Ronald Acuña Jr. Signs with Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports for Representation

Posted on May 18, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Ronald Acuña Jr. has new all-star representation…

Rimas Sports — an agency partnership between Bad Bunny and executives Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda — has signed the Venezuelan professional baseball outfielder who plays for the Atlanta Braves to an exclusive representation agreement.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Acuña family to Rimas Sports,” Miranda, CEO of Rimas Sports, said in a statement. “Ronald is a once-in-a-generation player, and we are confident that together we will take his extraordinary career to new heights. Acuña is aligned with Rimas Sports’ foundational principle of empowering the next generation of Latin American players by helping them build lasting legacies for themselves, their families, and their communities.”

The renowned athlete kicked off his career with Braves organization in 2014 and made his MLB debut in 2018 when he nabbed the Rookie of the Year title.

In 2023, the four-time MLB All-Star was named the 2023 National League Most Valuable Player in his sixth major-league season, marking the eighth time a Braves player has nabbed the title after Freddie Freeman (2020), Chipper Jones (1999), Terry Pendleton (1991), Dale Murphy (1982, 1983), Hank Aaron (1957), Robert Elliott (1947) and Johnny Evers (1914).

A press statement at the time noted that Acuña “was a unanimous selection, receiving 30 of 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He finished with 420 points, 150 more than runner-up Mookie Betts.”

To celebrate his new MVP title, award-winning Mexican-American producer Samuel Ash dropped “La Bestia,” a catchy dembow song performed by Dominican artist Niko Eme.

“We wanted something that felt global and to do something we could put a chant to,” Ash previously told Billboard. “I know dembow is a Dominican genre but I felt that it could still feel global and resonate with him as a Venezuelan.”

Mon Laferte Signs Record Deal with Sony Music Latin

Posted on May 15, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new deal for Mon Laferte.

The 41-year-old Chilean & Mexican musician, singer, composer and painter has signed a record deal with Sony Music Latin.

In this “new phase” of Mon Laferte’s career, Sony Music will continue to “enhance” her legacy and international visibility, according to the label. The Grammy-nominated artist is currently on her Live Nation-produced Autopoiética tour in the United States, taking its name from her 2023 album.

“Mon Laferte is a wonderful artist. We are thrilled that she has come to Sony Music, her home,” Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin-Iberia, said in a statement. “Composer, singer, and an exceptional performer, her excellence knows no limits. We are certain that Sony is the perfect place for her to begin the next chapter of her career. Welcome, dear Mon. May this new stage bring you much happiness and many achievements.”

Mon Laferte, who had been signed to Universal Music México since 2015, is known for her signature raspy, often dramatic vocals and use of classic Latin rhythms such as cumbia, bolero and alt folk. Her often personal and vulnerable lyrics have cemented her as one of the most consequential Latin acts of her generation.

“At Sony US Latin, we are very excited and more than ready to put all our resources and knowledge at the service of Mon Laferte’s extraordinary talent,” added Alex Gallardo, president of Sony Music U.S. Latin. “From the beginning of her career, she has been distinguished by her very personal voice and an incomparable strength to defend her art. We are confident that what we will achieve together will be unparalleled.”

Mon Laferte is set to embark on the European leg of her Autopoiética tour this summer. Additionally, a forthcoming documentary title Mon Laferte, Te Amo — which follows the artist during her 2021-2022 tour — will be released on Netflix in August.

William Levy’s Production Company Signs Production Deal with TelevisaUnivision’s Streamer ViX

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

William Levy has a new production deal…

Following the 43-year-old Cuban actor and telenovela star’s acclaimed role in ViX‘s Montecristo last year, the TelevisaUnivision streamer has signed Secuoya Studios and William Levy Entertainment to a production deal.

Together, the companies will develop two new projects – the series, Arcadia (w/t) and the film, Bajo Un Volcán (w/t) – both starring Levy, who will serve as an also executive produce.

Arcadia (w/t) tells the story of Pablo (Levy), a man who flees due to a broken heart and a violent past. Under a false identity, he starts a new life with his son in Arcadia, an idyllic town in the Canary Islands. Bajo Un Volcán (w/t), follows an ill-timed and forbidden love happening amid a natural catastrophe. Both projects are set to start production later in the year.

“I am thrilled to be teaming up with Secuoya and ViX again on two outstanding projects that I believe our audiences will love as much as I do. I can´t wait to return to Spain to start production”, Levy shares in a statement to Deadline.

“Following the success of Montecristo in 2023, we are excited to renew our collaboration with Secuoya Studios and the talented William Levy, bringing our growing audience two compelling productions that will enhance our content offering with powerful narratives and visuals that will resonate with our subscribers,” shared Augusto Rovegno, Senior Vice President of Content of ViX at TelevisaUnivision.

Levy began his career in the Spanish-language market where he quickly catapulted to one of the most sought-after talents where he remains today. He expanded his reach with U.S. audiences in the 2000s with roles in Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club, Girls Trip opposite Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett-Smith, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and most notably on the small screen as a regular in Lee Daniels’ Star from Fox.

“We are delighted to renew our magnificent relationship with ViX. Thanks to this agreement we will work together on two of Secuoya Studios’ most ambitious 2024 projects. Having William Levy again, in his dual role as protagonist and executive producer, in Arcadia and Under a Volcano, his first film in Spain, demonstrates the excellent professional harmony that was established in the development of Montecristo, the series that captivated audiences last year,” stated Sergio Pizzolante, Commercial & Distribution President, Secuoya Studios.

Dany Garcia Appointed to Television Academy’s Executive Committee

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Dany Garcia has joined the committee…

Television Academy chair Cris Abrego has announced his appointees to the Television Academy Executive Committee for 2024, including the 55-year-old Cuban American film producer and businesswoman.

Garcia is the founder of GSTQ and the CEO and chair of The Garcia Companies overseeing a portfolio of brands in business, entertainment, and food, including Seven Bucks Productions, Teremana Tequila, Athleticon and the Project Rock Collection at Under Armour, VOSS, Atom Tickets, Salt & Straw, ZOA Energy, Acorns and the UFL.

In addition to Garcia, other appointees include returning members Pearlena Igbokwe and John Landgraf, along with Brandon Riegg, Paul Buccieri and Amy Reisenbach.

They will advise Abrego on the organization’s direction and its core initiatives and work with the Television Academy’s officers and the board of governors to guide the Academy throughout the year.

“I am thrilled to welcome these industry luminaries to the Academy’s Executive Committee and feel fortunate to be able to count on their counsel to drive the Academy forward and bolster its mission,” said Abrego. “Their partnership will be invaluable to the Academy, and to me personally, as we work together to lead this organization and the Emmys themselves into the future, ensuring both their relevance and impact.”

The Academy’s Board of Governors also has elected the following Peer Group Governors as their representatives on the executive committee for the 2024 term: Wendy Aylsworth (Science & Technology), Eddie Bonin (Special Visual Effects), Jo DiSante (Television Executives) and Larry Rosenthal (Stunts). Tina Perry, chair of the Television Academy Foundation, will also serve on the committee.

Peso Pluma Signs with Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

Posted on May 7, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Peso Pluma has new representation…

The 24-year-old Mexican singer and musician has signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in all areas.

Peso Pluma’s debut album, Génesis, won the “Best Música Mexicana Album” award at the 2024 Grammys and landed No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking the highest-charting Mexican music album in the chart’s history.

The album has also garnered a variety of other awards this year, including four iHeartRadio Music Awards and two wins for “Best Album – Regional Mexican” and “Best Collaboration – Regional Mexican” at the 2024 Latin American Music Awards.

In the past year, Peso headed off on a sold-out global tour, became the first Mexican artist to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards and won the “Best New Act” category at the MTV Europe Music Awards last year.

In 2023, Peso’s hit single “Ella Baila Sola” broke records by securing the No. 10 spot on Billboard’s All-Genre Hot 100 list, amassing an impressive 1.2 billion streams.

He currently holds the title of the fifth most-streamed artist globally, boasting over 60 million monthly listeners on Spotify revealing his popularity beyond the Spanish-language market.

Following his performances at Coachella and for Sony Electronics, Peso is gearing up for his North American tour this summer and headlining major festivals such as the Governor’s Ball, Sueños and Baja Beach Fest.

Additionally, his second studio album, Éxodo, is set to release this spring.

Additional accolades include four 2024 Premio Lo Nuestro awards, including “New Artist Male” and “Música Mexicana – Album of the Year.” Further, there were eight triumphs at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, with Peso notably clinching titles like “Artist of the Year, New.” Additionally, he garnered five distinctions at the 2023 Premios Juventud, securing recognitions like “Next Generation Regional Mexican” and “Best Regional Mexican Album.”

Rudy Valdez Signs with Inspire Entertainment

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rudy Valdez is under new management…

The Latino Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker has signed with Inspire Entertainment for management.

Most recently, Valdez served as director, executive producer and cinematographer of the six-part docuseries Choir for Disney+, as well as Carlos, the Carlos Santana doc from Sony Pictures Classics and Imagine Documentaries.

Both films were official selections of the 2023 Tribeca Festival, with Carlos earning a 2023 Critics’ Choice Documentary Award nomination for Best Music Documentary.

Valdez’s documentary short Translators, produced in partnership with U.S. Bank, also recently debuted as an official selection of LALIFF and the Tribeca Festival, winning the Tribeca X Award for Best Short Documentary.

The filmmaker’s breakthrough project was The Sentence, the HBO doc marking his directorial debut. Shot over the course of a decade, the film watches as Valdez unpacks the aftermath of his sister Cindy’s 15-year sentence for conspiracy charges related to crimes committed by her deceased ex-boyfriend. Following its world premiere at Sundance 2018, where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award, the doc went on to win an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, also securing Valdez a nomination for Best New Director at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.

Valdez is at the helm of Bluff Road Films, an independent production company focused on creating meaningful social, cultural, and political stories while championing equity both on screen and behind the camera.

Currently, the company is teaming with Inspire to produce the feature doc Places, centered on Pacific Northwest artist Ben Joyce and his personal journey to expand his horizons of art, people, and family. In addition to directing, Valdez is producing the pic alongside Jason Spire and Meghan Schale.

Founded in 2002, Inspire Entertainment is also known for its work on the hit Netflix pic Outside the Wire and Peacock/Sony’s video game adaptation Twisted Metal, which is currently prepping to shoot its second season, among other projects.

Eduardo Cisneros Signs with Independent Artist Group

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Eduardo Cisneros has new representation…

Independent Artist Group has signed the 46-year-old Mexican writer and producer, who is the co-creator of Apple TV+’s Eugenio Derbez-starrer Acapulco and co-writer of Focus Features’ comedy Half Brothers, for representation.

Cisneros also serves as executive producer and writer of Acapulco, a comedy series now in its third season, which has been a critical success, with an average audience score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, winning the Imagen Award for Best Primetime Comedy, as well as earning nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards and the HCA Television Awards.

Cisneros teamed up with his Acapulco creative partner and frequent collaborator Jason Shuman to script Half Brothers, which became a Top 10 hit around the world when it was released on Netflix last year.

The duo’s production company Raqmar recently wrapped up a multi-year first look feature deal at Sony.

Development projects emerging from that deal include Telenovela, which Cisneros is writing to direct with Montecito producing, and The Big Day, which Shuman and Cisneros are co-writing and producing.

Outside of that deal, the pair wrote a reboot of the sci-fi comedy Short Circuit for Spyglass and are developing a series project with Warner Bros. Television.

Cisneros’s other work as a producer includes the drama To Leslie, which brought star Andrea Riseborough her first Academy Award nomination, and the critical darling The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, which premiered at TIFF in 2019.

Currently, he’s working on his feature directorial debut, The Resurrectionist, as well as the short Bespoke, which will shoot in Amsterdam in May.

The creative’s career started at a young age in his native Mexico, where he would go on to co-create two of the most successful Spanish-language television comedy shows of recent years: XHDRBZ and La familia P. Luche.

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, he’s on the advisory board of the Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise and is a founding member of LA Clubhouse, a professional organization devoted to empowering film and television writers of LGBTQIA+ Latinx background.

Wagner Moura’s “Civil War” Remains No. 1 Movie in America for Second Weekend

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Wagner Moura is stilling winning the war at the U.S. box office…

The 47-year-old’s Brazilian actor, director and filmmaker’s latest film, Civil War, is No. 1 at the box office for a second week in a row, fending off three new releases to retain the top spot on North American charts.

Alex Garland’s film, starring Moura and Kirsten Dunst as a journalist and photojournalist who traverse a violently divided United States, added $11.12 million in its second weekend of release.

It has earned $44.8 million in its two weeks on the big screen and already stands as one of A24’s top five highest-grossing movies of all time. With a $50 million price tag, it’s also the indie distributor’s most expensive film to date.

Though it was a close race, Civil War charged ahead of a trio of newcomers — Universal’s vampire horror film Abigail, director Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Sony and Crunchyroll’s anime adventure Spy x Family Code: White.

Pablo Larraín & His Brother’s Fabula Productions Renews First-Look Partnership with Freemantle

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Larraín and his brother are extending their Freemantle deal…

The 47-year-old Chilean filmmaker and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula Productions has renewed its their first-look partnership with Freemantle.

The agreement will reportedly result in the Larrain brothers working even more closely to develop a fresh slate of original dramas and films.

Under the accord, Fremantle’s international sales wing, FMI, will distribute the drama projects worldwide.

Global production and distribution company Fremantle and the Larraín’s Santiago, Chile-based banner Fabula struck their original first-look deal in 2019.

Under the accord, Fabula has produced prize-winning series La Jauría and Señorita 89 as well as the upcoming Midnight Family for Apple TV+, a 10-episode medical drama inspired by the award-winning documentary of the same name.

On the feature film front, Fabula and Fremantle have just wrapped production on Sebastián Lelio’s film musical The Wave, in partnership with Participant Media.

The drama tells the story of the mass university rallies that took place during Chile’s so-called “Feminist May” in 2018.

Further upcoming feature collaborations include Pablo Larraín’s upcoming bio-film Maria starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, produced alongside Komplizen Film.

The partners said in a statement that the Fabula team would continue to work closely with Fremantle’s CEO, Global Drama, Christian Vesper and Seb Shorr, COO, Global Drama.

“Pablo and Juan encapsulate the bold and inventive filmmaking we proudly support at Fremantle and I am delighted that that our renewed deal means working even closer with them. Fabula is such an exciting company creating original, passionate film and drama titles, and we are thrilled to have them as our valued partners,” said Vesper.

Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín, CCO and CEO of Fabula respectively said the past five years had been a period of “great collaboration” and “mutual growth on many levels.”

“Fremantle has given us many tools to understand the industry and how to move forward. They have been wonderful travel companions with fantastic taste. We are more than happy to go deeper into our partnership with them in the upcoming years.”

Julien’s Auctions Sells Belongings of the Late Raquel Welch for $1 Million-Plus

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

The late Raquel Welch’s belongings have made bank …

Julien’s Auctions has revealed that it has sold all of the items in its special auction of memorabilia owned by the Bolivian American actress, who passed away in February 2023 at the age of 82.

Bombshell: The Raquel Welch Collection had nearly 500 items owned by the legendary beauty.

The auction concluded on Friday in Los Angeles and online.

Costumes, accessories, awards, memorabilia and a 2018 Mercedes-Benz SL 550 Convertible from the sex symbol were up for bids.

The auction achieved a total sale of $1.08 million, three and a half times the high estimate.

Welch was known for her iconic roles in the films Fantastic Voyage, Myra Breckinridge, The Three Musketeers and One Million Years B.C.

Her 1975 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her role in The Three Musketeers realized a price of $26,000, eight and half times the original estimate of $3,000.

A two-piece bikini-style costume worn by Welch when she portrayed Lillian Lust in the 1967 comedy Bedazzled sold for $22,750, forty-five and half times its estimate of $500. The top and bottom are covered in clear plastic sequins and the bottom front features long strands of clear plastic beads.

The most iconic image of Welch’s career was her One Million Years B.C. style suede and faux fur bikini, worn by Welch in her stage show and on her 1974 television special Really, Raquel, which sold for $13,000, 26x the original estimate of $500.

A personally-owned framed photo of Raquel Welch wearing the doe skin bikini from the prehistoric epic film also sold for $4,550, forty-five times the original estimate of $100.

Other highlights included: a La Jolla High School 1958 Diploma of Graduation, granted to Jo-Raquel Tejada (Welch) accompanied by her senior year report card sold for $3,250, over sixteen times its estimate of $200.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Category Archives: Negocios