Sebastián Ortega

Sebastián Ortega (born August 14, 1973, in Buenos Aires) is a renowned television producer from Argentina. He is the son of Palito Ortega.

Career

In 2001, he was hired to be the fiction content director of Ideas del Sur, Marcelo Tinelli's production company. He produced high-budget mini-series like Okupa, Tumberos and El Hacker 2001 which gave the production company good numbers and prestige. He also created successful novelas such as Costumbres Argentinas and Los Roldan, a comedy telenovela which became a ratings phenomenon in Argentina in 2004. In 2005, Tinelli and most of its productions moved from Telefe, Argentina's leading channel, to Canal 9. Although Tinelli's main show, Showmatch, maintained itself as the most-watched show in the country, the move affected most of its fiction shows, including the second season of Los Roldan which flopped.

In 2006, Tinelli decided to move to Canal 13, one of Argentina's top channels alongside Telefe. The move would give Tinelli a better platform but it meant fiction production had to be downsized since prime-time fiction in the channel was dominated by Pol-ka. With the night slot occupied, Ideas had the afternoon slot, which meant kids and teen-targeted fiction and traditional romantic telenovelas. Ortega was unsatisfied with this development and decided to leave Ideas.

Sebastian founded his own production company, Underground contenidos. Canal 9 trusted him to produce some much needed hits for the channel and he created three expensive productions which were all green-lighted: Gladiores de Pompeya, El Tiempo no Para and the sitcom Amo de Casa. Although all of them were praised by critics, they didn't achieve success and were canceled.

In 2007, he produced Lalola for America 2 in co-production with Yair Dori Media.^[1] The show increased the channel's rating and became a huge international success, with its format being sold to over 40 countries. The novela was also awarded the prestigious Martin Fierro award. Because of Lalola success, Argentina's top-rated channel Telefe decided to hire him to produce for the channel. Since then, he has worked solely for them and has created successful show Los Exitosos Pells. Sebastian Ortega also directed the much hyped music video Deberias Saber Porque in 2009 which marked Charly Garcia's comeback.

Since 2008, Ortega is in charge of Telefe's primetime fiction. Besides Los Pells in 2008, he produced Botineras, which aired between 2009 and 2010, and Un Año Para Recordar in 2011. However, its most successful show to date was 80s set comedy telenovela Graduates which became the most-watched show in Argentina during 2012.

In 2013, he is producing Telefe's big bet for the year, the comedy telenovela Los Vecinos en Guerra.

References