Gloria Calderón Kellett Taking Part in Latinx-Themed Panel for Virtual ATX Television Festival

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Gloria Calderón Kellett is representin’…

The 45-year-old Cuban American television writer and One Day at a Time co-showrunner will be taking part in ATX Television Festival’s virtual edition, which has been appropriately titled “ATX TV…From The Couch!”

Calderón Kellett will take part in a conversation about Latinx representation on the small screen, alongside Vida creator Tanya Saracho, Pose’s co-creator Steven Canals and Diary of a Future President’s Ilana Peña.

Calderón Kellett, Saracho, Canals and Peña, some of today’s hottest Latinx content creators, will be “Celebrating Authentic Stories,” the title of their panel.

They’ll talk about celebrating and continuing the push for positive Latinx representation, as well as how decision-makers within the industry can amplify Latinx voices.

“ATX TV… from the Couch!” marks the first virtual event for the fest and will include industry-forward panels with showrunners and executives, sneak previews of upcoming series, and virtual events such as television trivia and a music showcase.

The virtual event will take place June 5-7. It will be free to access via ATX’s official YouTube channe l, with the option for viewers to donate to select organizations providing COVID-19 relief regionally and nationally.

In addition to the Latinx panel, the festival’s virtual line-up will include conversations with cast and creatives from Freeform’s The Bold Type, NBC’s hit drama New Amsterdam, and The CW’s mystery-drama Nancy Drew.

The ATX Television Festival will also include a Scrubs reunion with the show’s creator Bill Lawrence, as well as cast members Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, John C. McGinley, and Judy Reyes. The cast was previously confirmed for ATX Season 9 in Austin, and rescheduled their in-person reunion for the 2021 festival.

Hulu to Stream Michael Cimino’s LGBTQ-Themed Series “Love, Victor”

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Cimino’s Love is headed to Hulu…

Love, Victor, starring the half-Puerto Rican actor, is moving from Disney+ to the Disney-controlled Hulu streaming service. It will debut in June, during LGBTQ Pride month.

The half-hour comedy, inspired by the acclaimed film Love, Simon, has been re-titled Love, Victor after its protagonist.

The series, from This Is Us executive producers/co-showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, who wrote the film, and 20th Century Fox Television, just wrapped production on its 10-episode first season.

Hulu appears bullish on the show and has already commissioned a writers’ room to start exploring stories for a possible second season.

Hailed for its LGBTQ inclusivity, the 2018 Love, Simon,based on Becky Albertalli’s young adult novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, is a coming-of-age film about Simon, a closeted gay teen growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta.

The series centers on Victor (Cimino), a new student at Creekwood High School, the high school featured in the movie, on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation.

Love, Victor’s move from Disney+ to Hulu mirrors a similar relocation from Disney+ to Hulu of another series based on a movie, High Fidelity, headlined by Zoë Kravitz.

Both involve realistic portrayal of issues faced by young adults that may not be appropriate for families to watch with their young kids, something that has become imperative for a Disney+ program.

Love, Victordepicts alcohol use, parents’ marital issues and sexual exploration. At Hulu, it will join several other comedic series with drama elements about teens in high school, including fellow Hulu originals PEN15 and Looking For Alaskaand Freeform’s Grown-ish,which streams on Hulu.

HBO Max Developing Claudia Forestieri’s “The Gordita Chronicles”

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Claudia Forestieri is getting personal on her next project…

HBO Max has put in development The Gordita Chronicles, a coming-of-age kids and family comedy from the half-Dominican writer, Josh Berman’s Osprey Productions, Zoe Saldana’s Cinestar Pictures and Sony Pictures Television, where Osprey is under a deal.

Written by Forestieri, The Gordita Chronicles, loosely inspired by Forestieri’s life, centers around a Latina reporter looking back on her childhood as a chubby, willful and reluctant Dominican immigrant growing up with her eccentric family in 1980s Miami.

Berman and Chris Kingexecutive produce for Osprey Productions. Zoe Saldana, Mariel Saldanaand Cisely Saldanaexecutive produce for Cinestar Pictures. Forestieri is co-executive producer. Sony Pictures Television is the studio.

Forestieri was a producer for Telemundo’s L.A. affiliate where she earned five local Emmys and a GLAAD Media award for her work covering the Latino community. She is an alumnus of HBO’s Access Writing Fellowship, NALIP’s Latino Writers Lab and NBC’s Writers on the Vergeprogram. Forestieri is a writer on the upcoming Selena: The Seriesfor Netflix and previously wrote on Freeform’s Good Trouble.

Saldana is next set to star and executive produce From Scratch, a limited series from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshinefor Netflix.

Emily Tosta to Star Opposite Nicolas Cage in the Thriller “Wally’s Wonderland”

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Emily Tosta is rebelling…

The 21-year-old Dominican & Venezuelan actress is set to star opposite Nicolas Cage in the genre thriller Wally’s Wonderland, currently shooting in Atlanta.

Tosta, who currently stars on Freeform’s Party of Fivereboot, will portray the rebellious teena lead in the film from director Kevin Lewis.

Tosta’s character Liv joins Cage’s character The Janitor in their bid to survive a hellish night trapped inside an abandoned family entertainment center populated by possessed animatronics.

The film also stars Beth Grant, Ric ReitzandChris Warner. The screenplay is written by G.O. Parsons.

“I’m so excited to be working with Nicolas Cage, who has always been one of my favorite actors, in this totally fun and unique feature film,” said Tosta.

“When I first saw Emily in Mayans M.C., I was struck by her unique combination of toughness and sensitivity and knew immediately we found our perfect Liv,” added Lewis.

In addition to her roles on Party of Fiveand Mayans M.C., Tosta’s other credits include The Resident, Rosewoodand The Last Ship.

Priscilla Quintana Lands Recurring Role on Freeform’s “Good Trouble”

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Priscilla Quintana is getting into Trouble…

The Latina actress has joined The Fosters spinoff Good Trouble in a recurring role.

The Freeformseries follows residents of The Coterie as they deal with the consequences of their personal and professional decisions and realize that sometimes standing up for what you believe in comes at a price.

The current season picked up with Callie and Mariana’s relationship on the rocks after Callie has decided to move in with Jamie and leave the “Coterie Biatches” behind.

Quintana will play Isabella, a sexy, charming, outgoing aspiring actress/model who seems very confident but is really desperate to be liked. With her friendly personality and good looks, she is sure to shake things up at The Coterie.

Good Trouble stars Maia Mitchell, Cierra Ramirez, Sherry Cola, Tommy Martinez, Zuri Adele, Emma Hunton and Josh Pence.

Quintana will return for the second season of The CW’s Pandora. Her other credits include appearances on Lethal Weapon, Masters of Sex and Training Day.

Freeform to Extend the Season Finale of Brandon Larracuente’s “Party of Five” to 90-Minutes

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Brandon Larracuente’s partyis being extended…

Freeform has announced that the first season of its Party of Five reboot, starring the 25-year-old Latino actor, will wrap with a 90-minute season finale, to air March 4.

Hailing from original series’ creators Chris Keyserand Amy Lippman, the immigration-themed update centers on the five Acosta children as they navigate daily life struggles to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported back to Mexico.

In addition to Larracuente, the series also stars Emily Tosta, Niko Guardadoand Elle Paris Legaspi.

Each character in the reboot is intentionally similar to their character in the original, which was intentional.

“What’s the same is that we took the characters of the original and translated them to this. If you knew the original you’ll come to it and you’ll feel like ‘I kind of know who these kids are.’ We put them in a different situation. That said, there are easter eggs .”

She teased that this season “all the kids have love interests and some of them will have echoes to the original.”

“This show you have an opportunity to look at these kids as kids who are growing up and learning things about themselves but in an extraordinary situation. I wish it was more extraordinary.”

Party of Fiveairs Wednesdays on Freeform.

Freeform to Premiere Karamo Brown’s TV Movie “The Thing About Harry” in February

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Karamo Brown is hittin’ the road this Valentine’s Day…

Freeform will premiere its road-trip rom-com The Thing About Harry, starring the 39-year-old part-Cuban American Queer Eye host and actor,will be a post-Valentine’s Day offering.

The television movie starring Brown, Jake Borelli, Niko Terho, Britt Baronand Peter Paigeis set to premiere at 8:00 pm on Saturday, February 15, on the Disney-owned cable outlet.

Borelli portrays Sam, a handsome, funny, neurotic, intelligent young gay man who combines a scathing wit with an overly idealistic worldview. Sam came out when he was still in high school, something that took a lot of courage in his small Missouri town, but was bullied constantly. Terho plays Harry, an emotionally uncomplicated, promiscuous player who has always left a string of broken hearts in his wake. Under the surface, Harry actually yearns for love, family and stability, but the thought of commitment still terrifies him.

Brown plays Paul, an exceedingly well put-together yet overbearing and pretentious gay man.

“It’s been an honor to partner with Freeform in making great television with LGBTQ+ characters as leads,” The Thing About Harry executive producers Paige, Greg Gugliotta and F.J. Denny in a statement. “True equality can only be achieved when you see yourself reflected in the movies, music and stories that paint our culture.

“As young gay men in the ’90s, whenever a rom-com opened, we would watch the leading lady fall in love and imagine what it would be like if the boy was saying all those things to another boy. We’ve always wanted to make a movie — an unabashedly romantic comedy — that queer boys wouldn’t have to translate. It’s rewarding to take the genre to a new, all-inclusive level.”

Bella Thorne to Star in the Indie Action Comedy “Chick Fight”

Posted on December 12, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

The fight’s on for Bella Thorne…

The 22-year-old half-Cuban American actress/singer has joined the cast of Chick Fight, the indie action comedy starring and produced by Malin Akerman.

Paul Leydenis directing Joseph Downey’s original script for the film, which is being produced by Yale Productions and Idiot Savant Pictures. A January shooting start is in the works.

Akerman stars as Anna, who still hasn’t reconciled with the recent death of her adored mother. She’s just discovered that her loving and supportive father is gay, and she accidentally burns down her uninsured coffee shop after learning a thrown joint and a spilled bottle of moonshine don’t mix. Knowing Anna needs to be abruptly shaken and stirred from her deep funk, her best friend takes her to an all-women underground fight club, where she encounters an eclectic cast of characters.

Thorne plays Olivia, the club’s intimidatingly perfect and most brutally efficient fighter, who quickly becomes a rival in and out of the ring.

Her previous feature credits include Netflix’s The Babysitter franchise, Blended, Stuck on You, The DUFF, Midnight Sun and the Sundance AGBO Studios feature Assassination Nation.

Her television credits include Disney Channel’s Shake It Up, HBO’s Big Love, ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money and Freeform’s Famous in Love.

Freeform Releases Trailer for Season 3 of Francia Raisa’s “grown-ish”

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Could Francia Raisa be in for a big surprise?

Freeformhas released the first teaser for the third season of its hit comedy series grown-ish, starring the 31-year-old Mexican and Honduran American actress. And, it looks like someone will be heading into their junior year with an unexpected surprise.

The spot reveals quite a bit in just 15 seconds. It opens with someone sitting on a toilet taking a pregnancy test. The person then throws the test on the floor revealing a + sign, and then exclaims “Oh! S***!’

Picking up after season 2’s finale cliffhanger, the gang returns as confident, eager and seasoned upper-classmen, with Zoey (Yara Shahidi) and her girls (… and Vivek) moving into an off-campus home, ready to take on the school year. They quickly realize that they have been mistaken about the disillusionment of adulthood, with real-life problems coming for them, including student loans, work/ life balance and, of course, messy breakups. Plus, the season premiere picks up with some of the crew having to deal with the repercussions of their big mistakes before summer break.

From ABC Signature Studios, grown-ishalso stars Trevor Jackson, Raisa, Emily Arlook, Jordan Buhat, Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey, Luka Sabbatand Diggy Simmons.

The series will continue to explore important topics including college athletics, cultural appropriation, toxic masculinity, anxiety, burnout and more.

Season 3 of grown-ish premieres on Thursday, January 16 on Freeform.

Froy Gutierrez to Star in Freeform’s Thriller Pilot “Last Summer”

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

It’s Summer-time for Froy Gutierrez…

The 21-year-old Latino actor has been cast in Freeform’s Last Summer, a thriller pilot from Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple.

Gutierrez will appear as a series regular in the project, alongside Michael Landes, Brooklyn Sudano, Harley Quinn Smith, Chiara Aurelia, Mika Abdalla, Allius Barnes, Blake Lee and Nathaniel Ashton.

Written by Bert V. Royaland directed by Max Winkler, Last Summer is an unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers — 1993-95 — in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate (Abdalla), is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette (Aurelia), goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America. Each episode is told from the POV of one of the two main girls (Jeanette and Kate), which will have the viewers’ loyalties constantly shifting as more information is revealed.

Gutierrez has been cast as Jamie, the kind of guy everyone loves. He starts as Jeannette’s secret crush, who ends up as her boyfriend the following year.

The pilot comes from eOneand will be executive produced by Royal and Winkler alongside Iron Ocean Productions’ Biel and Purple.

Production recently kicked off in Texas.Gutierrez’s previous credits include appearances on television in Bella and the Bulldogs, The Goldbergs, One Day at a TimeandTeen Wolf.

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