In a strategic move that underscores the accelerating demand for short-form storytelling, Great American Media has partnered with Minivela to develop, distribute and monetize a slate of premium micro-dramas aimed at U.S. Latinos and Latin American audiences.

The alliance—announced April 8 in New York during ANA GrowthFronts—will anchor the launch of Pure Flix Familia, a new Spanish-language and bilingual destination focused on faith- and family-driven content, set to debut later this year.

The partnership is notable within the evolving vertical video ecosystem: it represents one of the first Latino-centric ventures creating culturally specific content in English and bilingual formats, positioning both companies at the intersection of mobile-first consumption and underserved Hispanic audiences.

Minivela is the first bilingual vertical shorts platform serving the U.S. Latinos and Latin American markets, Brilla Media co-founder and former Hispanicize CEO Manny Ruiz is its Chief Executive Officer.

A Mobile-First Bet on Cultural Relevance

The collaboration combines Pure Flix’s established base in values-driven entertainment with Minivela’s creator-led, mobile-first production model. The result is a pipeline of vertical-format micro-dramas tailored for audiences increasingly consuming content on smartphones.

As part of a multi-project agreement, Minivela will produce original IP as well as adaptations from Pure Flix’s existing library—reimagined specifically for short-form vertical viewing. Content will be produced across key production hubs including Miami, Los Angeles, New York and locations throughout Latin America.

“We’re excited to build Pure Flix Familia with a highly creative partner that shares our commitment to meaningful storytelling for Latino audiences,” said Bill Abbott, President and CEO of Great American Media, about the strategic alignment.

Data-Driven Development Meets Creator Economy

A key component of the partnership is the use of Pure Flix’s proprietary audience data to inform development decisions—an increasingly critical advantage in the fragmented streaming landscape. The companies will also collaborate on distribution opportunities and content acquisition strategies aimed at scaling reach among Latino viewers.

Beyond content, the alliance opens the door to integrated brand partnerships, giving advertisers new ways to engage audiences through culturally resonant storytelling rather than traditional ad formats.

Expanding Latino Creative Opportunities

For Minivela, the deal represents both scale and mission alignment as Co-founder Carlos Ponce highlighted the creative upside: “This creates opportunities for Latino writers, directors and creators to bring their voices into purpose-driven storytelling.” Ponce is also set to star in upcoming projects under the Pure Flix Familia banner.

“We’re focused on delivering stories that truly entertain, inspire and connect,” said Co-founder Manny Ruiz, added that the partnership stands apart in a crowded micro-drama space often driven by volume.

The micro-drama format—short, serialized content optimized for mobile viewing—has seen rapid growth globally, but remains relatively underdeveloped for U.S. Larino audiences, particularly in the faith and family segment.

With this move, Great American Media continues to build a multiplatform ecosystem targeting audiences seeking values-based entertainment, while Minivela strengthens its position as a leading creative and production partner in the vertical content space.

The launch of Pure Flix Familia later this year will test the viability of this hybrid model—combining bilingual storytelling, culturally specific narratives and mobile-first distribution—at a time when Latino audiences remain both one of the fastest-growing and most underserved segments in streaming.

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There is power in numbers, and if that is so, with the new partnership between novela and film star Carlos Ponce, Brilla Media, Numatec, and Chicano Hollywood, who are launching Minivela, it is a power move in the right direction. Minvela is their digital shorts joint venture launching in January 2025 aimed to set in motion a bold new era for American Latino filmmakers, creators, and advertisers. The announcement was made at the 26th annual ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference in Las Vegas earlier this week.

Minivela is an American Latino-owned and operated company dedicated to producing advertiser-supported digital shorts created by Latino filmmakers and creators with a target audience of primarily American Latinos ages 18-34. Initially the streaming content verticals will range from 10 to 90 minutes. A key pillar of Minivela’s approach is to catapult select narratives into independent features or series utilizing the innovative, adtech-powered approach.

“This is a groundbreaking journey that we believe will empower Latino storytellers and drive U.S. Hispanic digital advertising for years to come,” said Manny Ruiz, who serve as the Chief Creative Officer and Executive Producer of the joint venture alongside Ponce, who will also write and direct select Minivelas. ““Our focus is on consistently producing universally appealing stories with a vision that extends beyond Minivelas.  A key pillar of our innovative approach is to catapult select narratives into independent features or series.”

“When the Hollywood system is undergoing a much-needed reboot, Minivela represents a beacon of hope, experimentation, and opportunities for Latino creatives at a time” said Ponce.  Adding that the Latino-owned venture will address the representation gap for our community organically, and that our operations are driven by pioneers in Latino social media, digital media, and adtech.

The family-friendly digital films will be accessible free on Minivela’s YouTube, and social media channels, as well as thru adtech conglomerate, Numatec’s distribution partnerships.  Combined with Brilla Media’s Nuestro Media network, brand sponsors will be able to secure USH audiences effectively across digital, CTV, and other platforms.

 The West Coast production arm of the company and a cornerstone of Minivela is Chicano Hollywood, the influential L.A.-based production, media, and magazine company that produces the annual Elevate conference for Latino filmmakers.

Chicano Hollywood is already producing one of the platform’s early bets, a feel good romcom called “Cholita Takes L.A.” that is being directed by a rising Chicana director. Cholitas, Cholos, and Cholas shine in this story about a young Bolivian luchadora and aspiring fashion designer who journeys to L.A. to care for her ailing grandmother—only to discover she must also overcome culture clashes and personal challenges on her path to unexpected love.

“Minivela is putting deeds before words, and that’s something the Latino film community will root hard for, and why we’re a proud partner,” said Johnny Murrillo, founder and CEO of Chicano Hollywood.  “It’s also critical to note that for Minivela, the projects must be Latino-produced but the stories must appeal to audiences universally even outside our core Hispanic community.  We have some fun ones lined up!”

Angela Sustaita-Ruiz, chairwoman of Brilla Media, the parent company of Minivela, expands on the mission of the venture, “We’re going to push boundaries and prove that you can be creative and positively provocative without leaning on the usual violent drug dealers, and other tired tropes that diminish our community.”

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Nuestro Stories co-Founder Manny Ruiz, who will oversee the Nuestro Studios productions team, is the innovator who put the spotlight on the Latino social media and influencer marketing industries when he founded Hispanicize in 2010. “We innovated the Latino social media and influencer marketing industries with Hispanicize. Today we will apply that same tenacity and entrepreneurship to crack the code for Latinos in Hollywood,” Ruiz said. “In collaboration with like-minded filmmakers, actors, producers, and media companies, Nuestro Studios will help unleash the bottled-up dreams and great stories of countless Latino storytellers.”

Nuestro Studios marks a bold evolution from the Nuestro Stories platform with storytelling capabilities that now span premium branded content, original films, series, documentaries, and podcasts.

First Productions Slated

Nuestro Studios’ first slate of productions launches with three original films, Bistec: A Dissident’s Tale’ written by Ruiz tells a quirky cat-and-mouse story of Cuba’s most prominent dissident, and the Communist neighborhood snitch who’s sworn to stop him. The feature film, which includes an original audio series, will be scored by six-time Emmy-winning conductor Alberto Bade. Cuban filmmaker, writer, and documentarian Ernesto Fundora of Cuba Suena is on board as associate producer, and head of photography.

Also in production is the short film El Clavito which tells the dark tale of a young couple who make a strange compromise to buy their dream home for $1. El Clavito was co-written by the late Mel Santiesteban and Ruiz.

Ther podcast Fantastic Fails is on queue for production. The insightful and entertaining podcast will be devoted to showcasing entrepreneurs’ biggest business ideas that failed, and the lessons learned, is being hosted and co-executive produced by Jesse Martinez, founder of the Latinx Startup Alliance.

Nuestro Studios will produce both the five-part audio series for Bistec and the original serial podcast Fantastic Fails with the award-winning team of Studio Ochenta led by Lory Martinez.

The company’s expansion, Nuestro Studio has promoted the multi-hyphenated producer, and senior editor at Nuestro Stories, Efrain Gonzalez to partner and vice president of Nuestro Studios productions. Gonzalez’ signature talent is seen on many of Nuestro Stories’ current premium snackable documentaries online.

Nuestro Studios’ approach will initially lean on commercial-friendly content that can be packaged for the branding partnerships Nuestro Stories has cultivated. Nuestro Stories’ powerful capability in social media, adtech, influencers, and press release wire through Noticias Newswire, already affords the company substantial leverage to solve many of WOM and marketing-related hurdles Latino content platforms and producers typically face.

“We’re already on phase two, which is to ensure maximum amplification and views for the productions we’re creating or collaborating on,” said Gonzalez. “Aggressively solving for the distribution of content on streamers, online, and elsewhere is what we’re addressing for the marketplace and what excites us most.”

Despite Latinos representing 19% of the total U.S. population and being enthusiastic moviegoers, their presence on the big screen remains disproportionately low (Hollywood Diversity Report 2023) with leads predominantly White in 66.7% of films on streaming platforms. Latinos were represented in only 6.1% of these roles. Nuestro Studios was created with these stats in mind, and hope to positively help raise the percentages with their content dedicated to the U.S. Latino audience.

Nuestro Stories is the flagship brand of the diverse-owned Brilla Media Ventures. Nuestro Stories produces snackable videos, stories, and social media content daily focused on Latino origins and histories, and through its Nuestro Studios will also now create branded and original films, documentaries, series, and podcasts. Nuestro Stories is led by Angela Sustaita-Ruiz and Manny Ruiz, creators of Hispanicize.

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