From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s José Roberto Filippelli was a household name in the international TV industry. He first made a name for himself in Italy (mostly using his Italian middle name) by selling telenovelas produced in his native Brazil by TV Globo. His wild success lasted until 1999, when he left the TV industry and returned to Brazil where he reclaimed his original first name, “José.”
Filippelli’s adventures in the TV industry started in 1974, and at age 84 he decided to recount his beginnings in the autobiographical book, A Melhor Televisao Do Mundo (The Best Television in the World). As Filippelli wrote, in 1974, after receiving a good offer to sell the advertising agency he owned with his first wife, he decided, with her and their three daughters, to take a “gap year” in Europe. While in Italy he was captivated by the country’s nascent commercial television industry, and when he returned to Brazil, he approached Globo’s owner, Roberto Pisani Marihno (1904-2003) to let him sell his telenovelas internationally. Marihno’s mother was born in Salerno, Italy, and immigrated to Brazil at a young age. Filippelli’s family also hails from the same region.
In 1976 the Filippelli family moved to Rome and immediately sold a soap to Italian TV: A Escrava Isaura, a 1976 telenovela. This sale largely paved the way for Globo’s series to enter several countries, including the Soviet Union and China.
Thanks to Filippelli, Globo’s novelas were sold in over 100 countries around the world. But it was with Você Decide, an interactive TV show where viewers would decide the ending, that Globo’s programming would enter primetime on TV screens around the world. Você Decide was also a precursor in format sales, since Filippelli licensed the IP internationally.
In 1985 Filippelli moved Globo’s Sales division to London. From 1997 until his return to his native São Paulo two years later, Filippelli acted as a Globo’s sales agent for a reduced number of territories, explaining in his book that this great period spanned 24 years between Rome and London, 22 of which he spent in the service of Globo.
Filippelli died in January at the age of 88 at Vila Alpina, São Paulo, but only now the news of his passing reached VideoAge.
A more expansive bio can be found here.
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