By Cris Franco

Playwright/Screenwriter Josefina López holds a singular place in both American theater and Hollywood—an artist whose voice has reshaped the narrative around Latinas on stage and screen.

In 1990, her signature play Real Women Have Curves, about an ambitious, 18-year-old, plus-sized Latina battling her family’s oppressive gender and cultural norms, became a major hit. In 2002, after a bidding war, HBO adapted the play into an award-winning film with America Ferrera in her first starring role.

So enduring is López’s semi- autobiographical tale, that for the last 23- years, both the play and film have consistently drawn large audiences, taken by López’s funny and insightful depiction of the immigrant struggle. Not resting on her laurels, more plays followed. 

López used her college loans to establish a community theater, CASA 0101, which offers multiple performing arts programs and world class theater. Lopez initially opened a nearby restaurant, CasaFina Restaurant to complement the theater experience.  Both her theater and the restaurant are located in the neighborhood that fueled her creative spirit, Boyle Heights. It was this same spirit that drove her to not give up on a career-long dream — to see her play morph yet once again, into a full Broadway musical.

Now, in a full-circle moment, López’s dream of bringing Real Women Have Curves to Broadway has finally become a reality. On April 27, 2025, the musical adaptation of her iconic play will make its long-awaited debut.

I had the privilege of speaking to Ms. López who was in NYC attending a show rehearsal. We discussed why her musical is more than just entertainment, how a “sewing factory sings”, and the importance of keeping Real Women Have Curves real.

CRIS FRANCO (CF): Josefina, I’ve streamed the many rehearsals, promos and preview clips from Real Women Have Curves, the musical — and I’m very excited!    

JOSEFINA LOPEZ (JL): Me, too! It’s got all that I loved about the play and movie but heightened with singing, dancing and an expanded story. Lisa Loomer, who adapted it, has done such a great job. 

CF: How has the original plot changed? 

JL:  We’ve added to it.  Revisiting the world allowed us to delve deeper, go back in time and bring in characters with backstories true to the times. We now meet Guatemalan (Itzel) and Salvadorian (Rosalí) refugees, a cholita (Flaca) trying to remake her life and a woman who hasn’t yet come out. These real people were part of my factory experience and now we’ve included them. It’s beautiful.

CF:  It sounds wonderful — and daunting.  Was it challenging adapting Real Women into a musical?

JL: Yes. I had tried twice before — but decided to let Lisa Loomer take-on this third attempt because when you create a successful play and movie, as I did, you get attached.  But for the project to grow, you have to be able to see beyond what already exists.  And to create new moments where it lends itself to song and dance.  I knew I had to just let go and tell myself, yeah, that moment is possible, too.  And that was the challenge. 

CF: It appears there are new male characters in the musical. 

JL: Yes. The original play featured only women and there were a few men in the film. But we added more men into the musical.  And that’s part of the challenge, too. Knowing what characters to add — without adding too many. You don’t want to overpower the narrative because Broadway often relies on spectacle and I didn’t want us to lose sight of the story.  

CF: I get it. You wanted to keep Real Women, real.

JL: Yes.  

CF: The master of musical theater, Stephen Sondheim, stated that when he was approached about musicalizing a story, he’d ask himself: “Does it sing?” Did you think Real Women would sing?  

JL: I knew it would. All the way back, when I was in the (sewing) factory, I knew that Real Women  was a musical because the factory itself was musical. The sewing machines each had a distinct, humming sound depending on how old the machine was or if it needed oil. The steam iron made a rhythmic hiss. Cutting the fabric had a percussive tick-tick-tick. The radio was always playing. Outside the cars would zoom by and you could hear all the “loncheria” trucks horns honking — da-da-da-da-daaaa!

CF: “La cucaracha, la cucaracha” — 

JL: The factory was always alive with sound and motion – moving the dresses, shaking them, sewing them, ironing them.  There was always action throughout the workroom and choreography to the assembly of the garments.  Even when I was writing the original play, I thought to myself, this story could be a musical. I imagined the women dancing with the mannequins. I had all these ideas but I was only 18-years-old and, frankly, I didn’t know how to write a musical. But I could definitely hear and see it come alive as a musical.

CF: What are your favorite musicals?

JL:  I didn’t like musicals growing up because they were not relevant to my life in Boyle Heights. It wasn’t until years later when I experienced that moment in Miss Saigon where (Vietnamese) Kim and this white (American) soldier’s souls connect through a song, that I thought, ‘Oh my God — musicals can be about anything’. They don’t have to be about two white characters falling in love in a world where everything’s rosy. Those plots were so completely relatable to me living as an undocumented girl in East L.A. So, Miss Saigon got me interested in musical theater and then I saw Next To Normal —

CF: O.M.G. That show is so daring. It’s about how a wife and mother whose mental disorder destroys and — in a way — unites a suburban family. 

JL: Next To Normal showed me that musicals can go deep and be profound. That’s when I thought, I really want my play to be a musical. At first that was just a dream, but after our film won so many awards, I started actively working with my manager seeking theater producers. And I’ve been pursuing this goal until I finally met Sergio Trujillo who won the Best Choreographer Tony in 2019.  I thought Sergio could direct it. He’s an immigrant, so he gets it and understands the pain of being undocumented.  And it slowly all came together. 

CF: There are so many elements involved in creating a musical, that a director can make or break your show.  How did you select your collaborators: Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin (book), Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez (score)?  

JL: Selecting the right creatives is a big decision. But when I met Barry Wessler, the producer of Chicago, I thought — well he must know what he’s doing. His show’s have been running for over 20 years! Lisa Loomer was the smartest choice because she knows my world of Boyle Heights and she knows me.  Sergio is the one who came up with Joy Huerta. I had heard some of her songs and had heard of her.   

CF: She’s a Grammy winner. 

JL: Yes. I just had never put Joy’s name and her wonderful songs together. I thought — Oh, my God, this woman’s a poet.  She is an incredible, soulful human being — amazing.  And I thought, yes, she could write the songs for the show.   

CF: I very much like the songs I’ve heard.  They’re on story, tuneful and energetic. 

JL: I agree.  Once the creatives were lined up, I guess my big contribution was insisting that our casting agent, or at least their consultant, be a Mexican-American.  So that Mexican-American actors would be the first to be considered for the roles.  

CF: That is very important because today’s discerning Latinx audience are very familiar with the cultural and linguistic nuances of a México-American vs. a Puertoriqueño vs. a Cubano, etc. Casting still lumps us together into playing a generic Hispanic that comes across as inauthentic because a generic Hispano doesn’t exist.  But what does exist in your show is a cast that can all act, sing and dance.

JL: Well, you have to be a triple threat to be on Broadway, right?

CF: Was it a challenge finding Latinx triple threats?

JL:  It was hard to find men and women of a certain age who could sing and act and dance because until shows like In The Heights — thank goodness for In The Heights — our actors had limited opportunities to develop their musical talents. But we have assembled an amazing cast. But, the biggest challenge was getting the word out in the search for our lead, Ana, because, once again, not enough Latinos get to train, especially Mexican-Americans.  But we finally found Tatianna Córdoba who can do it all.  Plus, she’s got incredible comedic timing and she’s a great singer. Tatianna graduated from Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee in 2022.  She’s beautiful, charming and she looks 18-years-old!  

CF: But finding her took work? 

JL: We had over one-thousand submissions for the role.      

CF: Although the original Real Women was written in the 1980s, the themes are more pressing than ever: body image, femininity vs. feminism, women’s rights, the immigrant experience. What do you think that says about our present society?

JL: Those things have only gotten worse. It’s sad. When I first wrote the play, I thought that twenty-years later, the story would be irrelevant because society would have progressed beyond these racist and sexist assumptions.  But it’s only gotten worse for women and the undocumented. It’s gotten worse for everyone. Immigrants have been dehumanized. So, it’s divine timing that this play is now on Broadway so it can challenge the narrative that we are the bad guys. That we’re taking rather than contributing. I’m very proud to share my story because it’s not just mine. It’s the story of so many others. Me, our director and the whole cast feel that telling this story is now necessary.  It’s not just entertainment.  It’s us fighting for our humanity.

I was talking to a reporter earlier and I realized — hey, by opening a theater and a restaurant, I’ve created hundreds of jobs. I didn’t take anyone’s job away. Immigrants create jobs. I’ve always been very proud and public about the fact that I am a formerly undocumented person who at age18 worked in a sewing factory.  And today I get to walk to a Broadway show where I get to see myself portrayed as a worker in that sewing factory. In a way, I’m the embodiment of the American Dream.  

CF: You certainly are. And, I too, can’t understand anyone who can’t relate to the cause of the undocumented worker.  I mean, they are just like you. They are you in different circumstances. It’s disparaging to refer to them as “aliens.”

JL: Which is code for “non-human.” And for me, that term really hurts. So I wanted to explore and celebrate my humanity through the story and say, no, I’m not an alien, I’m a human being. That’s why the play’s undressing scene is so important.  It says — look at me!  I’m flesh and blood and curves and fat and everything.  How much more real can I be than this?  

And, yeah, it’s a story of defiance, of self-acceptance because that’s me, too. But it’s also a personal feminist story about how we women are made to feel that we’re not good enough by a system that makes us feel inferior. I used to blame myself thinking, I just need to work on myself.  Until I realized that every freaking woman has the same program running in her head. And I got sick of it.  That’s why I wanted to share this story, so the other women could see it and think — wait a minute. I’m going through the same bullshit. Oh my God, everyone’s going through this!

CF: Speaking as a male — yeah, it’s true. Society does allow us to be uncaring, sloppy, vulgar, aggressive, blunt and demanding.  While women are heavily judged if they display those very human traits. Society will forgive the most vile man of almost anything if he’s a good provider. Which brings me to money and the economics of Broadway. 

JL: Oh, yes.  Mounting a show here is crazy expensive. 

CF: Currently, some orchestra prime tickets to Othello starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington list at $900 each with the cheapest ticket at $221.  But I’ve noticed that Real Women sells some balcony seats for under $50.  

JL: I think they’re listed at $48. We’re doing our best so that our audiences can afford to see the show. I always just go to the half-price TKTS booth and get them at 50% off but that still adds up to $100 for a pair of tickets.  And that’s because it takes about twelve-million dollars to get a show on Broadway. So it requires many investors who are primarily white men — even at my backers’ auditions.  

CF: How do you think that affects what shows get produced? 

JL: Well, if this is the group that decides what musicals make it to Broadway, it eliminates many shows that don’t appeal to this very specific funding base. I know that without a hit play we wouldn’t have had the hit movie. And without the movie we wouldn’t have had a shot at becoming a musical.  

CF: It’s very significant that you are finally here. 

JL: Especially this season when, for the first time in history, we have two new Latino musicals on Broadway: Buena Vista Social Club and Real Women Have Curves. 

CF: Do you think that says something positive about Latino stories breaking into the mainstream market? 

JL: Yes, because by bringing people into our experience they can see how beautiful we are. Broadway’s not seen a world quite like Real Women Have Curves. We present my working-class neighborhood the way I saw it.  Colorful murals, life, creativity, resilience, hope. Which is contrary to what most have heard about Boyle Heights which was at one time labeled the “drive-by shooting capitol of the world.”  That’s what captures the national headlines — not that our city has a long history of activism for civil rights and social justice. 

That’s the truth, just like the musical truly depicts how much fun it was working in the factory.  The day was filled with so much laughter and juicy chisme (gossip) that I really looked forward to going to work. So, while my friends all went off to college, I went to work in a factory where I got a real education about what it meant to be a woman. 

CF: So, your journey to Broadway began way back then. And now you’re here. 

JL:  It’s incredible to walk to Times Square and to see a giant billboard for Real Women Have Curves. 

CF: (my phone’s alarm goes off) Josefina, there’s so much more I wanted to ask you but I know our time is over and you’ve gotta go back to rehearsal. I’m gonna jump to my final question: What advice do you offer to young playwrights? 

JL: To keep telling the truth. Write about what they know, and to write about the wisdom they’ve [writers] gained from their pain and suffering, because nobody needs any more tragedies. And if they haven’t yet learned from their life lessons, wait a couple of years to write your story.  We need to hear about what they’ve gained from the losses. 

To experience what Josefina López learned from her storied life, get ready to experience Real Women Have Curves:  the Musical currently in previews wiht opening night on April 27th at the James Earl Jones Theater, NY, NY.  

The full cast includes: Tatianna Córdoba, Justina Machado, Florencia Cuenca, Shelby Acosta, Carla Jimenez, Aline Mayagoitia, Jennifer Sánchez, and Sandra Valls, Mauricio Mendoza, with Ana’s boyfriend played by Mason Reeves. with the ensemble cast consisting of Zeus Mendoza, Claudia Mulet, Christopher M. Ramirez, Monica Tulia Ramirez, Quincy Hampton, Ariana Burks 

For all show info and tickets, log onto: https://www.realwomenhavecurvesbroadway.com

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Joining the exclusive ranks of Rita Moreno, a Puerto Rican trailblazer, and Lupita Nyong’o, today Oscar nomination of America Ferrera makes a notable dent in the lack of diversity for Latinos in Hollywood.

Ferrera’s nomination not only celebrates her exceptional talent but also symbolizes a positive shift in the industry’s recognition of Latinx performers. Known for her impactful roles in projects like Real Women Have Curves and Ugly Betty, Ferrera has consistently broken barriers and challenged stereotypes.

Ferrera’s journey reflects the increasing acknowledgment of diverse voices in the entertainment world. Her presence in the Oscar nomination list is a testament to the importance of representation and the ongoing efforts to promote inclusivity in the film industry.

In a landscape where Latinx representation remains a crucial topic, America Ferrera’s Oscar nomination stands as a beacon of inspiration, paving the way for more Latinx talent to be recognized and celebrated on the grand stage of the Academy Awards.

This year Latinos were also nominated in various categories either for individual statues, or as part of a team.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Colman Domingo
Rustin

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

America Ferrera
Barbie

AIMATED FEATURE FILM

Robot Dreams
Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Killers of the Flower Moon
Rodrigo Prieto

MUSIC (Original Song)

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren – Performed by Becky G

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Society of the Snow
Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

The 96th Oscars will be broadcast on Sunday, March 10, 2024 on ABC. Those without access to ABC can still watch the Oscars live with streaming services that offer live television, including Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and FuboTV

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Dubbed as a “virtual gathering of Latina influencers, celebrities, community leaders, (and) entrepreneurs” in the United States, the event will cover leadership, power, equality and entertainment. It will also feature success stories and hold an awards ceremony. It will take place April 21.

Alba and Ferrara are two of Hollywood’s most prominent Latina stars.

Alba is a Golden-Globe nominated, prolific actor and founder of a multi-billion dollar company.  

AN ‘ANGEL’ TAKES OFF
Her breakout role was the lead in the sci-fi superhero series Dark Angel, directed by Oscar-winning Titanic director James Cameron. This role earned her a nod to the award handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Her movie credits include Robert Rodriguez’s acclaimed drama Sin City, the rom-com Valentine’s Day, the thriller The Killer Inside Me, the children’s action film Spy Kids 4-D: All the Time in the World and the superhero franchise Fantastic Four. More recently, she starred in the police comedy-drama LA’s Finest, which she helped co-produce.

The actress has also banked on her fame to go into business. In 2012 she co-founded The Honest Company, which specializes in household goods, diapers, and body care products and is now reportedly valued at about $2 billion. Alba has also been involved in activism encouraging youths to vote and supporting causes like safe chemicals and same-sex marriage, children’s education in Africa and the non-profits Habitat for Humanity and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

A SUNDANCE WINNER
Ferrera, for her part, is a Golden-Globe-winning actress who in recent years has put on a hat as a producer and executive director of projects that are either Latino-themed or have main characters who are Latinos. Her feature film debut was as the lead in her breakout role in 2002 at Sundance in the award-winning drama Real Women Have Curves, written by Josefina Lopez and for which she won the Special Jury Prize for Best Actress. 

Ferrera’s TV breakthrough role was in Ugly Betty. The Salma Hayek-exec directed TV series won Ferrera three coveted prizes for best actress: a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy—the first Latina to earn the honor in that category.

After Ugly Betty, she went to star in the independent limited series Christine and had a recurring role in the law drama The Good Wife. She also voiced Astrid Hofferson in the DreamWorks Animation franchise How to Train Your Dragon, including the feature films, shorts and TV series. Her film credits also include Cesar Chavez, in which she plays Helen Chavez, the wife of the farmworker and labor leader, and the two The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films. 

Ferrera donned the hats of executive producer and director for two recent series, NBC’s Superstore, in which she also stars as Amy Sosa, and Netflix’s Gentefied, a drama about gentrification in East Los Angeles—also making an appearance in one episode. 

As an activist, Ferrera has supported getting out the Latino vote, immigration advocacy and women’s rights. She was the opening speaker at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington.

MORE STARS & LEADERS
Several other Latina actresses will also be joining #LatinasRepresent. They are Dascha Polanco and Diane Guerrero (Orange Is the New Black), Julissa Calderon (Gentefied), Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Cristela Alonzo (Cristela), Giselle Blondet (Mujeres Asesinas) and Julissa Bermudez (Hunters). 

The event will also feature prominent Latina leaders like Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers and head of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, and Janet Murguia, president of UnidosUS, the Hispanic advocacy organization formerly known as the National Council of La Raza. 

Other women participating in the event are Univision anchor Yarel Ramos and the up-and-coming singer Mariah Angeliq.

Hispanicize Media Group, the organizer of #LatinasRepresent, is owned by NGL Collective, actor John Leguizamo’s independent media and entertainment company.

#LatinasRepresent is a free event. To register, click here.

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America Ferrera will make her feature film directorial debut with I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an adaptation of Erika L. Sánchez‘s New York Times bestseller novel by the same name, for Netflix.

The dramedy follows Julia Reyes, a strong-willed teenage daughter of Mexican immigrants with traditional values. When her sister dies in a tragic accident, Julia steps in to try and hold the family together.

Sánchez‘s award-winning novel will be adapted for the big screen by Linda Yvette Chávez who is also the co-creator and co-executive producer of Gentefied, another Netflix show.

Although this is Ferrera first time directing a feature, she has been honing her skills directing on television, including several episodes on Gentefied and Superstore, the TV series she starred in for five years.

Charles King’s Macro, the original producer of the first iteration of Gentified (as a web series) will serve as producer for I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter along with Anonymous Content. MACRO’s Greta Fuentes will also executive produce along with Aevitas Creative Management’s Michelle Brower through their first-look deal with Anonymous Content.

America Ferrara is represented by CAA. Linda Yvette Chávez is represented by WME.

— Latin Heat News Service

Featured Photo: Latin Heat Media

The post America Ferrera Makes Feature Film Directorial Debut first appeared on .

by Luis Reyes

Last week at a star studded ceremony in Beverly Hills the National Hispanic Media Coalition held its 23rd Annual Impact Awards honoring the significant and impactful contribution of Latino content creators, producers and actors in Hollywood and in American popular culture. 

America Ferrera, honored for Outstanding Series Producer for Netflix’s Gentefied said in her acceptance speech, “We are content creators and agents of change, changing the narrative….and now we are not doing it alone.” She dedicated the award to the late actress Lupe Ontiveros with whom she worked with on her debut film, Real Woman Have Curves Ferrera added, “Ontiveros over her career had few opportunities to share the depth of her extraordinary talent.” 

Jay Hernandez who was honored for Outstanding Television Performance as the titular hero of Magnum P.I., commented upon receiving his award, “We get to tell the story of who we are with humanity, dignity and grace in these important times.” Hernandez tackled one of the most iconic characters in recent television history and made it his own.

 Roberto Aguirre- Sacasa is the writer and executive producer of three hit series Riverdale, Kathy Keene and Chilly Adventures of Sabrina. He received an award for Outstanding Executive Producer for his accomplishments presented by Vida producer Tanya Saracho. Saracho acknowledged him for inspiring her pursuit of a writing career as a beginning playwright in Chicago, noting that they share many of the same cultural touchstones in their writing.  “We have a rich past and there is positive change for authentic and accurate representations.” explained Aguirre. For this season of Starz Vida, Saracho proudly revealed that she hired all female Latinx directors.

Amy Lippman co- created the original Fox series Party of Five (1994-2000) about a group of Anglo kids who lose their mother and father in an accident and are left to fend on their own.  Twenty years later Lippman updated the material with social relevance for today’s audiences about a Latinx family whose parents are deported from the U.S. and the kids are forced to cope on their own. Party of Five with an all Latinx cast is currently on Freeform television and executive produced by Lippman who received an Impact award.

Isabella Gomez was awarded for her Outstanding series performance as Elena Alvarez on the beloved “One Day at a Time, about three generations of a Cuban-American family living in the same house. The Netflix show now on Pop TV was co-created by Gloria Calderon Kellett who presented Gomez with the award.

Dany Garcia is described as a “Billion-dollar producer” for the number one worldwide box office star Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and she runs a vast portfolio of entertainment companies. She is the founder, chairwoman and CEO of the Garcia companies and TCG Management and co-founder of Seven Bucks companies,

The daughter of Cuban Immigrants, Dany has produced with her executive team and studio partners an amazing array of diverse content for a global audience with productions that include several successful film franchises. Garcia in a moment of reflection said, “I believe No Latinx woman has been there before me.”

 She has amassed 1.5 billion in box-office receipts this year alone and more than $4 billion to date. Her productions include Jumanji, Jumanji: The Next Level, Hobbs and Shaw and the upcoming Disney’s Jungle Cruise.

Garcia received an Impact award for Outstanding Film Producer and it was presented to her by her brother Hiram Garcia, who runs her Seven Bucks film production unit.

Ozzie Areu, who rose from security guard at Warner Bros. studios and personal assistant to Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt to running Tyler Perry Studios is now Founder and CEO of his own studio facility, Areu Bros studios in Atlanta, Georgia. He received a Trailblazer Award as the first modern Latino studio owner following in the footsteps of Desi Arnaz who founded Desilu Studios with his wife Lucille Ball with the phenomenal success of their 50’s TV sitcom I Love Lucy.

Warner Bros. Chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff was given a Visionary award for greenlighting, producing and releasing Lin Manuel Miranda’s upcoming film version of his Tony Award winning musical drama In The Heights directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) that opens in theaters nationwide on June 26^th. It features a largely Latinx cast of young rising performers and established artists.

Sitcom stars Jacob Vargas (Mr. Iglesias) and Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) served as hosts for the awards ceremony and kept the proceeding lively and fast moving.

Unlike the Oscars, the Emmy’s or the Golden Globes, the Impact Awards brought to the forefront, by their mere presence alone, a young empowered collective group of professional entertainment industry Latinx women. They were recognized for creating mainstream entertainment that reflects the world we live in and for telling stories that deserve to be told that reflect our various communities and experiences as Americans.

At the beginning of the decade of the 80’s and 90’s it was proclaimed by the media to be “The Decade of The Hispanic” and although there were notable gains made by filmmakers and talent (Luis Valdez, Robert Rodriguez, Gregory Nava, Edward James Olmos, Salma Hayek, Andy Garcia, Benicio del Toro, George Lopez etc.) the “Decade” never did materialize.  Now into the beginning of the second decade of the 21^st century, it seems like the work done by past generation is making way for the new Latinx generation to come of age in Hollywood. We are living in an era of Latinx talent across all the entertainment platforms. As one presenter commented,

 “We have proven that together with artists and crafts people there exists beautiful content that celebrates our lives and values and voracious audiences [for the content]”

Netflix has a scripted series Selena currently in production on the early years of legendary Tejana singer, in addition for the first time in history, there are ten (10) Latino themed and cast series currently on broadcast, cable and streaming platforms.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition NHMC is a national media advocacy and social justice organization for the advancement of Latinx and the annual Impact Awards recognizes talent and executives who advance equality and opportunities for the Latinx community in media and entertainment. Brenda Victoria Castillo is the president/CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

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By Bel Hernandez

The fact that Gloria Calderon Kellett, Executive Producer/Showrunner (One Day At a Time) signed an “overall deal” with Amazon Studios this past week is a major “Big Deal”. For starters, this would be a major accomplishment for any woman in Hollywood, the fact that she is Latina puts her in an elite group.

This is not Calderon Kellett’s first TV deal. Her hit show, the adaptation of Norman Lear’s One Day At A Time, she worked with writing partner Mike Royce, falls under their current overall deal with Sony Pictures TV, which lapses in June 2020. At the time of this deal’s lapse, her three-year overall deal with Amazon begins.

Calderon Kellett belongs to an elite group of Latinas that have secured deals at TV or cable networks. Other Latinas who have had or still have production deals are America Ferrera with a deal at NBC/Universal; Salma Hayek with an overall film deal at Lionsgate; Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) has a TV overall deal with CBS; Zoe Saldana whose deal with DreamWorks Animation’s AwesomenessTV is to produce original content for the company’s forthcoming Awestruck service; and Eva Longoria who has had two deals, one with ABC under which she produced Telenovela and one with Fox Studios under which she produced the recent Grand Hotel which also aired on ABC.

However, Calderon Kellett’s Amazon deal has the distinction of being a three-year deal and she is the first-ever Latina writer/creator to sign an eight figures deal.

Calderon Kellett began her career in entertainment as a playwright whose scripts went on to win distinction and awards. She did stand up, writing her own comedy routines before turning to a career writing for TV. In 2005 she joined the writer’s room on How I Met Your Mother and she has worked herself to the top of her game from there.

Calderon Kellett is not only making news as an Executive Producer/Showrunner she has also joined the small ranks of woman directors in Hollywood and is one of only a handful of Latinas who have taken their turn directing for TV. While on hiatus from producing One Day at a Time, she directed an episode of the reboot series Mad About You. Her other directing credits include having directed episodes on One Day At A Time and Mr. Iglesias on Netflix.

When Netflix canceled One Day at a Time earlier this year after the third season, there was a social media uproar with audiences and critics alike calling for its return. Netflix did not reverse the cancellation, however, the series was picked up by POP TV giving them a fourth season which is set to premiere in the Spring of 2020.

With Latino TV writers as a whole only making up 2.8%  of all writers staffed on TV shows, the percentage of Latinas, derived from that percentage is much smaller. With that in mind, what Calderon Kellett has accomplished becomes even more impactful as this twice Emmy nominated and Peabody Award nominee only getting started.

The Latino community is lagging when it comes to TV writers and more specifically executive producers/showrunners. This community needs a prolific writer/showrunner with not just one, but several Latino series on the air. Longoria has been leading in this area, with having had two series in the past five years go to series. Both Telenovela (under the ABC deal) and Grand Hotel under the FOX deal aired on ABC. Both these series starred an all Latino cast, however, both were canceled after only one season.

Calderon Kellett’s One Day at A Time already a three seasons series will premiere its 4th season on POP TV. And, if Calderon Kellett chooses to produce more Latino themed content under her Amazon deal, she would be the front runner for the title of “the Latina Shonda Rhimes”. It’s a tall order, but given Calderon Kellet’s track record, it could well be a possibility.

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