Monica Albuquerque, who joined Warner Bros. Discovery Latin (WBDLA) in 2021 as head of talent and telenovela development, has been upped to head of scripted content at the company.
She takes over the responsibilities of Marcelo Tamburri who leaves the company in March after nearly two decades. In her new role, she will be responsible for the conceptualization and development of original scripted projects for WBDLA’s streaming platform HBO Max and pay TV outlets in Latin America. She will continue to oversee the development, research and talent management for both fiction and non-fiction content at the company.
“It’s an honor to follow in the footsteps of my colleague Marcelo Tamburri who I greatly admire and respect,” said Albuquerque. Noting that she has worked directly with some of the best creators, producers and casting pros in the Latin American market, she added: “Without a doubt, this is an opportunity to continue bolstering and offering new content in the region.”
Albuquerque will continue reporting to Tomás Yankelevich, EVP & chief content officer, general entertainment, who remarked: “Monica’s deep experience and fresh look at melodramas will undoubtedly be a key factor in boosting our original scripted content across the region and will continue expanding the strategy that she has been building in the telenovela genre.”
“I am convinced that her expanded role will pay off by combining the creation of new stories with the development and management of talent,” he added.
Prior to joining the company, Albuquerque worked at TV Globo for 21 years, seven of them as head of the station’s development and artistic monitoring board.
Tamburri’s is one of many execs departing Warner Bros. Discovery worldwide since Warner Bros. merged with Discovery last year. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been charged with reducing Warner’s $50 billion debt, laying off hundreds system wide as part of its restructuring of content and staff. It shut down CNN’s fledgling $300 million streaming service CNN+ and shelved Batgirl, the $90 million pic planned for HBO Max with Afro-Latina actress Leslie Grace, in favor of a tax writeoff.
Source: variety