Name: Luis Ara
Age: 26
High School: Los Maristas and San Juan Bautista
Degree: Bachelor's Degree in Management and Administration
Year of Graduation: 2003
Occupation: Warner Bros. representative in Uruguay and programmes producer
Interview published in September 2006.
Young, professional, entrepreneur, and successful are qualities that describe Luis Ara, who, at age 26, holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Administration and, together with his brother, runs the Warner Bros. office in Uruguay.
Luis began his bachelor’s degree program in 1998.
From the moment I started, I realized this was what I loved—the variety of subjects you learn, and I really enjoyed the work environment at ORT in particular; it made the program very appealing to me throughout my years of study.
Through ORT University, Luis began working at Akoluz (a Kodak distributor) in 2000. He worked there until 2002, when he left the company to devote his time to the family business. “Together with my brother, we dedicated ourselves to running the family business, which is the Warner distributor in Uruguay.”
The Ara brothers took the reins of the company, determined to carry on the family legacy. Luis knew full well that he was taking on a huge responsibility. “We were dedicated to consolidating the representation of an international company, and we had to do things very well—and in a way, we did. We had the trust of the people in the United States, who supported us immensely; they held my mother and my grandfather—who had founded the company many years ago—in high regard. We kept the company going; things went very well for us; we more than met expectations.”
At the helm of a well-established company, Luis decided to branch out into other areas; “in particular, there was one thing I wanted to do: a program about cinema. In 2003, I began researching it, and finally, in 2005, we were able to air it on Channel 10; it was called ‘Trailer.’ He decided to pursue a career in the audiovisual sector and joined the production company SKA Films in 2005. Since then, they’ve produced various programmes; “We’ve continued working with Channel 10 and pitching projects; together with the production company, we’ve made, in addition to ‘Trailer,’ ‘El gato y el ratón,’ and now we’re producing ‘Las grandes ligas,’ which is a joint venture between the channel and us.”
Aware of his young age, Luis admits he’s in a phase of exploration: “Right now I’m in a research phase; I’m quite young, and I think I’m at a stage where I’m trying out things I like. I really love Warner, and it’s a good business; I like television, and I’m seeing just how profitable it is. For now, my main goal is to consolidate Warner, sustain the company, ensure it meets all the goals we set for ourselves year after year, movie after movie, release after release, and, in the case of television, develop new ideas and try to do ambitious things—which is something we love and find incredibly motivating."