Soap Operas, Industry & Culture, Ltd.

No. 13 DECEMBER 2015

The soap opera is the fiction genre preferred by Portuguese viewers and the main prop of the Portuguese audiovisual industry. For six months, the author followed all the stages of creating a successful soap opera, Mar Salgado, from when it was written to when it was released, as well as the production, directing, acting and editing. He was at meetings and film shoots, he went behind the scenes. He followed all the technical stages of putting the finishing touches on one episode of Mar Salgado. He spoke to and interviewed authors, producers, directors, actors, technicians and viewers.

This book aims to tell the story of how Portuguese soap operas are constructed and, in particular, every step of the experience, the tension between the cultural aspect and the industrial aspect of this television content. It is the first book to visit, describe and analyse soap operas as the main product of the «dream factory» that television also is.