Soapbox Mexico

Alicia’s challenge

What are the tensions and real-life dramas facing the actors, writers and producers of a successful Mexican soap opera?

Soapboax Mexico goes behind the scenes of one of Mexico’s longest running and most popular telenovelas which promotes women’s rights and positive social change: What Women Don’t Say. 

In the first episode of Soapbox Mexico, we follow dynamic Alicia Carvajal, the executive producer of Mexico’s successful melodrama What Women Don’t Say. A feisty and committed veteran, she could not be more different from the telenovela glamour that she orchestrates at TV Azteca, a big Mexican commercial television station.

Alicia and her sidekick Laura have been brought in to relaunch but keep costs down. We capture the feel of the programme – for women and about women, using melodrama whilst campaigning for women’s rights. It is becoming amazingly popular – through the making of a particular episode about a mother of a Down’s Syndrome child.

Meanwhile, Alicia’s big ploy is to shoot a new title sequence to mark the start of the new regime and put Mexican women, the fans, and their problems at centre stage. The Down’s Syndrome actor wins over the cast with a stellar performance. Alicia is greeted in the street by fans when she films.