Tag Archives: Karey Burke

Gina Rodriguez Signs Overall Deal with 20th Television

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Gina Rodriguez has a new deal…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican Golden Globe-winning actress, the star and executive producer of Not Dead Yet, has signed an overall deal with 20th Television, the studio behind Rodriguez’s new ABC comedy series.

Gina RodriguezUnder the pact, Rodriguez will develop, direct and executive produce new series across all platforms through her production company I Can & I Will, run by executive Molly Breeskin.

Rodriguez and Breeskin will continue to follow the company’s mission statement to create art that tells stories from the unheard and unseen, to discover and expose new talent, and to increase empathy and understanding for all communities.

“Gina is a true multi-hyphenate, an extremely talented performer who’s as adept at directing and producing as she is in front of the camera,” said 20th Television president Karey Burke. “She has an incredible eye for IP, an optimistic and uplifting point of view, and a unique ability to spotlight underrepresented voices and stories in a broad and ambitious way.”

Best known for her award-winning title role in Jane the Virgin, Rodriguez will next be seen in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids reboot and Players, both for Netflix.

She recently appeared in Netflix’s Lost Ollie and Amazon’s I Want You Back and is heard in the title role of Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego animated series as well as in the streamer’s Big Mouth.

I Can & I Will produced two seasons of Disney+’s Diary Of a Future President, for which Rodriguez directed the pilot and co-starred as the future president. With her family, she established the We Will Foundation to champion underprivileged youth through arts, education, scholarship funding and financial literacy.

“At I Can & I Will, we are constantly working to expand the narrative of underrepresented communities and I am over the moon to join forces with the incredible leaders at 20th in that mission,” said Rodriguez.

Linda Yvette Chávez Signs Multi-Year Overall Deal with 20th Century Fox Television

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Linda Yvette Chávez has a new deal…

The award-winning Latina screenwriter/producer and Gentefied co-creator has signed a multi-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television.

Linda Yvette ChávezChavez is expected to create her own dramas and comedies across all platforms, as well as supervise other writers’ projects.

“Just take one look at the creators Karey Burke, Carolyn Cassidy and how their teams are uplifting at 20th Television and you’ll quickly see a studio investing in a brighter future for representation in media,” Chávez said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that I get to be a part of this family and add this bold Xicana voice to 20th’s legendary canon of television. We’re about to make some bomb-ass shows together and showcase the gorgeous array of stories that exist in our BIPOC communities. With them as my champions I know there’s nothing we can’t achieve. Hollywood’s not ready!”

Chávez is co-creator, co-showrunner, director, and executive producer of Netflix’s Gentefied, a series that follows the lives of a multigenerational Mexican American family from East Los Angeles. Season 2 of the Peabody Award-nominated dramedy premiered on November 10. Both seasons are currently available to stream via Netflix.

“Linda is a tour de force writer with a spectacular voice and her series Gentefied is as hilarious as it is powerful, said Karey Burke, President, 20th Television. “She’s incredibly versatile and she shares our passion for fearless, inclusive storytelling—and on top of all that, she happens to be a fantastic person. Carolyn and I made it our mission to get her to this studio and we’re pinching ourselves she said yes.”

While producing Gentefied, Chávez adapted Erika L. Sanchez’s New York Times Best Selling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter into a feature film for Anonymous. She also penned Eva Longoria’s directorial debut Flamin’ Hot, a film by Content and MACRO, about the life of Richard Montanez, the creator of Hot Cheetos.

Up next for Chávez, she’ll make her directorial debut with her feature film Fieras.

Alyssa Diaz’s “The Rookie” to Address Police Brutality in Season 3

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It looks like Alyssa Diaz’s art will imitate life in the near future. 

ABC’s police drama The Rookie, starring the 34-year-old part Colombian and Mexican actress, will address the issue of police brutality during its upcoming third season. 

Alyssa Diaz in The Rookie

Show creator Alexi Hawley has brought in a number of experts to discuss the issues around policing in America in 2020, according to ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke.

“Alexi Hawley is a really thoughtful ally and partner and has been in the writers’ room for some time, already planning to address the current conversation going on around police work,” she tells Deadline.com. “I’m impressed with his thoughtfulness and leadership about hearing and adapting the current conversations to the storylines. It’s a diverse writers room and I’m hearing that the conversations going on in that room are inspired and give me hope that that show will address and not ignore the conversations around policing.”

In addition to Diaz, who portrays Angela Lopez, The Rookiealso stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD, Mekia Cox, Richard T. Jones, Titus Makin, Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter.

The series is produced by Entertainment One (eOne) and ABC Studios.

Diaz’s other television credits include Narcos: Mexico, Lethal Weapon, NCIS: Los Angeles and Ray Donovan.

Auli’i Cravalho to Star in ABC’s Live “The Little Mermaid” Special

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Auli’i Cravalho is heading under the sea…

The 18-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress/singer is set to star as Ariel in ABC’s The Little Mermaid live special.

Auli’i Cravalho

In addition to Cravalho, who rose to acclaim as the voice of the title character in Disney’s Moana, the special will also star Queen Latifah as Ursula and Shaggy as Sebastian. 

The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live!, featuring a mix of live action, animation and puppetry, will air on November 5 to mark the classic Disney animated feature’s 30th anniversary.

ABC originally announced in May 2017that it would stage a live production of the beloved underwater tale under the long-dormant Wonderful World of Disneybanner, which was slated for October 3, 2017. In August of that year, the network announced that the live event had been put on hold.

Since joining ABC last December as President of Entertainment, Karey Burke has expressed strong support for live specials. Her commitment was likely reaffirmed in May after the success of Jimmy Kimmel’s live staging of two classic Norman Lear sitcoms on the network, which spawned two more installments.

Burke today said that if The Little Mermaid is a success, it too can lead to do more live musicals based on Disneyfilm titles on ABC. “If it works, I expect we will do more of them and we will work closely with the feature department about timing,” she said.

Billed as a tribute to the original animated classic and its music, The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live! will feature live musical performances by its star-studded cast interwoven into the broadcast of the original feature film. 

The hybrid format will combine intricate sets and costumes created for the special with music from the original animated film and the Tony Award-winningBroadway stage version, composed by eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken. 

Howard Ashman’s film lyrics will also be showcased, with Glenn Slater, lyricist for the Broadway adaptation, as a contributor.

Cravalho is already in the extended Disney Princessesfamily having voiced Moana in the hit animated movie. 

Following her breakout role in Moana, Cravalho performed the film’s anthem, How Far I’ll Go, at the Oscarsand starred in the NBCmusical drama series Rise. It was just announced that she is the lead of the Brett Haley Netflixfilm Sorta Like a Rock Star. 

The announcement of The Wonderful World of Disney Presents The Little Mermaid Live! going forward comes as Disney is gearing up for production of a live-action feature adaptation of The Little Mermaid for director Rob Marshall, Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda and Menken. Halle Bailey has been set as Ariel in the movie, Awkwafina as Ariel’s seagull friend Scuttle, and Jacob Tremblay as Ariel’s friendly fish pal Flounder, while Melissa McCarthy has been rumored for the role of UIrsula and Harry Stylesfor Prince Eric.

Burke is not worried about ABC’s live Little Mermaid special and the upcoming movie cannibalizing each other. “Ours is distinctly different from the feature film,” she said.