By Cris Franco

What is an American?  Gloria Calderón Kellett, the showrunner and co-creator of Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning One Day at a Time, explores this often-asked question in her new play One of the Good Ones premiering at the Pasadena Playhouse March 13-April 7.  The action is ignited when a “perfect” Latina daughter introduces her boyfriend to her parents. The meeting reveals the family’s biases and preconceptions – to hilarious effect. A writer-actor-producer-director with the impressive credits (co-creator of One Day at a Time, creator of Amazon’s With Love and The Horrors of Dolores Roach) Ms. Calderón Kellet is one of Hollywood’s workingest television content creators. I had the privilege of chatting with her between rehearsals for One of the Good Ones. We talked about the magic of theater, the power of familia, the genius of Norman Lear and the importance of normalizing Hollywood’s portrayal of Latinos.  

CRIS FRANCO (CF): 

I’m so happy to speak to you.  You are such a talented quadruple threat. 

GLORIA CALDERON KELLETT(GCK): 

GCK: Oh, that’s so nice, Cris. Can you call me every day?

CF: Sure. I’ll have my girl call your girl and while our girls are talking, we can talk – grrrl.  Whew, your list of credits is very impressive! My first question is to what do you attribute your success in so many fields? 

GCK:  I think I’m just really a tenacious hard worker.  My fellow show runner and friend, Sarah Gamble, told me that I have class president energy.  The pretty blonde girl might run against me, but everyone knows that I’m gonna get the job done!

CF:  And you have head cheerleader energy too. Were you a hyper-creative kid? 

GCK:  Yes! I sang and danced. I was really fortunate to have Cuban immigrant parents who, although they didn’t speak the language, knew the value of education because in Cuba the educational system was excellent.  So they knew that the key to achieving the American dream was education.  God bless my mom, she would enroll me into a class for anything I took interest in: tap, ballet, jazz, piano. They would encouraged me to try things out to see if I liked it. Of course not everything stuck. But it was privileged to have access to those classes because my parents sacrificed to pay for them since they didn’t have a ton of money.  Yet, they had such immense belief in me. I’m so grateful that they allowed me to try and fail often at different things. It just gave me a willingness to learn to work my way through something if I really wanted to do it. And that’s such a gift to give your kids.

CF: Ditto. Tell me about your family. 

GCK: I have a younger brother who’s a lovely guy. He lives in San Diego. We’ve always gotten along. And my parents live across the street from me. 

I check in on them all the time and when my kids come home from school, they go across the street to hang out with grandma and grandpa and then come home. I often cook dinner and bring it over to them. It’s great.

CF: That’s like a sitcom. 

GCK: I know. Everybody Loves Raymond in real life.  And my husband, God bless him, is the best. He sees them more than I do to be honest.

CF:  But it’s cool that your kids are getting that whole enriching, Old World, extended familia, multi-generational experience.

GCK:  I love it. I grew up living with my grandparents and I consider it a great gift. We Latinos really value our older generation, acknowledging them for establishing our foundation. We don’t place our elderly into nursing homes.  Our customs call for us to care for them.

CF: True. U.S. Latino straddle so many old and new traditions. We have a very unique family dynamic – and families is what brings us to your new play, One of the Good Ones.  What does the title mean?

GCK: Well, it is left somewhat to interpretation, but it’s a play on something that I think successful Latinos often hear. I have often been told, “You’re one of the good ones.” This play it is a reversal on that. It’s a play on that verbiage. I don’t want to say too much more and spoil anything. 

CF: Am I safe in assuming that drama will be triggered when the boyfriend arrives? So, it’s an unexpected coupling?

GCK:  Yes. It is an unexpected coupling that launches lots of great conversation. The daughter who’s home from college has a lot of questions about her upbringing and how her parents feel about her future with the new man in her life. The evening’s conversation spurs growth, discomfort, in-fighting and ultimately, understanding. I hope audiences leave having laughed a lot and with new insights. I see my play as an invitation. Of course it’s filtered through a Latino lens because that’s my point of view. 

CF: Which is honest. 

GCK: Exactly. So, are there special moments for Latinos?  Yes. Is there Spanish that’s not translated? Yes. But it’s okay because I know that growing-up watching American television, I didn’t know what a bar mitzvah was – but I still watched and learned. Because I’d go look it up in the dictionary. My play is an invitation to non-Latino audiences to consider what it means to be American. What did their families go through? What are the parallels with their own families? 

My great mentor Norman Lear was taken with the idea of our common humanity. I think that’s why his work remains so relevant. It’s also what I try to pepper into my own work. I make sure that I am speaking specifically to a specific community while simultaneously inviting in others outside that community by showing them how we are more similar than we are different.

CF:  I, too, wrote for Norman Lear and know that exploring our shared humanity was his mantra.  That’s why I liked working on his shows. I also I liked Norman’s sitcoms because they played so much like theater. I know you, too, love theater and you’ve written lots of short plays. 

GCK: Yes, but One of the Good Ones is my first full length play. And I’m delighted that it’s the first one out the gate.

CF: Plays inhabit such a unique space in storytelling. Being live, theater shares a real-time relationship with the audience. Plus the playwright has to sustain an idea without the breaks and instant scene changes afforded film and TV. So, I guess my question is: How do you get your playwriting head on vs. your TV writing head?  Or is it the same head?

GCK: It is. My One Day at a Time was the Norman Lear-style of storytelling: a filmed play. 

It was presented in long scenes largely in the proscenium of the apartment, played in one room, in real time. My new play is the same. No intermission. The actors are on stage the whole time. No scene break, no lighting changes – played in one fell swoop in 90-minutes. The audience is experiencing the events with the characters in real time because I love that tension. I love that we’re taking this journey without a break.  And it’s a wonderful challenge to keep the conversation feeling natural. Like it’s moving while still having an inciting incident, a progressive complication, crisis, climax and resolution. While keeping it feeling organic so it sounds like a conversation would between these family members.

Writing wise, I love painting myself into a coroner then trying to figure my way out in an elegant manner.  So, the labor of this play was making it feel like a real 90-minutes in the life of this family.  There was so much joy in writing it and hearing it. I had Zoom readings with actors and I would adjust and adjust and – and then suddenly, it’s first week of rehearsal!  

I had the joy of sitting with the cast and doing my last bits of tailoring. The next week you watch it and make some adjustments. I’m really fortunate to have a wonderful director Kimberly Senior who’s been so collaborative. And our cast (Lana Parrilla, Carlos Gomez, Nico Greetham and Isabella Gomez and Santino Jimenez both from One Day at a Time) many of whom I already knew, have really put their fingerprints on it – made it their own. That was all such a joyful process.

CF: This is a commissioned piece, right?

GCK: Yes, for the Pasadena Playhouse. It’s Danny Feldman’s first commission as artistic director.

CF: Regarding your adaptation of One Day at a Time, did you have to culturally adjust it for it to take place within a Latino household?

GCK:  No, I didn’t. Norman was so wonderful. In sitting down with my show partner Mike and I, he (Norman Lear) said, take the mother and the two kids and do your own thing with it. It’s a single mom and she’s Latina. What would that look like for you? I didn’t watch any of the original episodes. What I did was really consider what would happen if I was divorced. Well, my mom would probably move in with me. Then Norman asked me to describe the mom.  And I said that she’s like Rita Moreno. 

CF: And that’s how you got Rita?!

GCK:  Yes. We took the basic premise and went from there.  We made the Schneider character a Canadian man-child who is also an immigrant. Finally, we updated their world to make it feel more contemporary. We didn’t reference any of the original series episodes. We just did our own thing while asking: What was it like for Latino family living in Los Angeles during the Trump administration? And that’s what we explored for the four years of that show. I had complete freedom. I was not bound by anything that the original series had done.

CF: Tell me about The Horrors of Dolores Roach? Similar to Sweeney Todd, Dolores exacts revenge on her enemies by baking them into empanadas. 

GCK: Yes. That project was lots of fun and based on a play commissioned by Danny Feldman at the Labyrinth Theater Company. The Horror of Dolores Roach is how I met Danny! Back then it was called Empanada Loca starring Daphne Rubin Vega (original Mimi in Rent), written by Aaron Mark. It went up nine years ago. That became the popular podcast, The Horror of Dolores Roach, which then became the series. 

CF:  Your next project was your own, With Love which you conceived and wrote and acted in. That sounds exciting and exhausting. 

GCK: With Love was lovely. Of course, it depends on the creator’s bandwidth. I really just wanted to do a fun small role because the demands of a leading role isn’t of interest to me. But I loved just acting in here and there, playing the funny tia who says outrages things and then leaves. That gives me time to return to video village (the control room) to make sure everthing else was fun and funny.

CF: You’re an adorable hoot as the funny tia.  Did you act in college?

GCK:  I did. I acted in London where I went to grad school. When I returned, I did a couple of episodes here and there between writing gigs. So, for me,  acting and writing have always gone hand in hand. But I’ve always preferred the writing because I like being the boss. I might like being the boss too much.

CF: Oh, you know what I think is so great about writing? You get to be all the characters.

GCK: Yes, it’s true.

CF: Actors only get to be their one character. Writers get to explore all the characters in the whole bloody thing.  

GCK: Yeah, it’s great. It’s the best.

CF:  You’re quoted as saying that for you With Love’s most exciting episode was when the Diaz family simply threw a party night — like so many families do in America. You hoped that With Love would “normalize” the Latinx image on TV. I think that’s so important. 

GCK: Yes. It boggles the mind to know that we are 20% of the American population and only 5% of the speaking roles. 

CF: Yes. Statistically we’re less represented in the scripted media than before when you factor in the ever-growing content. 

GCK: It hurts my brain because I can’t quite make sense of it. And that 5% are still largely stereotyped characters, even today. I personally take grievance with the proliferation of narco narratives. If we had other representative narratives I wouldn’t mind as much. But so many of our stories being set in that world is damaging to the community. Plus, they don’t represent the Latinos I grew up with in Oregon, San Diego and Los Angeles. They were all lovely, decent people and good citizens. I didn’t know gang bangers and drug dealers. What I saw was the hard working, kind people living their lives. And so it became really clear to me when I started in television that it was those real people that America needed to see. 

CF: Why do you feel real Latinos are still so underrepresented and misrepresented? What do you think is holding us back?

GCK: More access and more yeses from execs. There’s a deep contraction happening in production right now. That is worrisome to me because our projects are always the first to get cut. 

CF: That means our new stories won’t be seen. 

GCK: Exactly. I’ll never forget when Benito Martinez who played the father in With Love said that it was his first TV role where he played a dad with a full family – he wasn’t a cop or a villain. He was a man who loved his wife. Oh, and when his wife, played by the legendary Constance Marie, walked into the kitchen on the set, she started crying. Constance said, “Oh my gosh – we get to have a nice kitchen?! We never get to have nice kitchen on TV.”  So, it’s these small steps that hopefully will move the needle for us in the future. A future where we get to play what we truly are: just humans trying to make our way.

To see the brilliantly funny Gloria Calderón Kellett’s new comedic take on the contemporary Latinx family, be sure to catch One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse from March 13^th thru April 7^th.  For tickets & all show info: pasadenaplayhouse.org

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Commentary By Bel Hernandez Castillo

The Emmy nominations were announced this morning, and while the 75th Emmy nominations are being touted by industry trades as record breaking, especially for Black women who garnered four Emmy nominations in just the supporting comedy actress category, nominations for Latino/as as a whole were down. Even though Latinos are the largest minority in the U.S. at 18% of the population, the Asian Pacific community (7% of the US population) had one more nominations, with four to only 3 for Latino performers. Black Americans are 13.6% of the U.S. population.

The three Latinos nominated for the coveted television acting categories, Pedro Pascal, Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza represent less than 3% of the total number of actors (102) nominated for an Emmy this year.

Pedro Pascal is top of the list with two Emmy nominations, one for HBO’s The Last of Us and the other for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance on Saturday Night Live.  Jenna Ortega has received her very first Emmy nomination as Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in the title role in Netflix’s Wednesday, which was the second-most watched English-language Netflix series last year.  Aubrey Plaza received her nomination for her role in HBO’s social satire The White Lotus as Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Once again, the underrepresentation of Latinos at the Emmys is glaring. However, Ortega’s nomination makes her only the third Latina to ever be nominated in this category. Jenna Ortega is a favorite to take the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and if this happens it will be a big win for our community. and this nomination

In the interest of not being redundant, citing stats (as we do year after year on these occasions and nothing ever changes) that prove the lack of Latino representation in Hollywood, let me just say, aqui estamos y no nos vamos! We are here to stay, we are not going away anytime soon. With a U.S. Latino economic power of $1.9 trillion annual GDP, is it time to leverage our community’s buying power for equal representation? For now our voice is our power, and we need to speak up.

Selena Gomez, snubbed again? There are three leads in Only Murders in the Building.  Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez. Both Short and Martin were both nominated last year in the Best Lead Actor category, but the third lead, Gomez was overlooked. Why? Some would say (like her 426 Million instagram followers) that her acting chops are on par with her co-stars.  This year Martin gets a 2nd Emmy nomination and Gomez is once again overlooked. Something is just not making sense. Her Mabel Mora character is the linchpin in the whole dang series!

We are grateful to the writers and producers who write the kind of roles that merit the attention of the Television Academy members.  We are grateful for the showrunners that cast a wide diversity net and think “out of the box”.  Thank you to the casting director of Wednesday Florina Fernandes and director Tim Burton for casting Ortega.  

But what about the Latino writers who have created and cast Latinos in some of the most lauded shows on TV? Where is the recognition for them?   For one, I am talking about Gloria Calderon Kellett who created and was the showrunner on the Netflix TV show, One Day at a Time (2017 – 2020). The critics raved about it. Lead actress Justina Machado was even named as one of the most “Most Dynamic Actresses on TV” by Harper’s Bazaar. But where was Kellett’s writing Emmy nomination or Justina Machado’s Best Lead in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination? 

We will keep asking the questions, as we celebrate Pascal, Plaza and Ortega on their Emmy nominations, and acknowledge the behind the camera Latino Emmy nominees for 2023: 

Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Special

The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna / FOX – Maria Garcia, Art Director

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

Hocus Pocus 2 / Disney+ / Walt Disney Pictures – Salvador Perez, Costume Designer

The Mandalorian / Chapter 22: Guns For Hire / Disney+ / Lucasfilm Ltd. – Elissa Alcala, Assistant Costume Designer

What we do in the Shadows / The Wedding / FX / FX Productions – Barbara Cardoso, Assistant Costume Designer

Outstanding Contemporary Costumes For A Series – Only Murders In The Building / Framed / Hulu / 20th Television / Dana Covarrubias, Costume Designer

Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling – Only Murders in the Building / Fabian Gonzalez, Hair Stylist

@belscoolist @latinheatmag

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Empanadas anyone?  The empanadas at Empanada Loca are extra tasty since Dolores Roach took up residence in the basement of one of the last Latino owned businesses in Washington Height in New York. 

Justina Machado plays the title role of Dolores Roach in this mesmerizing and bone-chilling tale of betrayal and cannibalism in the Amazon series The Horror of Dolores Roach which  grips viewers with its dark and twisted narrative.  

Machado delivers a remarkable performance, showcasing her versatility as an actress and bringing depth to the complex character of Dolores Roach. Whether she is playing a disturbing and horrifying serial killer, as in this series, or a single mom in the 2017 comedy hit series One Day at a Time, (where she was named the “One of the Most Dynamic Actresses on TV” by Harper’s Bazaar magazine), Machado always delivers with exceptional acting skills.

The series follows Dolores Roach, a woman recently released from a 16-year prison sentence, only to return to a gentrified neighborhood that is unrecognizable to her. Desperate to reunite with her former boyfriend, the neighborhood drug dealer, Dolores expects gratitude for not exposing his involvement in drug dealing. However, as the story unfolds, Dolores discovers that she was set up and seeks revenge, leading her down a path of murder, cannibalism, and twisted reasoning.

Machado seamlessly navigates the nuances of comedy and horror, delivering a chilling performance that keeps viewers simultaneously drawn to and frightened of her character. Dolores’ relationship with Luis Batista, played by Alejandro Hernandez, adds an eerie and unsettling dynamic to the series. The twisted romance between a killer and a cook becomes a central element, with Luis aiding Dolores in disposing of her victims – in a most delicious way.

The Horror of Dolores Roach cleverly employs Dolores’ internal narration, allowing viewers to understand her twisted justifications for her heinous acts. The series is a dark and horrifying tale that tackles themes of betrayal, mental illness, and the consequences of one’s actions. It hooks viewers from the beginning, likening it to the chilling atmosphere of “Sweeney Todd”, making Machado’s portrayal of Dolores Roach captivating and making it impossible not to both fear and empathize with her.

Throughout the series, the line between good and evil becomes blurred as Dolores seeks revenge against those who wronged her. The narrative is gripping and relentless, with each episode deepening the viewers’ connection to Dolores’ twisted world. While the themes of drugs, cannibalism, and mental instability may be unsettling for some, they serve as integral elements that contribute to the atmosphere and the character’s motivations.

Written and directed by Aaron Mark, who draws inspiration from his experience as a self-proclaimed “gentrifier” in Washington Heights, delves into the darkest corners of human nature. Mark originally crafted the story for Panamanian actress Daphne Rubin-Vega as a play, which later gained popularity as a podcast and ultimately made its way to television. The rights to the TV series were acquired by Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions, and also executive produced by Gloria Calderon Kellet through Glo Productions.

The featured cast includes a diverse talent pool that includes Kita Updike, K. Todd Freeman,
Jean Yoon, Ilan Eskenazi, Jessica Pimentel among others. The stand our guest stars include Judy Reyes who plays Marcie, the new neighborhood drug dealer and a dicey character played by Cyndi Lauper.

The Horror of Dolores Roach is an unforgettable and addictive TV series that demands attention. Justina Machado’s outstanding performance, combined with Aaron Mark’s skillful storytelling, creates a truly gripping and haunting experience. Brace yourself for a journey into the depths of darkness as you witness Dolores Roach’s descent into evil and the twisted reasoning behind her actions.

Originally created by Aaron Mark as a one-woman play, Empanada Loca for Panamanian actress Daphne Rubin-Vega, Mark created, wrote, and directed the original podcast and penned the series pilot script. The new series comes from Mark, who also serves as co-showrunner and executive producer with Dara Resnik, alongside executive producers Daphne Rubin-Vega; Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold, and Chris Dickie for Blumhouse Television; Dawn Ostroff,Mimi O’Donnell, and Justin McGoldrick for Spotify; Gloria Calderón Kellett for GloNation Studios; and Roxann Dawson, who also directed the pilot.

All eight episodes of “The Horror of Dolores Roach” are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video as of July 7 on Amazon Prime #DoloresRoach

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The cast for Gloria Calderon Kellett’s new hour-long series With Love, ordered by Amazon has been announced. The series is an hour-long romantic comedy series that revolves around a brother and sister, Lily and Jorge Jr. This is the first project under Kellett’s GloNation Studios deal with the streamer.

Meet the Diaz family:

The cast is led by Mexican-Lebanese actress Emeraude Toubia (Shadowhunters) who plays Lily Diaz. Lily is a hopeless romantic with a tight-knit Mexican-American family who is on a mission to find real love after breaking up with her perfect (on-paper) boyfriend.

Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty) plays Jorge Jr. He is the pinnacle of style and the life of the party. However, he is fiercely protective of his sister Lily and his family. After years of dating, he has finally found a man good enough to bring home but he is nervous about how he will be received.

Together Lily and Jorge are on a mission to find love and purpose during the holidays.

Lily and Jorge’s parents Beatriz and Jorge Sr. are played by Constance Marie (George Lopez) andis Benito Martinez (The Shield) respectively. Jorge Sr. is a loving, caring father and husband, even if he has gotten a bit too relaxed in his marriage. Meanwhile Beatriz is going through a midlife/identity crisis with her kids getting older and her marriage basically being on auto-pilot.

And then there is Jorge Jr.’s boyfriend Henry played by Vincent Rodriguez (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) who is about to meet the whole Diaz family, the first man Jorge has ever brought home.

Recurring on the series are veteran actors Renee Victor (Coco, Vida) and Pepe Serna (Reno Man, Scarface) as the grandparents. The Diaz family is a true modern-day Mexican-American familia.

“To be bringing that family to life as my first project with Amazon Studios feels especially personal and is incredibly exciting,” Calderon Kellett said of her next project. “I cannot wait to share With Love this holiday season!” Production is already underway. Calderon Kellet is Creator/Executive Producer. The Amazon Studio original will be executive produced and directed by Meera Menon (For All Mankind, Ms. Marvel).

Other series regulars inculde Isis King as Sol Perez Sol is Lily and Jorge’s cousin, Todd Grinnell as Dr. Miles Murphy, Rome Flynn as Santiago Zayas (How To Get Away With Murder), and Jorge’s best friend and roommate Nick Zhao played by Desmond Chiam. Five episodes were ordered.

Featured Photo: (L-R) Constance Marie, Mark Indelicato, Benito Martinez (bottom) Renee Victor, Gloria Calderon Kellett & Pepe Serna. (Credit: Amazon)

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By Justina Bonilla

In the last few years, audiences have made a substantial call for content from major and independent studios to include ethnic talent in front of and behind the camera. While there is a positive increase in Black talent and content such as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Judas and the Black Messiah, representation for Latinos is greatly underrepresented.

In response to the persistent lack of Latinos directing film and TV projects, directors Alberto Belli (The House of Flowers), Joel Novoa (Arrow) and Diego Velasco (Orange Is the New Black) and Aurora Guerrero (Gentefied) took matters into their own hands. They created the online database Latinx Directors. Launched last summer, the website’s goal is to offer studios, agencies and others an easy-to-search online resource to find Latino directors for their projects.

Currently, the database lists over 200 talents organized in a dozen genres, from action, comedy and documentary to drama, live events and science fiction. Visitors can filter the roster by the length of experience in television and filmmakers’ participation in diversity programs.

Latinx Directors is a valuable tool needed in the entertainment industry to address the lack of Latino talent hired for films, streaming programs, television shows and commercials. Latinos represent 18.5 percent of the U.S. population.

The 2019 USC study Latinos in Film: Erasure On-Screen & Behind the Camera Across 1,200 Popular Movies found that only 4 percent of all directors were Latinos. The survey evaluated films released from 2007 through 2018. It was conducted by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, National Association of Latino Independent Producers and Wise Entertainment.

Among the talent featured in Latinx Director’s database are the TV directors/showrunners Tanya Saracho (Vida) and Gloria Calderon Kellet (One Day at a Time), as well as film director Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead 2013 and Don’t Breathe).

In our exclusive interview with Velasco, he shares the development of Latinx Directors, their current goals, and hopes for the future.

JUSTINA BONILLA: What was the genesis of Latinx Directors?

DIEGO VELASCO: We’re all directors and part of the Latino Committee at DGA [Directors Guild of America]. We were all separate, [but] hearing, “Oh, I’m looking for a Latin director, but I just don’t know where there’s any.” There are all these shows that have Latin characters and Latin stories, but it was just white guys directing it.

My wife is a writer, and she did [a list], called the Untitled Latinx Project, which is a bunch of female writers who got together and started creating a list to share names. Anytime they would have meetings with executives and studios, they would hear about projects and [asked if they] could send them the list. And [the executives would ask], “You mean you want to send a list of people competing for your job?” They wanted it to go to a Latinx person. [They’d] rather it go to one of us. If [they] don’t get it, then give it to someone whose [on the list].

I thought that was really inspiring. We should be doing the same as directors. We’ll have one place where these producers have a place to find Latinx directors.

JB: How do you qualify to be a part of Latinx Directors?

DV: [Potential members] have to have qualifications to be accepted. They have directed a feature that has been in a recognized in a festival; we have a list of festivals. Or, you have to have done a television episode that is streaming or on a network.

We want to help everyone and be able to lift everyone. But at the same time, we can’t put somebody in a situation that they might not be ready for. We set standards, so if any one of them gets hired, we feel confident that they can do a great job.

JB: How does your database work?

DV: You can [use] filters. We have self-identification, LGBT, or you can do cultural identity or heritage. And you can combine all the ones you want. Plus, you can do film experience, TV experience, union, or not union. It’s the only searchable database for Latinx directors that allows you to do all those things.

JB: What is the overall goal for Latinx Directors?

DV: Our motto is, “No more stories about us without us.” And then, don’t box us into just one category. There are Latinx directors that are incredible in genre, incredible in sci-fi. Just because you are Mexican or your Salvadorian doesn’t mean you can’t [direct] Star Wars.

We just want to be authentic to our culture and to share our unique points of view.

JB: Apart from promoting Latinx Directors, what is your key aspiration?

Velasco: If people who are not familiar with Latin culture, to not fear it. It’s okay to not know all the answers. It’s okay to be intimidated by it. But, if they give themselves a chance to work with Latinx directors, you might be surprised that everybody who is on that list wants to go above and beyond and wants to do the best job they can. So, you really get a level of commitment that I would encourage everybody to try.

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