Screenwriter Tanya Saracho, whose writing credits include the award-winning Starz series Vida as well as ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder and HBO’s Looking, will receive this year’s Norman Lear Writer’s Award from the Imagen Foundation. 

Last year Saracho signed a multiple-year overall deal with Universal Content Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group, to create and develop original content for television as well as the studio’s UCP Audio division. She is currently developing a TV movie entitled Brujas about a group of women living in Chicago reconnect with their Latina heritage through music, style, nightlife, and art.

Vida‘s showrunner Tanya Saracho, center in yellow jacket, and cast are joined
by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro. (Credit: Starz)

“I am humbled and deeply honored to be recognized by Imagen with this prestigious award, especially one named after such an inspiring and talented icon, activist, and creative force, Norman Lear,” said Saracho. “And I strive to continue in the example he has set and use my platform and voice to increase Latine representation across our industry.”

Vida, which ran from 2018 through 2020, stands out for featuring all Latino directors, writers, main actors and central characters during its three seasons on cable. It is among Saracho’s biggest accomplishments in Hollywood, wearing multiple creative and executive hats. In addition to writing, the filmmaker was creator, executive producer, director and showrunner of the drama about two Mexican-American sisters who move back to their childhood home in East Los Angeles after the death of their mother. The show also marked Saracho’s TV directorial debut.

“Vida broke ground on so many levels, bringing to the forefront stories that otherwise would remain untold,” says Helen Hernandez, foundation president and founder. “Rather than rest on her laurels, Tanya continues to champion…stories and storytellers that reflect our communities’ voices, experiences, and cultures.” Adds Hernandez, “Her work, determination, and willingness to share her voice, reflect the essence of the Norman Lear Writer’s Award.”

Vida won the Audience Award for an episodic show at the SXSW Film Festival and received 10 Imagen Award nominations, including two for Saracho herself in the Best Director-Television category. The show also got nods for other creative awards such as the GLAAD Media Awards, Hollywood Post Alliance and Women’s Image Network Awards.

The Norman Lear Writer’s Award honors filmmakers who have “exhibited efforts towards increasing diversity within all aspects of the entertainment industry,” according to the Imagen Foundation. 

Starz’s Vida was written and exec directed by Tanya Saracho.

Lear is a legendary TV writer and producer who is behind ‘70s hits like All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. He also produced the remake of One Day at a Time reimagined with a Latino family, starring Rita Moreno. In fact, Lear is credited with inspiring the creation of the Imagen Awards, suggesting in 1985 the creation of a prize to encourage and recognize the positive portrayals of Latinos in the media. 

Diversity is something that Saracho pursues outside her own projects, too. This summer she launched the Ojalá Ignition Lab as part of an overall deal with Universal Content Productions, a lab and incubator program aimed to nurture, amplify, guide and empower intersectional Latino voices in TV. 

Additionally, the filmmaker co-founded the Untitled Latinx Project to increase Latino representation in television, broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms through content created by Latino writers. Saracho is also a co-founder of the Writers Access Support Staff Training Program, which aims to help increase representation and opportunities for underrepresented communities.

Tanya Saracho (Courtesy)

Besides being a TV writer, Saracho is a playwright. Before arriving in Hollywood, she had plays produced at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chicago’s Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater and Teatro Vista and Los Angeles’ Teatro Luna and NEXT Theater. She received the first Revolucionario Award in Theater from the National Museum of Mexican Art. Furthermore, Saracho is a Spanish voice-over artist and a SAG/AFTRA actress.

Saracho, born in the small city of Los Mochis in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa and raised in Chicago, will join a selected group of prominent Latinos in Hollywood who have received the Norman Lear Writer’s Award. Past recipients include Primetime Emmy Award-winners Peter Murrieta (Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie) and John Leguizamo (John Leguizamo: Freak); Peabody Award-winner Fred Armisen (Portlandia,); screenwriter Gloria Calderon Kellett (One Day at a Time, How I Met Your Mother), writer/producer Luisa Leschin (Mr. Iglesias, George Lopez) and writer Roberto Orci (Star Trek).  

The 36th annual edition of the Imagen Awards will air on PBSSoCal.org and KCET.org Sunday, Oct.10 at 5 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Eastern.

For more information about the Imagen Awards, visit www.Imagen.org.

Featured Photo: Tanya Saracho (Credit: Jackson Davis/Imagen Foundation)

Originally aired on cable channel Starz, Vida is available now on various streamers.