NELY GALAN'S Swan Journey

London Independent Newspaper Group
BY JULIE CHRYSTYN
February 2, 2005

I was certain that I was dying. I didn't have the strength to call anybody to say goodbye as I lay in bed with a stomach ache, a sore body and an elevated body temperature at The Plaza Hotel in New York City a year ago last winter. There was a massive blizzard and all of Fifth Avenue had come to a crawl. A visit to The Shrine (Bergdorf Goodman's) earlier in the day did not provide the expected relief. I had no appetite to speak of but Jacques from Leonidas on Madison Avenue was making an emergency delivery of medicinal chocolates. An old acquaintance, the PLO Ambassador to the United States was in town and he stopped by with hot soup but was turned away by hotel security as he was Arabic and did not have his credentials with him. So he went back to the United Nations to retrieve his identification and returned one hour later with cold soup. Too late...for my limp thumb over a remote control had stumbled upon cable station 596 and there she was! Actually, I didn't know WHO she was but I knew that we were separated at birth for she was devastatingly beautiful, engagingly lively, fiercely articulate and she was saying some very smart things that a girl in my position could relate to and appreciate.

I was glued to the telly as I watched the entire interview and forgot all about my Last Will and Testament. My lawyer would have to wait as I called my human Hollywood directory, Lee Solters. "Lee, who's Nely Galan?" Ten minutes later, I got a call from Gabriel Reyes, her publicist.  

It turned out that everybody who's anybody knew who Nely Galan was and now, due to an unlikely turn of events, much of America, and this season, even Great Britain, is tuned in to Nely thanks to her mega hit television show "The Swan" on Murdoch's Fox TV in the U.S. and Living TV in the U.K.

However, before Nely Galan the creator, executive producer and "life coach" of "The Swan" came along, there was Nely Galan the most successful male or female producer/executive of Latino television in all of Hollywood--ever. Not bad for a Cuban kid who grew up in New Jersey. Those of us who endured Catholic schools with its nuns and lived to tell, can swap stories until the cows come home and Nely has a memorable one indeed: when her literary works proved to be too good, the nuns accused her of plagiarism. She showed them by exposing the nuns in a critical article and having it published in Seventeen magazine where she promptly landed a guest editorship as well. The rest, as they say, is history. Fortunately, like me, she grew up with strong Jewish influences and learned that when life hands you lemons, you not only make lemonade or even a lemon pie, but a lemon pie manufacturing factory!

Nely Galan has a reputation for being one shrewd and tough cookie. She has paid her dues, earned her stripes and is enjoying the fruits of her success while still climbing higher and higher. She did it on her own watch and on her own terms. Yet, the amount of envy and jealous banter that I've encountered while working on this story has been unrivaled in my experience. For the same actions, men in her position get praised. Why are the boys feeling so threatened?

The consensus is, without question, that Nely Galan is regarded as one of the entertainment industry's most dynamic creative executives. She has dedicated her career to bringing the cultural gap between Latin cultures and mainstream American media. In a meteoric and accomplished rise, her sphere of influence has canvassed media conglomerates such as Time Warner and News Corp., publishing and syndicated, cable and network television. Galan is widely credited with pioneering the charge for American broadcasters to tap into the huge English-speaking Latino audience. When she appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine, they promptly dubbed her the "tropical tycoon" and the "Cuban missile!" Entertainment Weekly, on a list that actually matters, named her on of "the most powerful executives in Hollywood."

Ah, the power of postulating! "Hey, I'm a poor kid from immigrant parents...I believe in making money!" Galan says unapologetically. Her essential reading and rereading while growing up, as was my own, is topped by Rich Dad Poor Dad ("you have to be making money while you are sleeping"), Sun Tzu's The Art of War ("a peasant is far less valuable than an ox or a horse, his welfare is not a matter of particular concern), and Machiavelli's The Prince (just read the whole thing).

While her parents desperately wanted her to just get a semi-decent education, get married and start a family like everyone else, Galan instinctually knew that the desire to be normal is the preoccupation of the insecure. She had other ideas like: "What if Rupert Murdoch could finance my first major media company?" He did. But first, back at Seventeen magazine, she got steady work: thank you Sister Olivia! Eventually, she landed a local post as station manager at a New Jersey television affiliate at the age of 22, making her the youngest television station manager in the United States. Once she learned the ropes, what's an affiliate compared to the whole enchilada? Soon enough, she became president of entertainment for the entire Telemundo Network and launched ten channels in Latin America for Fox, MGM, ESPN, Sony and HBO, where she was creative executive. With all of this experience under her rich chestnut mane, she formed her own company, Galan Entertainment, which has thus far produced more than 500 television episodes for the United States and Latin America.

"She's one of the most passionate businesswomen I have ever met and no one gets behind a show like Nely Galan," said Mike Darnell, Executive Vice President for Alternative Programming for Fox Broadcasting, or in plain English, head of reality TV. "She's aggressive and a wonderful sales person," he said. "It's no secret that in the beginning we had what was considered a controversial project (in "The Swan"), but every time Nely got on the phone with someone, her personality and belief in the show persuaded them that it was a show worth watching," Darnell concluded.

So the story goes. Kenin Spivak, former COO of MGM and current CEO of Telemac, first met Galan in 1994 when he was CEO of Archon Communications, a media company owned in large part by the Milken family trusts and NewsCorp. She was introduced to Spivak by David Evans, then president of Fox Television. "David saw Nely as an extremely creative, aggressive producer who knew how to create exciting programming at low cost," Spivak said.

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