Written By Bel Hernandez
Los Angeles – The L’ATTITUDE conference in San Diego, California, was all about the “New Mainstream” — Latinos. The first of the four-day conference kicked off with a focus on entertainment and media and it started off with a major announcement. Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer, HBO Max and President, TNT, TBS, and truTV, along with New Cadence Productions (NCP) principals, announced a two-year, first-look deal with WarnerMedia Entertainment.
New Cadence Productions a studio for New Mainstream Latinx English-language content for universal audiences. They will initially produce comedy specials of a newly-created HA Comedy Festival in San Antonio, where WarnerMedia Entertainment will be the premier sponsor.
The three-day festival will feature a “who’s who” of Latinx comedians and celebrities, while nurturing and spotlighting new Latinx stand up and sketch talent. NCP and WarnerMedia Entertainment’s partnership also includes a commitment to develop a new series.
“The NCP team understands how to tap into a vibrant yet virtually untapped talent pool and showcase ideas, stories and characters that will resonate with this underserved audience and appeal more broadly,” said Kevin Reilly.
New Cadence Productions is headed by Sol Trujillo, the former teleco Chair/CEO of US West, Telstra and Orange SA; Jeff Valdez, an award-winning and pioneering producer, writer, who is a Latinx content leader and has long been a champion of change in the greater Hollywood industry; Bruce Barshop whose family founded La Quinta Hotels and now actively invests across media and technology; and Vincent Cordero, a veteran C-Suite media executive including HBO, 21st Century FOX and Univision.
“This agreement between WarnerMedia Entertainment and NCP is illustrative of the fact that the WarnerMedia family really ‘gets it,’ they understand what I have been calling the New Mainstream economy, which is being driven by the U.S. Latino cohort that accounts for $2.1 trillion in GDP and almost one quarter of all people under 34 in the US,” Trujillo stated.
“We will be creating content that successfully crosses over to all audiences,” said Valdez. “Our stories will be aspirational, humorous and create a sense of normalcy for US Latinos, as part of America’s New Mainstream.This new relationship between WarnerMedia Entertainment and NCP will give us a wide-reaching platform to bring premium content to the forefront.”
“We are very excited about WarnerMedia Entertainment and Kevin Reilly’s fresh perspective and sincere commitment to be innovators in Hollywood,” said Cordero.
Cadence Productions was founded to empower Latinx creatives to showcase their universal stories and characters to enchant, entertain and inspire audiences around the world and are committed to advancing inclusion across society and Hollywood.