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Salma Hayek to star in ABC's new telenovela,
"Betty La Fea"
 October
19, 2004 -- Mexican beauty, Salma Hayek, is returning to her telenovela roots with an American version of the phenomenally successful Latin American soap opera "Betty La
Fea."
Oscar-nominated Hayek has joined forces with Ben Silverman to executive produce the show -- which has received a script commitment from the network -- through their companies Ventanarosa and Reveille.
Kerry Ehrin has been tapped to pen the pilot script for Touchstone Television, which has come on board to produce with Ventanarosa and Reveille.
In "Betty La Fea," or "Ugly Betty," Betty is an unattractive and unpopular but very efficient assistant at a fashion design company who falls in love with her handsome boss. Starring Ana Maria Orozco, the telenovela became a sensation in Colombia during its 1999-2001 run, when it aired every weeknight.
Like the original, the ABC version will be a light one-hour with comedic elements. The genre is familiar territory for
Ehrin, who was a writer on ABC's "Moonlighting" and most recently wrote and executive produced the 2003 action comedy pilot "The Partners" for ABC and Touchstone.
U.S. networks first tried to translate the "Betty La Fea" format for American audiences in fall 2001, when NBC developed a half-hour based on the telenovela with writer Alexa Junge and Sony Pictures TV. The project didn't go forward.
During the same 2001-02 development season, ABC and Touchstone TV developed the comedy "Less Than Perfect," now part of ABC's TGIF comedy lineup, which bears some similarities to the premise of "Betty."
Silverman and his NBC Universal-based Reveille pacted with Colombia's RCN Television for the rights to adapt "Betty" for the United States in the fall.
Hayek, who was nominated for an Oscar for the title role in "Frida," became a famous telenovela star in her native Mexico before moving to Hollywood in the early 1990s.
The actress, who most recently starred in Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," next appears in "After the Sunset" and "Ask the Dust."
The show centers on an unattractive and unpopular but very efficient assistant at a fashion design company who falls in love with her handsome boss. The ABC version will be a light one-hour with comedic elements, as was the Colombian original.
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