“I always liked TV as a whole, from a very young age. What happens to boys who want to play soccer all day, and have been on the pitch since they were very young, happened to me with the television studios”. Guido Kaczka takes just a few minutes of your chat with teleshow to declare his unconditional love for the medium that almost saw him born. The phrase sounds like a declaration of principles, to think that there is still something of that child who was planted on an equal footing with a legend like Juan Carlos Marecowho insisted on his parents to take him to play there. Less cheeky perhaps, more poised for sure, with super recognizable features despite the passage of time. And with the same love as always.
The hall wing of the 25 de Mayo Cultural Center summarizes the style between classic and modern that Guido developed throughout his career, and that he chooses to believe that he is still developing. In a while he will speak at the International Summit of Young Leaders, where teenagers about to finish school and embark on the adventure of life will listen to him. He is going to look at his age and he is going to reflect on that actor from Treble clef,Big, Dad! either little ones, mega hits from a television that is no longer what it was. He will see 40 of his 45 years spent in show business. And he will smile when he thinks of the actor’s suit, which he kept almost two decades ago, of which only gratitude and a hint of nostalgia remain.
With the classic look that appears in the driving of the 8 stepsBarely relaxed without a tie, Guido looks a lot like the professional who leads the mornings on FM 100 and the nights on El Trece, where he fights hand to hand against the tanks that put him in front of him. Time taught him that today you win, that tomorrow you lose, but that it is something secondary as long as he tries and that he is proud of what one does. And on that path he talks about ratings, the formula for success, the television that was and the one that will come and the somewhat contained desire that his children follow in his footsteps.
—When did you feel that the actor had to rest?
—I started driving not as a decision to leave something for something else, but more as a matter of finding what was more authentic. When I started working more as a conductor and producer, the name with which I was seen on TV coincided with my own name; As an actor you are, for example, Joaquin, who is played by Guido. I felt that I wanted to be more authentic and I am happy doing that task.
—Well, today for television you are Guido and it is not necessary to add the last name, something reserved for few. Are you that Guido you wanted to be?
“It seems to me that you do it every day.” It is true that there are moments where I felt more clearly that I had a style, but that style is to insist a lot on something. Sometimes it can be right, sometimes it can be wrong, but insisting is a value in itself; be tenacious and follow it beyond the moment. That is where the style is set up, and in this case it can also be called the brand, but it is also true that what is good is also a backpack, because to repeat oneself would be to stop having that style. In fact, when you found it, it’s because you were testing, exposing yourself, making mistakes. The only way you learn is by making mistakes.
—I relate this to the phenomenon of the 8 steps: a proven format within the classic style of question and answer programs, but to which you add some seasoning from time to time. Even at the risk of being wrong.
—steps has that particularity. It is a classic program, with a structure that one knows by heart. However, each program is very different. And at no time do I think that it is already there, or that I more or less have it. And the same thing happens to me on the radio. It seems to me that there are no formulas, but let’s say that this may be getting a little close to the idea. As a formula, one can say that there are no formulas and it is about searching all the time.
—Are you very self-demanding in your work?
—Yes, I am demanding and I work a lot in therapy to be more tolerant of mistakes. In short, a little late, but you realize that you are going to screw up, and if you suffer so much for that, you lose; you have to worry about things that are worthwhile, not get so bad about mistakes.
—What is it like to be a leader in television at a time when support is threatened by new technologies?
—This is not something I get hooked on because it has something of a trap. It seems old to talk about the new… for many years we have been saying that there are new things, so they shouldn’t be so new. Until when are we going to say that everything is changing? Everything coexists, it seems to me. And there is also a threatening intention, because the new always seems to be a good thing, but this artificial intelligence thing appears, and one ends up in a trap that is not good for us. The best thing we have to live life more intensely are relationships, and the relationship is two of us and we have to be willing to meet and give in; that everything is not as I want in this interview, nor that it is not all as you want; well, if we get out of ourselves what is in the middle is what counts.
—You are also doing very well on radio. Are you more of enjoying or suffering leadership and pressures?
-I like it. I know that out there there is an idea of the people regarding TV and radio that we become very, very crazy. In my particular case, the audience is a second piece of information but it is not the first. If the audience is more or less well, hopefully it will be first, but if I am second or third, well, it is no longer a fact that gives it so much ball. I don’t have this thing that the only thing that matters is being number one, because it doesn’t suit any of us. Leadership seems to me to have more to do with a function within a group; He is a character and he is the one who must take care of some things while others take care of those that the leader cannot take care of. This idea also that the leader is better than the other is like thinking in the human body that the brain or the heart is better than the kidneys.. Each one has to fulfill their function and try to do it to the best of their ability.
—This way of thinking explains your absence from the networks?
—I have an Instagram but I don’t give it much thought… It’s not my thing either, sometimes it presents itself as an opportunity, as something you’re wasting. Not something that you deserved, but as a transitory opportunity that you have to handle. I don’t give it a ball but it has nothing to do with it being a new technology; If something comes out that can start to smell for TV and it will be useful for Escalones, I have no problem. For me to be interested I have to have a reason, a purpose that for now I can’t find.
Just as one day he stopped acting naturally, Guido also doesn’t find a punctual break before diving into the path of production. “I always liked TV completely,” he risks, as if it had not been clear so far in the talk. He tells that he went through the Image and Sound career at the UBA. And one day he found himself part of the what and how of the industry. “We bought Endemol, Kuarzo was made, I became a partner of the production company, but it seems to me that to continue doing what I like obviously,” he sums up.
—Is it difficult to produce in Argentina today?
—Producing is obviously very complicated, but I am also very grateful. In Argentina, at least for me, because it is surely very difficult for some, but we at Kuarzo have achieved a certain degree of efficiency and things have been working for several years now.
—Yes it seems to be a difficult time for fiction on television.
—It’s difficult on air TV. But it seems to me that all that we produce more to think about television we have to think about TV; because that’s where we see the platforms. In other words, there are places to produce. It is complicated and it is almost a doctrine of mine: it’s bad, but not that bad. There are national fictions that are being shown by Netflix, by Amazon, we with Kuarzo produce with Disney and the truth is that there is an opportunity there. On open TV it is more difficult, but hey, suddenly an event appears like Big Brother and there we understand that the problem is not television but that we must continue working hard on the contents.
—Was it difficult to face a product that had more than 20 rating points?
—It was a mixed feeling, because it is produced by Kuarzo, that is, I knew the project well; he thought he could get along very well with driving Santiago del Moro, who is with whom I work on the radio this every morning and it was fantastic. Obviously I was pushing for steps, and we were doing well against Big Brother. Very good. I understand that someone out there can tell you “but you didn’t do the highest number of the day…”. I’m not worried, after so many years working in this I’m used to it and I always look at the glass half full
—The actor has been on hiatus for a long time. The driver will have his moments of relaxation. Does the producer rest?
-No. I think all the time about my work, but because I like it. We always depend on something, and work makes my life better, I don’t have a problem enjoying that. I like vacations, but I would not like to spend a long time without doing what is my hobby, in addition to my work. I really enjoy when I’m on TV and the radio, and I imagine that when the public gets hooked on one of my programs, they must look at me and think: “Hey, this one likes what he does”.
—Yes, it shows. And several times you said that it is something that you have always enjoyed. Would you like your children to go through something similar? You made your own way, but lately there has been a lot of talk about the kids who work in the show.
—When talking about child labor, sometimes it comes together like a salad. A kid working on a movie because it’s her activity is like a kid practicing tennis if tomorrow he’s going to be a professional, that was kind of my thing. TV had a different rigor from today, I played football with the cameras, I would come in all sweaty, I had fun. We looked at the camera all the time and no one complained. I did not experience the most professional stage of television as a child, although it had its things at that time. But hey, if one of my children shows me that he wants to, as he did to me, I will accompany him, as I would with any activity.
-Would you like it?
“Well, I was very happy. From my experience I would say that it would be good if someone shows me that the matter is going on. But that is because you project what you have experienced and want the best for your children. I also know many who started with me and who say that it is not for boys, and I understand it. As always, it depends on the particular case and the context in which it is done.
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