LOS ANGELES — Dulce Media has completed its first production, a parody of the popular Spanish talk show “El Gordo y La Flaca,” that will be released through Hustler Video in January.
“El Gordo y La Flaca,” which translated means “The Fat Man and the Skinny Lady,” is a daily, one-hour variety show on the Spanish language TV network Univision. The program features high-profile Latin celebrity guests and various skits with hosts Raul De Molina, aka El Gordo, and Lili Estefan, aka La Flaca. Taped in Miami, the show has been broadcasted in several Latin American countries since 1998.
Roman Tamez, who owns Dulce Media, is the executive producer for the “Esta No Es El Gordo y La Flaca” porn parody — “This is Not the Fat Man and the Skinny Lady” — that has been in development for two years.
“This is a different product entirely,” Tamez told XBIZ. “We’re not taking the word Latina and slapping it on the front of the movie. Nobody has ever parodied a Spanish language TV show until now.”
In shopping around the concept, Tamez eventually connected with Hustler Video creative director Drew Rosenfeld and director of operations Rob Smith, leading to an exclusive distribution deal. Then the rest of pieces fell into place, starting with tapping reputable performer/producer/agent Shy Love to direct the movie, which contains only Spanish dialogue. Love, a nine-year industry vet, is also the co-owner of Adult Talent Managers.
Tamez noted that he had met Love only once before approaching her to take on this project.
“It was a little bit of luck because I really had a hard time trying to find somebody to direct it that spoke Spanish and understands the content,” Tamez said.
Then he hired Luis Estrada, a mainstream director-writer with more than 50 credits, to write the screenplay.
“He’s done several mainstream-type movies in Mexico,” Tamez said.
Love and Tamez worked together on casting, selecting Lisa DeMarco to play the lead character based on Estefan, who is the niece of singer Gloria Estefan’s husband Emilio.
Jason Hice plays a non-sex role as El Gordo. On the Univision show, El Gordo provides the comic relief to Estefan’s more straightforward hosting.
“We think we put together a pretty good cast. Most of the people are portraying a Latin celebrity that would appear on this show, so we had to find people that were similar in looks to the celebrities we were trying to portray,” Tamez explained.
The cast also includes Yurizan Beltran as Vida Guerra, Nikki Delano as Shakira, and Bridgette B. as Lorena Herrera. Stevie Shae, Marco Banderas, Marco Rivera, Carlo Carrera and Ricky Anthony round out the lineup.
In a marketing coup, DeMarco and Banderas were invited to be guests on the Univision show as a result of the recent buzz about the movie. The pair taped their interview segment on Wednesday and it is scheduled to air on Monday’s episode.
Tamez has been associated with the adult industry for several years, having previously hired talent from L.A. Direct Models for a poker-themed webcam site that he used to run. He said that Dulce Media plans to release between eight and 12 movies in 2012.
“We’re going full force. There’s potential in this market, and this is something different enough that I think we could be successful with it,” Tamez reasoned. “I don’t think I would have any interest in doing the same thing that everybody else is doing.”
He said that while the focus is squarely on the Spanish language market with the “El Gordo” parody, there are also plans to subtitle it in English.
“The key was to do something recognizable to that customer when they walk into the store,” Tamez said. “It seems like there is a lot of excitement for this. We are getting a lot of mainstream press in the Latin community.”
The movie, which wrapped last Thursday morning, is in post-production with Axel Braun’s editing company working on the final cut.
Pictured from left: Lisa DeMarco, Nikki Delano and Jason Hice.