment area after taking a screenplay writing course in Los Angeles, USA. After having written soap-operas in Peru and Mexico, he was invited to write one set in the Arab world.
The original storyline of Between Love and Past had been written in 1998, to be produced in Peru. It did not, however, leave the pages until Ortiz presented it to the MBC producers, in 2009. "They liked it. The plot includes love, mystery and suspense regarding whether he (Walled) is or is not her (Layla’s) brother. It is a very rich storyline,” he said.
When he was writing the soap opera, Ortiz spent four months in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, one month in Kuwait and 20 days in Egypt. To help align the plot to Arab culture, he counted on the support of an MBC team that, among other professionals, included a “dialogue adapter”, responsible for adapting the author’s ideas to the local customs, as well as creating the Arabic dialogue for the characters.
Ortiz says he did not find it hard to write a soap opera for Arabic audiences, but reveals some details that provided greater freedom to his work. "The choice of a woman brought up in another country was strategic, so she could do things that a girl brought up in Kuwait could never do, like have dinner alone with a man, for example,” he explained. However, some care was also required. “There are certain shots, casual meetings, on which you have to work more carefully. Reputation is a very complicated matter.”
Different from Brazilian productions, which are written and shot while they are being broadcast, Arab soap-operas are produced in separate phases. Between Love and Past was shot between 2010 and 2011 and only went on air in January this year. It goes on five times a week, from Saturday to Wednesday, and its last episode will be shown in a fortnight.
A long soap opera, with around 100 episodes, was new to the Arab world. "They only produced 30 episode series for broadcasting during Ramadan,” explained the author. "Audiences liked it very much. There was great Facebook repercussion regarding the leading couple,” he explained. "The leading actress became a star there,” said Ortiz, regarding Shahd Alyasen, who brings Layla to life.
In Brazil, Ortiz worked with author Silvio de Abreu on soap opera Passione, broadcast in 2010. He is currently helping Abreu write the remake of Guerra dos Sexos (War of Genders), to go on air in October. Regarding the possibility of writing another soap-opera for the Arab world, he answers: "I would love to. I have already been asked to write the continuation to this soap-opera or another one. I have a two-year contract with Globo TV, and then we can see. I like writing for foreign audiences,” he added.
*Translated by Mark Ament
