Tag: renzo devia

Categories
Colombia

Medellin

Paula from Medellin Tourism

1st day of shooting and we get an early start meeting with Paula from Medellin Tourism office. Paula has a whole agenda planned for us so we start the trip off with an intense schedule that includes stops all over Medellin.

We begin at Barefoot Park where I am forced to remove my shoes and wade around in the water, grass and sand and get in touch with Mother Earth. The park is tranquil and the weather is splendid but I am in desperate need of a tan. I probably haven’t been this white in months… why didn’t we start in Cartagena?!

I’m pretty nervous and not used to the camera following my every move. This is going to take some serious getting used to.

We head from there to the Metro Cable and take the cable car up to the barrio Santo Domingo, and to one of the five new libraries the city has constructed in poor areas throughout the city. The views from the Metro Cable are stunning! And looking down gives you a glimpse of barrio life from above. It’s a must do when traveling to Medellin.

Metro Cable - A Must Do In Medellin
Barrio Santo Domingo

After touring the library, we break for lunch and meet one of Paula’s counterparts, Cristina, from the Medellin Convention and Visitors Bureau. We have a delicious lunch and head over to Parque Explora to take in the science museum. It’s full of schoolchildren and the most memorable part was going in the earthquake simulator which simulates a 6.0 Richter scale earthquake. To be honest it wasn’t that bad, but that is of course without buildings collapsing around you.

Pueblita Paisa @ Night
Pueblita Paisa in the daytime

By the time we finished Parque Explora it’s getting late so we fight rush hour traffic and head over to Pueblita Paisa, which is a reproduction of a typical little town in Colombia. The view is incredible but it’s too dark to shoot much so we’ll have to come back tomorrow to get b-roll.

We head back to the hotel and I grab a quick workout before we head out for some legendary Medellin nightlife.  Our first stop is Woka in Parque Lleras, where we order a drink called La cucaracha or something like that and the bartenders set the bar on fire. Good TV!

Nightlife in Medellin

From there we head to a couple of really cool clubs and end up the night in Sabaneta at a place called “Dulce Jesus Mio” (My Sweet Jesus), that is a real trip. It felt like Halloween inside the bar with so many people dressed up in costumes, but to be honest I was so exhausted that I couldn’t really enjoy it. I just wanted to go to sleep. It was 3AM and I’d been up since 6AM the previous morning. All in all, a pretty intense first day!  Travel ain’t easy!

Renzo shooting in Sabaneta
Categories
Colombia

Getting Ready

Medellin's Pueblita Paisa

Getting ready for our first day of shooting tomorrow and it’s going to be ROUGH.  What a way to start off a 20 day shoot, and travel schedule with a 15 hour day our very first day! Welcome to showbiz right? As I’m well aware this is not a very glamorous business 99% of the time. Actually, you could say the same thing about traveling.  It’s a lot of grunt work and grit along with moments of pure joy and enlightenment that sustain you, and make it all worthwhile tenfold.

I’d be lying if I said I don’t have some mixed emotions about being in front of the camera after all these years behind the camera.  It’s got to be authentic or I just won’t be able to do it.

I’m a pretty confident guy, but just to be safe, I’m really hoping that by shooting this a bit documentary style, I’ll get over the self consciousness of having cameras follow me around after a couple of  hours.

The love of travel and the creative process of producing will keep me going. Of course, the real challenge won’t be until edit when I’m forced to look and critique myself over and over and over. Ouch! I sure like critiquing other people’s work better, ha, ha!

Medellin's Pueblita Paisa

But I’m excited to get started.  Colombia is a great country and most travelers in the U.S. at least aren’t aware of all it has to offer these days so we are really excited to bring this information to people.

Tomorrow, bright and early, we’re shooting with Laura from Medellin’s Dept. of Tourism…she’s done a great job of putting together a jam packed agenda for us.  After that, it’s rehearsal with local punk band Los Suziox.

And we end the evening at the wee hours of the next morning, partaking in some legendary Medellin nightlife. As I said, I’m super excited and I’ll rally, but tomorrow is going to be exhausting. I better get off here and get some sleep tonight…for a change.

Categories
Public Relations

Renzo Devia – Biography

74674_1314864892076_1844335672_630476_165119_n
Renzo Devia is a U.S.-born television producer and director of Colombian heritage. As an American Latino producer, Devia continually strives to project positive, dynamic images of Latinos on television. Devia’s production experience includes his first television job in 1995 at Univision networks, the nation’s premier Spanish-language network as well as extensive producing experience at MTV and HBO Latino.

While field producing for Univision, Devia encountered the Latino audience in the streets of New York city, learning valuable insights into the shortcomings of both Spanish and English television serving the growing U.S. Latino audience. After listening to feedback from “the source,” Devia realized there was a large void in the market.

Devia pitched his ideas and projects to Univision, but after repeated rejections from the Spanish television network, in 2001 Devia went independent and teamed up with Executive Producer Robert G. Rose (also a former Univision employee) and his vision became a reality with Urban Latino TV, which pioneered the business model for television programming in English for young Latinos.

Devia and Rose created Maximas Productions and produced American Latino TV and LatiNation which are still airing in broadcast syndication in over 100 cities nationwide. Devia, Rose and the Maximas Productions team garnered multiple awards including the Imagen Award for Best National Informational Program three consecutive years (2003, 2004 and 2005).

Devia strives to continuously develop programming that breaks down barriers and overcomes stereotypes of under served audiences. In 2008 Devia and Rose sold the American Latino TV and LatiNation properties to LATV Networks.

After 15 years of producing English language content for U.S born Latinos, Devia is now independently developing new projects and bringing his talents to Latin America. His quest now includes telling stories in Spanish from Central and South America and the Caribbean.

After many extensive travels and great relationships with the Latin market Renzo has made it his mission to educate people on the under served Afro-Latino culture. His vision has been consistent, to unite Latinos and empower them.

In 2009 Devia began his new company Creador Pictures, LLC and in 2010, Devia and Rose re-formed their creative alliance to develop and create “Raw Travel”, a different kind of travel television series focusing on socially aware and sustainable travel.