Tag Archives: LatinWE

Sofia Vergara Teams Up with Robert Rodriguez & Rebecca Rodriguez to Develop Modern Take on “Zorro” with Female Lead

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Sofia Vergara isn’t masking her excitement for her latest project…

The 48-year-old Colombian actress has teamed up with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and his writer-director sister Rebecca Rodriguez to develop Zorro, a contemporary take on the classic masked vigilante character with a gender swap, for NBC. 

Sofia Vergara

The project’s creative team includes Vergara’s LatinWe production company, as well as Ben Siverman and Howard T. Owens’ Propagate. CBS Studios, where Propagate has a deal, will co-produce with Universal Television.

Co-written by the Rodriguezes and to be directed by Rebecca, Zorro centers on Sola Dominguez, an underground artist who fights for social injustice as contemporary version of the mythical Zorro. Her life is threatened by several criminal organizations after she exposes them.

Propagate set out to develop a television series re-imagining of Zorro with a female protagonist last season as one of the company’s first projects under its first-look deal with CBS Studios. The idea’s first incarnation, written by Alfredo Barrios Jr., also was set up at NBC.

Vergara and Silverman are frequent collaborators; they have teamed to produce together several projects over the past decade while Silverman was at Electus and after he joined Propagate, including the ABC drama series Killer Women.

Vergara received Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for her starring role on ABC’s Modern Family. Her feature credits include the Warner Bros. buddy comedy Hot Pursuit, which she also produced. Additionally, she executive produced the Spanish version of Desperate Housewives.

Robert Rodriguez was attached to direct The Mask of Zorro and cast Antonio Banderas as the title role before leaving the feature project. In television, he developed and executive produced the series adaptation of his movie From Dusk Till Dawn for his television network El Rey and also executive produced the Spy Kids animated series offshoot for Netflix. He recently directed an episode of Disney+’s The Mandalorian. 

Rebecca Rodriguez’s recent directing credits include episodes of TNT’s Snowpiercer and Showtime’s The Chi.

Trailer Released for Telemundo’s “El Secreto de Selena,” Starring Maya Zapata

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The secret’s out for Maya Zapata…

Telemundo has released the first trailer for the new series El Secreto de Selena, starring the 37-year-old Mexican actress as the slain Mexican American singer Selena Quintanilla, aka La Reina de la Musica Tejana.

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The story is an adaptation of the book also titled El Secreto de Selena, written by Telemundo journalist Maria Celeste Arrarás and published in 1997.

The one-minute clip shows a ring falling to the ground and revisits the moment Arrarás goes on-air to announce the death of Selena. Then, the trailer shows fragments of scenes from the trial of Yolanda Saldivar(Selena’s convicted murderer) and showcases Saldivar’s behavior during different key moments, ranging from Selena’s wedding to Chris Perezto heavy discussions with the late singer.

In addition to Zapata, the series also stars Damayanti Quintanar, Sofía Lama, Jorge Zárate, Baltimore Beltrán and Bárbara González.

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Arrarás participated co-executive-produced the series with Fernando Barbosa, Luis Balaguer, Leonardo Aranguibel and Francisco Cordero. 

The series was produced by Buena Vista Original Productions, Moconoco, LatinWE and BTF Media.

El Secreto de Selena is set to premiere on Sunday, August 25, on Telemundo.

Rousseff: The Highest-Ranking Latina on Forbes’ Most Powerful Women List

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Dilma Rousseff is not only the most powerful Latina in the world… But, she’s inching her way to being the most powerful woman on the planet.

The 65-year-old Brazilian politician, who has served as her nation’s president – the first woman to hold the office – since January 2011, comes in at No. 2 on Forbes magazine’s annual list of World’s Most Powerful Women.

Dilma Rousseff

Rousseff, who ranked No. 3 on last year’s list, comes in behind only German Chancellor Angela Merkel, this year.

Currently at the midpoint of her first term as president, Rousseff heads the world’s seventh-largest national economy (GDP $2.4 trillion). Despite Brazil’s size, she has been tasked with helping pull the country out of its slowest two years of growth in more than a decade. Her emphasis on entrepreneurship has inspired a new generation of startups.

This year, Rousseff has a new ally in the first-ever Brazilian director-general of the World Trade Organization, Roberto Azevedo, who was confirmed in Geneva in early May.

Maria das Graças Silva Foster

Maria das Graças Silva Foster, another Brasilenia on the list, ranks at No. 18 this year, two spots higher than last year.

The 59-year-old Brazilian business executive and chemical engineer serves as the CEO of Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company.

das Graças Silva Foster last year took over the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere by sales ($144 billion) and market value ($120 billion). In 2012 Petrobras produced about 2 million barrels of crude oil daily, and she expects similar levels this year as it develops oil trapped in the Campos Basin in the Atlantic, one of the world’s most promising oil frontiers.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

The third Latina on the list is Argentina’s lady in charge, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The 60-year-old Argentinean president comes in at No. 26 on the list, a drop of 10 spots from last year.

Fernandez de Kirchner, halfway through her second term, is facing some headaches, including massive street demonstrations and accusations that Argentina has been covering up runaway inflation by underreporting the country’s annual rate.

Sofia Vergara

Meanwhile, the first Latina celebrity to make the cut is Sofia Vergara.

The 40-year-old Colombian actress and entrepreneur registers one of the biggest leaps on the list, moving up 37 spots to No. 38.

Vergara, who ranked No. 75 last year, is the top-earning actress on television and the face of a sweeping trend to capture the $1 trillion Hispanic market.

As a member of the cast of ABC’s Modern Family, Vergara is at the top of her game.

In addition to the show, her line of clothing and home goods sold at Kmart is thriving and endorsement deals with Diet Pepsi, CoverGirl, Rooms to Go and thyroid medicine Synthroid make her one of the most in-demand spokespeople.

Behind the scenes Vergara is a cofounder of a 17-year-old talent management and new media company, LatinWE, which pulled in an estimated $27 million last year and which recently launched a social network, NuevoWorld, to connect Latino celebs with their fans.

In May ABC announced that a new series executive produced by Vergara, Killer Women, an adaptation of an Argentine soap opera, will be in its Fall 2013 lineup.

Here’s a look at the other Latinas on the list…

No. 35 Mary Barra, SVP, Global Product Development, General Motors

No. 52 Shakira Mebarak, Actress and Philanthropist

No. 66 Rosalía Mera, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur and Billionaire

No. 95 Gisele Bündchen, Model and Philanthropist

Full list of the 100 women who represent agents of change in the world can be obtained on Forbes.com.