The gentrification of a beloved L.A. neighborhood is complicated albeit funny and charming!
Premieres on Netflix February 21st
By Bel Hernandez
I have been waiting for Gentefied chisme since I first heard about the web series in 2016! It was about the neighborhood I grew up in with characters who talked like me as I was growing up. It was the authenticity that spoke to me.
Boyle Heights is certainly happening now! Just east of Downtown L.A. I go back often to see plays at Casa010, eat at La Parrilla, which has been there for 45 years, or King Tack on the iconic corner of Soto and Brooklyn (now Cesar Chavez). All the landmarks, the people, the issues that are ever-changing, the code-switching, the mariachi music, and the panaderias — all stamped with the Boyle Heights brand. This is the backdrop to Marvin Bryan Lemus and Linda Yvette Chavez’s new half-hour drama Gentetfied, which drops today on Netflix.
Gentefied is addicting. I watched it all in one sitting. It is about a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood where families, like any other family across the nation, deal with issues of family squabbles, unrequited love, trying to make ends meet, LGBTQ, death, and the G-word: gentrification. The difference her are the residents dealing with being American and still being proud of their Mexican heritage. The majority of them are “code switchers” They switch from Spanish to English without skipping a beat while still sprinkling in a “cabron” or a “chingado” for emphasis.
For writers Lemus and Chavez the timeliness of the story of Gentefied comes from an idea they could relate to, both having grown up is similar neighborhoods like Boyle Heights; Bakersfield and Los Angeles respectively
The idea really took off in 2016 when a mutual friend at Film Independent suggested to Lemus to connect with Chavez and brought the two writers together. They instantly hit it off.
“We would do one hour of chisme before we started our writing session,” laughs Chavez. “The character Chris (who struggles with cultural identity) is based on Lemus, and I am a proud, loud Chicana!”
The project was developed by Charles King owner of MACRO Ventures. They shot seven 10-minute episodes. King presented the idea to actress/producer America Ferrera, who immediately committed to coming on board as executive producer as well as to be able to direct and even did a cameo in the digital series and does the same in the Netflix.
Gentefied centers on three cousins, the Chicana artist Ana Morlaes (Karrie Martin), the deadbeat cousin (Joseph Julian Soria), and the “Brown on the outside, White on the inside (the coconut) cousin (Carlos Santos). Working together to keep their Grandfather’s (Joaquin Cosio) popular Boyle Heights taco shop in business as the neighborhood becomes more gentrified. Throughout the show’s first season the cousins confront their differences in their connections to their community, their heritage, and their commitment to the family business, all while navigating larger themes of gentrification and the marginalization of Latinx’s in America.
Once the proof of concept was in and they began shopping it around, they were constantly being asked if this could be a half hour show. And so it was after Netflix beat out the other six bidders for the show, it became a Netflix series.
Latin Heat had the privilege to speak to the two creators about the journey of an idea that was developed at a coffee shop, to now be airing on the biggest and most prestigious streaming network.
Latin Heat: Congratulations on your series premiere! Thank you for sharing your journey. I know having had America Ferrera come on board was a big get. How hard was to get the project to America?
Marvin Lemus: It was easy. Charles [King] had had a meeting with America about her projects and mentioned Gentefied. He sent off the script and that same week she responded wanting to know how she could get involved. She has been our Madrina. She is is a perfect partner and an activist herself.
Linda Yvette Chavez: She is a mentor and an advocate for us. She grew up in the same kind of community as we did.
LH: How great is it to have a series and have it air on Netflix?
ML: We have always wanted to be on Netflix! We work with an amazing team people who gave us the opportunity to do the show and the time frame to move forward. It was important for us to do the series bilingually and they allowed us to do that.
LYC: They see our vision and basically have told us ‘Whatever you guys want. We trust you’.
LH: How would you describe the series?
ML: This series is about the American dream. It is about the immigrant story and its is also about the Mexican American experience.
LH: You’ve done a couple of screening prior to the premiere of the series on Netflix and what has been the response for the audiences?
MBL: We had a screening at NALIP and we were blown away. The biggest compliment we got was when one of the audience members came up to us said, ‘I feel like I am watching our family.’ That is exactly want we wanted.
LYC: At the Cal State L.A. screening the audience consisted of a lot of Boyle Heights residents. There were lots of laughs and it was a great community conversation. The applause was loud and it told us they loved it! But also, knowing that this is coming from an audience of different generations of viewers was so gratifying.
MBL: We have had people of different backgrounds tell us they see themselves. Everyone just wants to see a reflection of themselves, something that has been missing for too long for many of them. We were even asked if we could make a series about their cities.
Gentefied is gloriously personal and realistic in its portrayal of characters of all ages. Perhaps the writers have started a new trend here… think about the endless stories coming out of other communities across the nation– there’s an Oakland Gentefied, a Tucson Gentefied, a Pilson Chicago Gentefied, the possibilities are exciting.