Rodriguez to Direct Pilot for Latino James Bond-esque TV Series

Robert Rodriguez will be bringing a Latino James Bond to television…

The 45-year-old Mexican American director, producer and screenwriter will direct and executive-produce the pilot for an original series for Rodriguez’s new English-language network, called El Rey.

Robert Rodriguez

From Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci’s K/O Paper Products, the series is said to be an adventure drama.

It centers on a playboy soccer star who, in reality, happens to be a skilled covert operative, executing missions for a little known branch of the CIA.

Rodriguez’s “Locke & Key” to be Developed as a Feature Film

Gabriel Rodriguez’s critically acclaimed work is headed to the big screen…

Universal Pictures has optioned Locke & Key – the supernatural comic book series by the Chilean comic book artist and Joe Hill – to develop as a feature film.

GABRIEL-RODRIGUEZ

Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Bobby Cohen will produce the project via their Universal-based K/O Paper Products banner. 

Locke & Key tells the story of three siblings who, after the gruesome murder of their father, move to their ancestral home in Massachusetts. They soon discover the house has magical keys that give the bearers a vast array of powers and abilities. However, a devious creature is also after the keys, forcing the family to make a stand against evil.

The stories expanded to tell a bi-generational coming-of-age tale that encompasses heroism and tragedy and thrills and chills.

Locke & Key

The graphic novel collections have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list multiple times, even hitting #1, while the comics have garnered Rodriguez and Hill multiple Eisner Award nominations.

Hill, the son of Stephen King and author of horror novels like Heart-Shaped Box and the recent NOS4A2, won an Eisner for best writer, and the series has twice won the British Fantasy Award for best comic/graphic novel.

Rodriguez’s El Rey Network Partnering with Univision

Robert Rodríguez is getting into business with Univision

The Spanish-language network has announced a new partnership with El Rey Network, the upcoming English-language cable network from the 44-year-old Mexican American filmmaker and John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa’s FactoryMade.

Robert Rodriguez

El Rey is set to launch at the end of the year via Comcast. 

Univision will be responsible for the back-office operations, sales and distribution of the network.

“The El Rey Network is going to be the home of kick-ass entertainment,” said Rodriguez at Univision’s upfront presentation.

The first shows from El Rey, according to the El Mariachi director, will be a TV version of his and Quentin Tarantino’s Dusk Till Dawn film and a still-unnamed action series developed by Fringe and Star Trek Into Darkness producers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci’s K/O Paper Products.

Orci’s Modern-Day “Sleepy Hollow” Project Gets Pilot Order

It’s Sleepy time for Rorbeto Orci

Fox has picked up the drama pilot Sleepy Hollow from the 39-year-old Mexican-American television writer/producer and his partner Alex Kurtzman.

Roberto Orci

Sleepy Hollow, which has Underworld helmer Len Wiseman on board to direct, is described as as a modern–day supernatural thriller based on The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.

The project follows Ichabod Crane as he partners with Sleepy Hollow’s local female sheriff to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil.

Orci and Kurtzman wrote the script with up-and-coming writer Phillip Iscove, on whose idea the project is based.

Kurtzman and Orci will executive produce Sleepy Hollow; and their studio-based K/O Paper Products produce.