Pecados ajenos (A Chance to Love, literally "Other people's sins") is a Spanish-language telenovela written by Eric Vonn and produced by the United States–based television network Telemundo. This limited-run series was shot in Florida by Telemundo Studios, Miami. It is also known as A Chance to Love
Pecados Ajenos replaced Amor Mío in Telemundo's 10 p.m. (ET/PT) time slot on October 8, 2007. Lorena Rojas and Mauricio Islas were paired together for the first time in this saga of love, marriage, betrayal, parenthood, friendship and passion.
It stars Lorena Rojas and Mauricio Islas; With the antagonistic participations of Sonya Smith, Catherine Siachoque, Ariel López Padilla, Lupita Ferrer and Sebastián Ligarde with the stellar performances of Alicia Plaza, Carlos Camacho, Mildred Quiroz, Chela Arias, Raúl Izaguirre, Maritza Rodríguez, Hannah Zea, Jencarlos Canela, Mariana Torres, Alonso Espeleta, Pablo Portillo, Roberto Plantier, Tali Duclaud and Ximena Duque.
The show was launched, for example, in Poland on Puls TV and in Romania on Acasa TV.
In Georgia, channel Rustavi 2 broadcast the novel.
Vonn penned this urban melodrama set in West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach. It features star-crossed lovers who fall in love at the worst possible moment. The show dealt with topics such as homosexuality and homophobia in Hispanic culture, date rape and marital rape, drug addiction and alcoholism, domestic violence, prostitution, abortion, incest, the dangers of religious fanaticism, illegal immigration, mental disorders like schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder, animal cruelty, and the corruption and abuse in women's prisons.
As with most of its telenovelas, the network broadcast English subtitles as closed captions on CC3. Many scenes were shot on location in Virginia Key.
Contents
Telemundo's Story Synopsis
Natalia and Adrián are strangers who live in different cities but discover in an instant that they belong together. They were both married to other spouses for more than twenty years, and each has two beautiful young children. Their lives are quite similar—and both are unhappy and frustrated. Destiny brings the two together when they are each on the verge of divorce.
When the pair falls madly in love, they face opposition from Elena (Adrián Matia's hysterical, paranoid and resentful wife), Rogelio, Natalia alcoholic husband who humiliates her, and Inés, who envies and hates Natalia while pretending to be her friend. Meanwhile, Ágata, Natalia's despotic mother-in-law, terrorizes the heroine's life and has stripped her of the fortune which she inherited from her parents. Ágata teams up with Manuel, a treacherous and ambitious villain, to plot Natalia's worst tragedy: separating her from her most beloved treasure, her children.
Natalia and Adrián search for love, companionship, and fulfillment on a road full of bitterness, disappointment and misunderstanding. Their story is closely related to that of their respective children. They must find love amid family conflict, jealousy and betrayal.
In the end, we discover it was all a dream of Natalia Gaby's while she was in a two-year coma, and that everything is about to happen as she dreamed it.
Plot
The story begins in West Palm Beach, Florida, when Natalia decides to leave her husband, Rogelio. She is tired of twenty years of domestic violence and marital rape by Rogelio and the constant insults of threats by Ágata, her mother-in-law. Natalia informs Ágata and Rogelio that she and her kids are leaving the mansion that night and that the legal divorce will be taken care of days after. Intent on teaching Natalia a lesson, Ágata calls Inés (Natalia'supposed best friend who actually despises Natalia) and the two agree on carrying a plot they had been planning for months.
That night, Natalia goes to her friend Monica's going-away party at Inés' house. Monica, Natalia and Inés' friend, was hired at a job in Pompano Beach and will be leaving that night. At the party, Inés and Manuel (Inés'lover) spike Natalia's martini and, when she passes out, take Natalia to Inés' room where Manuel rapes her. Inés calls Ágata who arrives shortly after with Rogelio and Natalia's kids, Luis rodrigo and Gloria. From everyone's point of view, it appears as if Natalia and Manuel are having an affair and have just been caught in bed together, as no one believes it is rape. Rogelio, Luis Rodrigo and Gloria, leave in tears with Ágata who thanks Inés.
Natalia regains consciousness and breaks a lamp on Manuel's head in anger, killing him. Inés who Natalia still believes to be her friend and has no idea helped plan the whole thing, tells Natalia to run away because the police are coming. Natalia goes to Monica's house, who is packing up to leave for work, and explains everything that just happened. Monica tells Natalia that she should go to Pompano Beach with her while Inés clears up the misunderstanding with the police. Monica Natalia and Monica's friend Georgina leave for Pompano but have a car accident. Monica and Natalia are okay, but Georgina dies inside the exploding car. Because her body is left unrecognizable and because Natalia's ID is left inside the car with her, the police believe it is Natalia the one who is dead.
Meanwhile, in Pompano Beach, Adrian Torres, who works in a magazine ad marketing, is on the verge of divorce with his crazy wife Elena Torres after twenty years of a horrible marriage. Elena is obsessed with the idea of Adrian cheating on her and because of that has physically assaulted many women. Adrian frequents at work. What Adrian doesn't know is that Elena is mentally ill and is unaware that his wife actually has vivid hallucinations of him making out with other women. Nonetheless, Elena has become very dangerous and violent and Adrian believes it is best for him and their kids if they divorced as soon as possible.
Changes
When Telemundo announced this project in its 2007 upfront presentation, it was titled "El Otro Lado del Amor" ("The Other Side of Love"). The network then launched promotional teasers on July 2, 2007 calling the show "Pecados Ajenos". In addition there were multiple cast departures: Aylín Mújica as Ines Vallejo, Susana Dosamantes as Agata Mercernario, Alex Sirvent, Alfredo Torres (went to Madre Luna ), Géraldine Bazán as Gloria Mercernario (took a role in Victoria) and Alejandro Chabán who simply avoided playing a mild mannered homosexual teenager. Telemundo was quick to premiere Pecados Ajenos in order to replace a newly premiered telenovela Sin Verguenza due to the disappointing ratings it generated within the first two weeks at the time slot.
Production notes
Filming of Pecados Ajenos was scheduled to begin in July, 2007, with the debut expected in August. On the set in Southwest Ranches, Florida, the crew worked a 12-hour day, during which they shot one and a half episodes' worth of scenes. Locations included Davie, Wellington, Pompano Beach and Palm Beach, Florida. David Posada and Danny Gavidia directed the series.
Product Placement
As with many telenovelas it produces in-house, Telemundo used product placement within the show. Best Buy was to appear prominently in the show, with Adrian's son Alfredo working at one of the stores, but this never aired. Also, Toyota was to sponsor a 30-second replay of an important scene at the end of seven episodes. The Pledge and Windex cleaning products did appear in various scenes, as did Walgreens. The debut episode aired commercial-free and sponsored by Kraft Foods' DiGiorno frozen pizzas.