By Julio Martinez

Writer/actress/creator Elaine Del Valle is riding the crest of a fast-surging wave. She recently attached Andrea Navedo (Jane The Virgin) and Arika Lisanne Mittman as her star and showrunner, respectively, and then sold her pilot The System to CBS. 

Del Valle has been in the entertainment business for some time. She started off as an actress, then realized that if she was going to see non-stereotypical Latina roles, she was going to have to write them herself. “I had been an actress for about a decade when I wrote my show as a result of feeling misunderstood and unseen by casting directors, because they couldn’t understand that somebody who looked like me could have my background, and so I wrote Brownsville, Bred.”

Brownsville Bred (2011), is her autobiographical, one-woman stage play, developed while studying with noted New York acting coach, Wynn Handman. It depicted her true Nuyorican (New York/Puerto Rican) coming-of-age years in Brownsville Brooklyn, New York, which quickly garnered acclaim. She subsequently adapted her stage play into a novel, Brownsville Bred: Dreaming Out Loud, which was named, “Most Inspirational Young Adult” book by the International Latino Book Awards.

In 2013, with a desire to make her work more accessible, Del Valle began to write for the screen. She co-wrote, produced, and directed a comedy web series, Reasons Why I’m Single (Amazon Prime). Elaine has since, as the owner and operator of Del Valle Productions & Casting, cast over 50 short films, and produced her own short films. In 2015 Elaine became the first person to license an interstitial series, her co-production of Gran’pa Knows Best, to the HBO Latino Network.

With other notable achievements along the way, Del Valle’s biggest accomplishment to date is the development deal with CBS Television for her pilot titled The System, which she will also co-executive produce. She is excited but keeping it all in perspective. “It’s not my first time at this rodeo,” she affirms. “The process came by way of relationships developed throughout the years and establishing mutual respect. It takes continuous work, continuous growth, and that’s how it happened for me.”

Del Valle describes the arduous work involved from first putting words on paper to getting the deal with CBS. Beginning in 2018 when she was selected as one of nine directors to participate in the Sundance Short Narrative Film Lab after the film she directed, 3.769 was shown at Sundance. “I started taking their classes, including a course on feature film writing.”

Then she found the class on television episodic writing and she decided to look into that because at that time Del Valle was determined to turn her Brownsville Bred into a series. “But the minute I started learning what a network series really needed in order to have infinite longevity, I realized that perhaps Brownsville Bred was not the best story I could tell. And so I turned my time at the Sundance episodic lab into developing The System.”

Del Valle’s idea for the series evolved, eventually focusing on a competent yet jaded female social worker, navigating the same broken New York City system she had grown up in, while dealing with family issues of her own. The character advocates to resolve issues for every family she encounters while struggling to fix her own. When Del Valle finally felt she was ready to pitch the series, she turned to a longtime friend.

“I reached out to my dear friend Andrea Navedo whom everyone knows from Jane the Virgin. She had played Jane’s mom for five seasons. We have been friends for many years, auditioned together all the time. I brought the project to her and told her, ‘I really think that you’re right for it’.”

A year later, about the time Jane the Virgin was ending Navedo reached out to ask about the project. She had called right at the moment when Del Valle was going to sign an option deal for The System with another production company. She had been procrastinating because she really wasn’t happy with the terms of the agreement.

So when Navedo called, “I made some tweaks and sent it over to her,” Del Valle recalled. “The next day, Andrea told me that she read it, her team read it, her entire management team read it. They loved it. And they were on board with her being a producer on it.  And so with that, we just decided to proceed to the next steps.”

As it turned out, everyone was in agreement that the very next step was to get the project in front of Jennie Snyder Urman, Jane the Virgin’s creator and showrunner. Andrea texted Urman, “Hey, can we have a conversation? I have this project” Urman loved it and immediately showed it to CBS Studios where she has a first-look deal.

“They loved it,” exclaimed Del Valle. “And then the next thing I knew, I found myself in an If-Come deal with CBS.”  This kind of deal simply means the series creator has an agreement but is not formally signed with the studio. Basically, nobody gets paid until the project is sold. If there is no sale, the rights revert back to Del Valle, the writer.

Del Valle, Navedo and Urman moved forward as if mounting a military campaign. Del Valle recalled, “Jennie Urman told us we needed a showrunner and within an hour said, ‘I know the right showrunner for you, Arika Lisanne Mittman (Executive Producer of Paradise Lost and Timeless). The four of us first met on Zoom.” The next step was to pitch to CBS. Urman and Mittman shared some of their pitches with Del Valle, “I know writers don’t usually share their pitch ideas, but Jennie and Arika were so generous,” Del Valle recounted gratefully.

It took about a month for Del Valle to fine-tune her pitch, each time going back and forth with Urman and Mittman sending her feedback while also getting notes from the network executives. Del Valle described the process. “I had been refining and practicing that pitch for a month before I did it,” she recalled. “The whole pitch took place on a Zoom call that included the network executives and producers who spoke about their involvement and how they came to the project, then the showrunner spoke, and then it was my turn.” She had three minutes to talk about herself and 20 minutes to pitch the show.

“As soon as I was done, they asked some questions, I answered; the team answered questions, and then the network just said, ‘We want it.’ The whole thing took maybe 30 to 35 minutes.” Afterward, Urman called Del Valle to let her know just how well she had done, words that will stay with her forever. “You did something called ‘you sold it in the room’ and that doesn’t happen often,” Urman said. “You have a lot to be proud of.” Indeed she did.

Del Valle is currently waiting for the CBS corporate decision for the exact date to begin filming the pilot for The System. “So right now, that’s where I’m at,” she declares. “The CBS Network people gave me notes. I made the changes. I’ve been told that the head of CBS, Tom Sherman, loves the pilot and that we should celebrate that right now,” said Del Valle, but then continued cautiously. “But no, this is a very odd time because some pilots from last year have yet to be made.”

In the meantime, Del Valle is busy bringing her original one-woman book, Brownsville Bred to the screen, with the support of Warner Media 150 and The Sundance Institute. This is her first time directing a feature, “I start filming this summer in June, starring 10-year-old Latinx star Isabella Velasquez…and of course, I am looking forward to getting my pilot start date from CBS Studios.”

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The hour-long pilot is a generational drama about two Latino families looking for wealth and power in wine country, Sonoma Valley in California.

Considering there are 52 Mexican-American-owned California wineries according to wine-centric website https://www.jancisrobinson.com, this seems like a timely topic. The website goes on to add “as pioneering Latinos and their children, many of whom have spent their entire lives working in the California wine industry, establish their own wine project”.

The timing for a TV series that does not revolve around Latino gangs, maids, or narco kingpins, is refreshing. ABC gets it; they had already delved into Latino stories — sans the negative stereotypes. Just last year, they premiered The Baker and The Beauty, which, although not wealthy Latino families, the family were middle-class business owners. However, that soon ended when ABC decided to cancel the series after only one season.  

Once The Baker and the Beauty went off the air, there remained no Latino-themed TV series on any of the broadcast networks. Although Latinos are the largest minority in the U.S., they are still woefully represented.

Lopez is also writing the feature about a Latino family, Father of the Bride, for Warner Bros., with plans for it to become the first of a Latino movie franchise. 

Originally Lopez started in the industry as an attorney for Dreamworks right after graduating from Florida State University with a law degree, and with an end-goal of being a screenwriter.  

He sold his first script to Dreamworks in 2002. However, it was never produced, but it did jump-start his writing career. Some of his films that were produced include Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Race to Witch Mountain.  On television, Matt Lopez created the NBCUniversal International drama series Gone. 

Promised Land is written and will be executive produced by Lopez and Adam Kilbrenner of Lit Entertainment Group.  ABC Signature is the producing studio.

— Bel Hernandez

Featured Photo: Matt Lopez

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Estrada was born and raised in South Los Angeles and is a self-described “Ghetto Latino Punk Rocker.” In 2019 Comedy Central singled him out as the “Next Up Comedian,” and he has sure lived up to that title.

Estrada will write the series along with the three creators of Comedy Central’s Corporate, Jack Weisman, Matt Ingebretson, and Pat Bishop.

The series is inspired by Estrada’s own life growing as the L.A. hood, with Estrada playing Julio Lopez, a guy with a heart of gold who doesn’t always get the respect he deserves and wants. 

Casting is currently underway on this ABC Signature production, which is the first project under Estrada’s overall deal with ABC.  Estrada was seen recently in a half-hour comedy special Entre Nos for HBO Latino

Estrada is repped by UTA, Jordan Tilzer at El Centro, and Morris Yorn.

— Latin Heat News Service

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ABC Studios teams up with Eva Longoria, who executive produces a new drama Series, Grand Hotel, that is a bold and provocative drama set at the last family-owned hotel in multicultural Miami Beach. And, if the trailer teaser is any indication, Grand Hotel promises to be a few degrees more than just sexy and scandalous!

Charismatic Santiago Mendoza (Academy Award nominee Demián Bichir) owns the hotel, while his glamorous second wife Gigi (Roselyn Sanchez), and their adult children enjoy the spoils of success. The hotel’s loyal staff round out a contemporary, fresh take on an upstairs/downstairs story. Wealthy and beautiful guests bask in luxury, but scandals, escalating debt, and explosive secrets hide beneath the picture perfect exterior.

Grand Hotel
ABC Studios (Production Company), American Broadcasting Company (Distributor)

Airs Monday nights, 10PM on ABC — Pilot premieres June 17th, 2019, 10PM

Directors: Bill D’Elia, Eva Longoria, Ken Olin, Ron Underwood, Marisol Alder”
Producers: David Avena (Supervising Producer), Paul Kurta, Robert D. Simon, Jeff MacVittie (Associate Producer)
Executive Producers Brian Tanen, Eva Longoria, Ramon Campus, Bill D’Elia, Teresa Fernandez-Valdes, Ben Spector
Casting Directors: Libby Kirchgessner, Sandi Logan

Curtis Kheel (Co-Executive Producer), Nicki Renna, (Co-Producer
Writers: Ramon Campos, Gema R. Neira, Brian Tanen, Curtis Kheel, Bob Daily, David Avena, Destra Tedros Reff, and Nicki Renna
Cast: Demian Bichir, Roselyn Sanchez, Denyse Tonta, Bryan Craig, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Lincoln Younes, Shalim Ortiz, Annie Winters, Chris Warren, Feliz Ramirez, and Justina Adamo.

Recurring: Jencarlos Canelas, John Marshall Jones Richard Burgi, Adrian Pasdar, Katey Sagal, Freddie Stroma, and Ken Kirby.

Eva Longoria has a guest role as Beatriz Mendoza, Santiago Mendoza’s (Bichir) deceased wife.

Watch more Grand Hotel Season 1 videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

Follow Grand Hotel on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrandHotelABC
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrandHotelABC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GrandHotelABC

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Dailyn Rodriquez and Ben Lobato will serve as co-showrunners and executive producers alongside Executive Producer David T. Friendly on the upcoming fourth season of USA Network’s Queen of The South for Fox 21 TV studios and Universal Content productions.

Queen of The South starring Alice Braga is based on the best-selling book La Reina Del Sur by Antonio Perez Reverte. It tells the powerful story of Teresa Medina (Braga), a woman who is forced to run from the Mexican cartels and seek refuge in America.

Dailyn was born in the Washington Heights area of New York City and attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts from which she graduated with an MFA in dramatic writing. In 2001 she earned a position in the ABC/Disney Studios Writing Fellowship and has been working as a writer ever since on such television shows as Ugly Betty,  Night Shift, and The Glades. Lobato was an executive story editor on The Following.

Latinos In Space: Santiago Cabrera and Isa Briones Join the cast of new Star Trek spin-off series with Patrick Stewart.

Santiago Cabrera and Isa Briones have been cast in the CBS All Access untitled Star Trek series that will mark the return of Captain Jean Luc Picard played by Patrick Stewart who will lead the series into further adventures in the final space frontier. Stewart originated the role of Captain Jean Luc Picard in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series that ran for seven years and more than 170 episodes and starred in two Star Trek feature films spawned from the series.

The handsome Cabrera was most sought after by television, cable and streaming producers for leading roles in several series pilots this season before deciding on the Star Trek series in which he pilots the star fleet vessel. The Venezuelan born, British- Chilean Cabrera starred for two seasons on the CBS supernatural drama Salvation and on the NBC series Heroes. He also had a recurring role on HBO’s Big Little Lies, played Aramis in the BBC series The Musketeer and appeared in the feature film The Last Knight. Cabrera is represented by APA

Isa Briones was part of the first national touring company of Hamilton and its youngest cast member at age 19.  The actress had a role in American Crime Story: The Assasination of Versace.  Briones hails from Los Angeles and her parents are both actors.  Briones, who is Philipina-American worked with LA based East West Players before moving to New York and auditioning for the touring production.  She is represented by Piper/Kaniecki/Marks management.

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Daniella Pineda cast in Netflix Cowboy Bebop

Daniella Pineda has been cast in a leading role as Faye Valentine in Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop, a live-action series based on the Anime of the same name.  Joining Pineda will be John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Alex Hassell as a ragtag tag crew of bounty hunters on the run from their past as they hunt down the solar systems most dangerous criminals. Pineda’s character of Valentine is described as a bold brash unpredictable bounty hunter, suffering from amnesia from years of being cryogenically frozen. Valentine does whatever it takes to survive.

Pineda’s previous credits include Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom, The Detour and Inside Amy Schumer. She is represented by UTA, Kristen Ames management, and Schreck Rose.

Gentefied Cast Set for Latin Dramedy Series from America Ferrera and Netflix

Just when you lose one, you gain one, Netflix recently canceled the critically acclaimed One Day at a Time reboot but has announced, first in the Trade journal Deadline that it has replaced the series with Gentefied, the new Latinx Dramedy series from executive producer America Ferrera. Gentefied was adapted from the original a web series of the same name about Mexican-American cousins who struggle to chase the American dream in their Boyle Heights community in Los Angeles.

The creators are Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chavez, both of whom serve as Co-executive Producers on the Netflix series.

Netflix recently announced its principal cast which includes Karrie Martin (Creed II) as Ana Morales, JJ Soria (The Oath) as Erik, and Carlos Santos (Paco’s Men) as Chris and Mexican actor Joaquin Cosio (Quantum Solace) as Pop, the hardworking grandfather who runs a Taco shop.

Martin co-starred in Pretty Little Liars, The Arrangement, The Purge and in David Ayer’s film, The Tax Collector. Martin is repped by Abrams Artists Agency, Beck Talent and Artistic Endeavors.

Soria most recently appeared on Crackle’s The Oath and has recurred on TNT’s Animal Kingdom. Soria is repped by Pakula, King & Associates, NMA PR, and David Dean Management.

Santos, an alumni of the CBS Diversity Showcase has appeared on 2 Broke Girls and gust starred on Fox’s Last Man Standing. Santos is repped by AF entertainment, Innovative Artists and SGSBC

Cosio’s credits include the role of Angel on FX’s The Strain and Don Nieto in Narcos; Mexico. Cosio is repped by Mayor Arce Creative and MGMT.  The showrunner is Monica Macer, with executive producers Terri Wienberg, America Ferrera, Charles D. King, Kim Roth, and Aaliyah Williams.

Karina Noelle Castillo Lands Two Co-Starring Roles in a Span of Two Weeks

Roman philosopher Seneca reminds us that “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” and for actress Karina Noelle Castillo, that could not be truer.

A graduate of The Los Angeles County High School for the Performing Arts who went on to study her craft at the California Institute for the Arts and has been diligently building her career. Now it seems her hard work and dedication has paid off two-fold this past month. In a span of two weeks, she landed two co-starring guest roles, one in General Hospital playing an airline flight attendant and a role as an EMT in an upcoming episode of ABC’s hit show Grey’s Anatomy.

Continuing to hone her craft, Noelle was busy preparing for more work taking a master class with Leslie Kahn this month while continuing to audition and impressing casting directors. Noelle is repped by Citizen Skull Management

Fresh Off The Boat shoots the 100^th episode

The ABC Network Asian-American family sitcom Fresh Off The Boat, which is about to complete its 5th season on the air has just reached a milestone by filming its 100th episode. The filming of the 100th episode and any future episodes ensures that there will be enough episodes to enter the series into the lucrative off-network syndication market. Congratulations to the producers, cast, and crew.

The post Latin Heat Hollywood Spotlight on Casting News first appeared on .

First-look streaming of the Dolores Huerta episode of The David Damian Show Premieres on latinheatcinema.com

TV Producer David Damian Figueroa and Latin Heat Media (LHM) announced an exclusive multi-year content creation partnership that includes the production of his talk show, The David Damian Show (TDDS) and the first-look streaming of one the episodes on latinheatcinema.com, Latin Heat Media’s OTT platform.

Executive produced, and hosted by Figueroa, The David Damian Show (TDDS) presents unique profiles of thought and creative leaders; entertainment professionals, sports figures and trendsetters in technology, social media, arts, culture and social movements. The Dolores Huerta episode, an in-depth interview of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, will premiere on LatinHeatCinema.com in time to coincide with the celebration of her upcoming 89th birthday on April 10th.

Six other episodes of The David Damian Show have been shot and ready for distribution, they feature veteran actor Pepe Serna (Man From Reno, Scarface), actors Nicholas Gonzalez (ABC’s The Good Doctor) and Jordi Vilasuso (Young and the Restless), artist Yolanda Gonzalez, photographic documentarian George Rodriguez, and Paul Schrade, activist who was also shot the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated during his presidential campaign.

Both Figueroa and Bel Hernandez, President/CEO of Latin Heat Media, LLC understand that digitization has permanently reshaped the global TV and film distribution platforms. Latinheatcinema.com was created to meet the demands of the revenue stream revolution with relatable content which targets U.S. Latinos.

“It is exciting and rewarding to partner with David Damian. We are both like-minded individuals that believe that to see shows that highlight our community, we need to create them,” said Hernandez. “We have the ability to cultivate our audience base — U.S. Latinos — who are a $1.5 trillion dollar consumer market, with relatable content on our LatinHeatCinema streaming platform.”

According to a study by The Latino Donor Collaborative, the U.S. Latino gross domestic product (GDP) represents $2.13 trillion — larger than the GDPs of Italy, Brazil, India and Canada. If U.S. Latinos were a country, they’d be the seventh largest economy in the world.  With this in mind, Latin Heat Media is looking to target the most contextually-relevant brands for its OTT content, which is a perfect fit for brands in auto, banking, beverage, retail, confectionary, electronics, telecom, airline, fashion, sports, game developer, and the telecommunication industries.

“The TV and film landscape is changing in a Latino way.  It makes sense to partner with Latin Heat,” said Figueroa . “I truly believe that it’s just a matter of time before a TV, film or streaming studio discovers that Latin Heat has not only the credibility, but the ability to create content, stream it, and recruit talent.”

Figueroa is readily recognized as influential in shaping Latina and Latino popular arts through his work in film, television, music production, and publicity.  “I have made meaningful relationships throughout my decades-long career and I’d like to give my audience the same opportunity to learn and be inspired from these amazing folks I have met along the way,” Figueroa stated.

As one of the producers for the documentaries The Harvest/La Cosecha, and executive producer of Food Chains, Figueroa helped raise money and also headed the marketing campaign of both films.  His ability to bring like-minded celebrities to causes, as exemplified when Eva Longoria came on board as one of the executive producer on Food Chains, has been effective in championing the mission of all included.

The genesis for The David Damian Show originated from Figueroa’s Facebook Live which launched in 2016.  He produced 39 live episodes, one of them with Longoria and many of high profile friends, which have garnered over 200 thousand views.

In addition to The David Damian Show, Figueroa is developing two more shows with Latin Heat Media. ThriftStore Score,  a show about the treasure troves to found at the local thrift store; and I Was there, an interview show which documents historic movements in our country’s history by the person who mobilized hundreds, if not thousands of people to create social change.

Figueroa’s work in the entertainment industry has spanned from that of child farmworker in Arizona to a respected national leader. For over a decade he worked in the entertainment industry and was successful in bridging meaningful relationships between celebrities, non-profit organizations, and social movements. He was the associate producer of the documentary film, The Harvest/La Cosecha and executive producer of the critically acclaimed documentary, Food Changes, which premiered at The Berlin Film Festival in 2014. Both films were in collaboration with Eva Longoria and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation).

Hernandez is a co-founder of Latin Heat, first printed entertainment trade focused on Latinos (www.LatinHeat.com). She produced her first talk show, Let’s Talk in 2009, then went on to create and executive produce KCBS/KCAL9’s HOLA LA! She currently produces TheTrendTalk TV for METV Networks, The David Damian Show and the outdoor festival LATINAFest under her company Latin Heat Media, LLC

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Andy Garcia Cast in His First TV Broadcast Role

Although Andy Garcia has been offered roles on TV pilots in the past he has always passed, until now,  Garcia will be starring alongside Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) on NBC’s comedy The Kenan Show. It will be a single-camera comedy with Kenan playing a newly widowed dad striving to be the best dad to his kids and fending off his father-in-law (Garcia), a retired police officer, on becoming more involved in their lives. Garcia on board gives the series more of a liklihood of being picked up.

The pilot is produced by Lorne Michaels and was written by Jackie Clarke (Superstore) both will be executive producing as will be Kenan.

Garcia will soon be seen in an episode of Modern Love on Amazon.  He is repped by CAA.

Freddie Prinze Jr. Back in The Lead

Freddie Prinze Jr. (24) has been cast as the lead in CW’s, as yet untitled, Nancy Drew pilot.  The pilot will revolve around an 18 year-old Nancy Drew (Kennedy McMann) after she has graduated from high school.  When a family tragedy makes it impossible for her to leave her hometown, she finds herself involved in a ghostly murder investigation.  Prinze will play Carson Drew, Nancy’s father as he attempts to reconnect with his daughter.

Prinze, who has been MIA for a few years comes back in full force.  He recently starred as one of the male leads in CBS’s I Mom So Hard for Warner Bros.  Prince is repped by Gersh Agency.

Christy Haubegger Appointed to the Board

It was announced today that media and entertainment executive Christy Haubegger, has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Effective March 14, 2019, Haubegger succeeds outgoing board member Michael Nash of Blackstone.

Haubegger has served in multiple senior positions in the publishing and entertainment industries. Most recently, at one of the biggest talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where she leads multicultural business development for the agency and provides insights on diverse markets to CAA’s clients.

Prior to her work with CAA, Haubegger founded Latina Magazine in 1996 and served as publisher, president, and CEO until 2001. Additionally, Haubegger has served as a producer on several motion pictures, including Spanglish in 2004. She currently also serves on the board of NYSE-listed company RTW Retailwinds, Inc.

Congrats to PR Extraordinaire Mariluz Gonzalez

Vesper Public Relations, founder Mariluz Gonzalez is featured in Billboard magazine’s article “The PR Ladies Behind Latin Superstars” & the only San Fernando Valley ( L.A.) raised of Mexican origin on the list.

Mariluz Gonzalez was acknowledged for her work in the promotion and marketing of Latin music and entertainment in the U.S. She is responsible for media campaigns of many Fonovisa recording artists (the Regional Mexican powerhouse a division of Universal Music Entertainment) based in Hollywood.

Asked what she has learned as as a Latina business owner, promoting Latin music for over decade, she said: “Over the years I’ve learned not to take myself for granted, [and] not to undervalue my work.”

#LatinosInTheLead #TheFutureIsLatina

The post Andy Garcia in First TV Series Role; Freddie Prinze Back as The Lead; Latinas Moving on Up first appeared on .

by Luis Reyes

Showtime’s hit supernatural horror series Penny Dreadful, closing its series run after three seasons (2014-2017), will return with a new focus on Depression Era 30’s Los Angeles through the prism of a Mexican-American family in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

While the new series shifts away from its previous setting, it will have the involvement of series creator/ writer/ producer John Logan and executive producer/writer John Aguilar who has written for Showtime’s Kidding and I’m Dying up Here.

Daniel Zovatto, of Costa Rican ancestry will star as Detective Tiago Vega, the LAPD’s first Mexican-American detective. Tago’s reality will be rife with racism, childhood trauma and faith issues that challenge the inexplicable supernatural occurrences in the storylines.

Zovatto’s credits include the horror features Don’t Breathe and It Follows and the Greta Gerwig comedy Lady Bird. His television credits include HBO’s Here and Now and AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead.

Joining Zovatto will be Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Adriana Barraza, who will play Maria Vega, the powerful matriarch of the Vega family who will go to any length to protect her children from the dangerous world of 1938 social politics as well as from the chilling supernatural forces invading their lives. Barraza won a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 2006 for her role in Alejandro Inarritu’s Babel. She was most recently seen in FX’s The Strain. Upcoming for the Mexican actress are roles in the feature films Rambo 5 and Dora the Explorer.

Jessica Garza will play Josefina, the youngest of the Vega family (Tiago’s daughter). She plays the quiet and overlooked sister that possesses a powerful spirit waiting to be unleashed. Garza was recently seen on USA Networks The Purge and History channels Six. She has also guest stared on Modern Family and NCIS.  Jonathan Nieves plays Mateo Vega, Tiago’s younger brother, who looks up to his older sibling and carries his strength of character but is vulnerable to people and events around him. Nieves’ credits include New Amsterdam, Better Call Saul and Chicago Fire.
Also in the cast are Nathan Lane (Birdcage) and Natalie Dormer(Game of Thrones, The Tudors).

The post Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels” Set Around a Mexican-American Family in The 30’s first appeared on .

With diversity and inclusion now on the radar of broadcast television network executives, advertisers and viewing audiences,  programming that is reflective of American society seems to be what broadcast TV executives had in mind when ordering their 2019/20 pilots for this season.

With the success of shows like the CW’s Jane the Virgin, NBC’s Superstore (America Ferrera), and integrating of Latino leads in shows like FOX’s (Now on NBC) Brooklyn Nine Nine (Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero), the word is out that hiring Latinos is good for business.

In addition, the casting of Latino actors in non-traditional roles, as fully developed characters that are part of the American scene, is an idea that has been a long time in coming and is reflected well in the following pilots.

This pilot season Latino actors are snagging more lead roles in more high profile pilots and TV Show spin-offs.

Smits Returns Leads in NBC’s Bluff City Law

Emmy award-winning actor Jimmy Smits returns to series television starring as Memphis lawyer Elijah Strait who along with his daughter Sydney Keller (Caitlin McGee) specializes in civil rights cases in the NBC one hour legal drama pilot Bluff City Law.  

Michael Aguilar serves as Executive producer of Bay City Law along with creator and executive producer Dean Georgans and David Janollari.

Smits whose TV career was launched when he starred for as Victor Sifuentes on LA Law has had an impressive television career with other TV show including  NYPD Blue and The West Wing, where he played Matthew Vincente Santos, the first Latino to become president of the U.S.  His film roles include Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Smits is repped by Sarah Clossey at the United Talent Agency

The “Virgin” Lives On At the CW

Jacqueline Grace Lopez (East Los High) has been cast as the lead of the new CW’s Jane The Virgin spinoff pilot show entitled Jane the Novela written by Valentina Garza and to be directed by Brad Silberling. The one-hour anthology series will be executive produced by Jane The Virgin creator Jennie Snyder Urman, Ben Silverman and Gina Rodriguez.

Continuing the “telenovela” them Jane the Novela each season will be based on a different “novela” written by Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez’s character in Jane the Virgin)

The pilot episode of Jane the Novela takes place in the Napa Valley where Jane (Lopez), following in the “novela” tradition is a young twenty-something who is torn between her boyfriend and a handsome rich guy.   

Lopez honed her acting chops on Hulu’s East Los High, a web series created by Carlos Portugal which gave much of the young Latino talent you see now booking leads roles, their first opportunity.  Lopez is repped by Kevin Turner at Daniel Hoff Agency, Matt Rosen at SGSBC, and Commercial Talent Agency.

Jane the Virgin Spinoff for Jaime Camil

CBS has added a late pilot order for the multi-camera comedy which will star and be executive produced by actor Jaime Camil who is currently seen as Rogelio in the CW’s Jane the Virgin. Alex Herschlag (Will & Grace), is the writer

Produced by Jennie Snyder Urman’s (Jane the Virgin) Sutton Street Productions and Ben Silverman Propagate, the executive producing team also includes Herschlag, Guillermo Restrepo, Gonzalo Cilley and Maria Lucia Hernandez Frieri.

The comedy series will revolve around a wealthy trust-fund couple whose money pipeline is cut off by the father. The couple is then relegated to living with an estranged sister in her condo in Reseda, California.  

Camil is represented by Christine Holder of Zero Gravity Management.

E.J. Bonilla Leads in Until The Wedding

E. J. Bonilla, who played the wisecracking Detective Danny Padilla on the final season of A&E’s Unforgettable is set as the male lead opposite Olivia Thrilby in ABC’s Until The Wedding, a one hour romantic drama pilot based on an Israeli TV show format. Until The Wedding will explore the intimate relationships of a group of friends and family as Adrienne (Thrilby) and Danny (Bonilla) are forced to reckon with their own romantic lives and careers. Becky Mode wrote the pilot and producers are Sarah Timberman Carl Beverly and Alon Aranya.  Bonilla will be seen in the upcoming New Line / DC/Vertigo crime comic series film, The Kitchen with Melissa McCarthy.

Bonilla is repped by Jaime Misher at Innovative Artist

Velez Back on New York Undercover

Luna Lauren Velez will reprise her role as Detective Nina Moreno in a new ABC reboot pilot of the Dick Wolf’s original 1990’s New York cop drama series New York Undercover where she starred alongside Michael de Lorenzo and Malik Yorba.  New York Undercover broke new ground in the 90’s as the first police drama on U.S. television to feature two American Latinos and an African-American in starring roles. Wolf serves as producer along with Universal TV and ABC Studios.

Velez’s most recently voiced the role of Miles Morales’s mother in the Oscar winning animated feature, Spider Man: Into The Spider Verse. Velez has extensive film and television including seven seasons on Showtime’s hit show Dexter.

Velez is repped by Estelle Lasher of the Lasher Group out of New York

Gomez & Vidal  on ABC’s The Baker and The Beauty

Carlos Gomez (Law & Order: True Crime The Menendez Murders) and Lisa Vidal (Being Mary Jane) will join Dan Bucatinsky (Second Act) as series regulars in the ABC comedy pilot The Baker and The Beauty.  Set in Miami, the romantic comedy is the story of a young Cuban-American baker Danny Garcia (Bucatinsky), who falls in love with an international superstar. Gomez portrays the family patriarch and owner of the bakery along with his wife Mari played by Vidal and a young daughter played by newcomer Belissa Escobedo.  The young actress is an alumnus of the ABC Discover Showcase that promotes diverse young talent. The series adaptation is from Dean Georgaris and Dave Frankel.

For all the new shows, there is the hurdle of being picked up for a full season.  It is hoped that these television shows and their casts fill out the fall 2019 Network Broadcast schedules and make it as successful long running series.

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