Today we’d like to introduce you to Miguel Somoza.
Hi Miguel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My family is originally from Nicaragua; I was born in New York City but lived in Managua until I was two years old. By the late ’70s, we left Nicaragua and moved to New York City, where I lived until I was 14. We then moved to Key Biscayne, and I’ve been in Miami ever since. I only left to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville for four years.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the better part of 20 years, I worked my way up through the ranks of a large international media company, culminating with a promotion to a Vice President position in 2015. However, life can unexpectedly push you in directions you were not planning to go – inevitably forcing you to take on challenges you never fathomed you would have to confront. In 2016, both my professional and personal life encountered some turbulence. The end of my marriage, combined with the conclusion of a two-decade corporate career, were the real catalysts behind a much-needed sabbatical. Through rest and reflection, I recognized what I wanted to do was to produce, but for my own media and entertainment company. And so, in January 2017, I launched Sabbatical Entertainment during the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Convention. From there, we were off and running.
As a result of working predominately in international distribution throughout my career, I was very fortunate to travel around the world. I worked with clients in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. My role was pitching, negotiating, and selling to various important foreign media companies like CCTV (China), Telefonica (Spain), Star TV (India) and CAA (US) were instrumental in developing my universal perspective of the business. I learned the strengths, weaknesses, & trends in my clients’ respective markets, and most importantly, I was able to identify what programming was working for them. Compiling and consolidating the comprehensive data from a myriad of meetings, year after year, continent to continent, gave me a deep knowledge of the global media market. This resulted in valuable insight into the kind of content I believed would be successful worldwide.
In 2015, I finally got the opportunity to become the executive producer of a children’s educational series I sold to Univision and later to Netflix. This fueled a desire to continue cultivating my creativity and push myself as hard as I could professionally. Unfortunately, in the corporate world, sometimes you are limited to performing only the functions of your specific position. Those limitations inevitably became frustrations, which created a contentious situation and a great deal of tension in the office. It became clear to me while on my sabbatical that I wanted to work with no limitations and to be involved in every facet of production. In order to accomplish this, I would have to start my own company, and thus Sabbatical Entertainment was born. The years of experience combined with my unique perspective on what makes content viable for clients worldwide positioned me well for the rigorous journey that lie ahead as an entrepreneur.
We are big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Since opening our doors in 2017, Sabbatical has produced almost 300 hours of original content in both English and Spanish, including a dozen original documentaries, which aired on CNN in both the US & Latin America. Our programming has also been acquired internationally by major media outlets like Nickelodeon, A&E, NBC Universal, Turner, Telefonica, Viacom, Discovery and domestically by Univision, Telemundo, CBS, FOX, and the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sabbatical’s content is also currently available on multiple streaming platforms like Amazon, Peacock, Pluto, Roku and many more worldwide.
When we launched Sabbatical Entertainment, we envisioned ourselves as a cost efficient, creative, and undeniably unique media solution. A key differentiator for us was to seamlessly produce exceptional original content in two languages, English & Spanish, simultaneously. Another way we planned to separate ourselves from other companies was to not only curate the content, but also distribute it directly to traditional media outlets and global digital streamers.
From day one, our “Holy Grail” and primary goal was to have a Sabbatical series broadcasted in both languages concurrently on U.S National TV networks for viewers coast to coast. Astoundingly, we achieved our goal late last year when our series “The World Is Yours”, which had been and continues to be broadcast in Spanish (“El Mundo Es Tuyo”) on UniMas, was now going to premiere on the CBS Network nationwide. We now entertain millions of viewers every single week across the entire country in two different languages. These are the reasons Sabbatical Entertainment is now in a very select group of media and entertainment companies.
Interestingly, we are probably most known for and identified with our brand: sunglasses, as they were the crux of our first marketing campaign (#sabbaticalshades). After meetings with clients, producers, directors, and actors, I would personally gift a pair of silver aviators and ask them to put them on and take a picture with me to post on social media. It was simple but also very well received, and in 2018, PRODU awarded us best digital marketing strategy of the year as voted on by my industry colleagues.
What’s next?
Today, Sabbatical’s core mission is to focus on expanding our global reach. To that end, we have recently opened our first international affiliate, Sabbatical Brazil. Through a joint venture with our local partner, this new division based in Sao Paolo is a licensed National production entity. This operation offers Brazilian media outlets an attractive cost-efficient option to the daunting task of producing a quota of local content mandated by the government. The acceleration of Sabbatical’s global presence will be facilitated by our recent alignment with two of the undisputed leading distribution companies in the world, Caracol International in Latin America and Bomanbridge Media in Asia. Through their tireless sales efforts, these partners have quickly placed Sabbatical’s content in prolific positions that are advantageous in leveraging our programming’s full market potential.
Finally, we are most excited about our two new YouTube channels; Sabbatical Kids & Sabbatical Niños. This is where young viewers learn about all kinds of topics, including table manners, sportsmanship and even customs from different cultures around the world. Our channels emphasize, through the lens of fun, dynamic storytelling and captivating visuals, important values and virtues like honesty, acceptance, and empathy, as well as positive relationship skills through social emotional learning and cognitive development. Sabbatical Kids’ content will strengthen children’s character and will help them to make wise decisions in life.
Contact Info:
- Email: SOMOZA@SABBATICALENTERTAINMENT.COM
- Website: www.sabbaticalentertainment.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabbaticalentertainment
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SabbaticalEntertainment
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SabbaticalEnt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SabbaticalKids, https://www.youtube.com/c/SabbaticalNiños
