HBO Latin America has announced the premiere of their new series called "El Negocio," which will begin airing on August 18. The show is set in the luxurious upper class world of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The series follows the lives of three sophisticated ladies called Karin (played by Rafaela Mandelli), Moon (Juliana Schalch) and Magali (Michelle Batista), who use sophisticated marketing methods and a business plan to run a highly lucrative VIP prostitution ring.
The series is based on a script, which was inspired on the lives of high end prostitutes that worked in the city of Sao Paulo. "We started building the characters while very much in touch with that world to make it as realistic and accurate as possible," actress Rafaela Mandelli, who was visiting Mexico City this week to promote the show, told the press.
Mandelli added, "The interesting thing about the characters is that they are not victims, this line of work was just another option for them, the series is not exalting nor making an apology for prostitution, but we are showing the side of girls in luxury, that actually exists."
The show, which was created by Luca Paiva Mello and Rodrigo Castilho, tells the story of three young people who join together to change their lives in a radical way, in a city that hosts 60 percent of all millionaires in the country. Smart, elegant and college educated girls Karin, Moon and Magali spend the day studying marketing theories to later on apply them at night, to grow their customer base and their revenue.
United by their common goal of success, the three girls will become the first sex workers armed with a business plan, "The three characters are quite different, but they complement each other to make the business work" Michelle Batista added about the show.
Karin, who is the founder of the business, is the most rational of the three girls. She is nearly 30 and is determined to save a good amount before retiring from the profession. As a good strategist, she split her current agent and searches for customers on her own at the beginning of the show.
Luna, on the other hand, is more interested in not relying on the money her parents give her every month. She began working as a cashier in a bank and there she discovers an easy gateway to meet rich men.
Magali is the youngest of the trio, as well as the most naive and immature. Upon moving to Sao Paolo, she is fascinated by the glamorous life but doesn't have the money to live it: She begins by offering sex in exchange for stays at luxury hotels and dining in the finest restaurants of the city.
"For HBO, this series has all the elements to become a success, it will make you reflect, it has the strong language and sex; it's an issue that can only be addressed here [at HBO]," Miguel Angel Oliva, who is the Vice President of HBO Latin America, said.
The series consists of 13 one-hour episodes. Each episode is based on a different marketing strategy that the three girls will undertake.
The show was filmed in 2012 in over 130 different locations in Sao Paulo.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
