Sofia Vergara’s razing the roof…
Raze, the Latino digital media company co-founded by the 45-year-old Colombian actress and Modern Family star, has struck production and development deals with Netflix, Hulu, and TNT.
Co-founded by Latin World Entertainment founder Luis Balaguer, and industry leader Emiliano Calemzuk, the fast-growing company will roll out three series across the aforementioned platforms.
Raze is moving forward into production with the original series Catrina, la Santa Muerte for Netflix. They are also developing Mi Hermanastro for Hulu and Black Veil for TNT.
“In just one year, Raze has jumped to a leadership position as a multi-purpose Latino creative engine capable of growing a digital media and social platform, as well as supplying high-quality long-form product to top distributors in the US and Latin America,” said Calemzuk. “As we move forward with this original programming slate, we will bring the best content to our viewers through their favorite platforms.”
“At Raze, we continue working to develop and produce original content that changes the narrative on how Latin-centered stories are told,” adds Mari Urdaneta Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer. “We work with an excellent team of creative writers and producers who will provide unique and innovated plots that will resonate with viewers across key demos.”
Raze has teamed with Hollywood leading creative writers Natasha Ybarra-Klor, Liz Sczudlo, and Luisa Leschin to bring the Latino stories to the market
Here’s the programming slate:
Catrina: La Santa Muerte is heading to production at Netflix. Starring international star Blanca Soto, the series marks Soto’s comeback to the small screen. The action series is set on the geographical border between Mexico and the United States, at a time when the metaphysical border between the world of the living and the Land of the Dead is beginning to blur. Produced by Raze, the series is executive produced by Blanca Soto and is written by Natasha Ybarra-Klor whose credits include Netflix hit series Ingobernable, Cadena 3, Las Aparicio and Infames, and Fox/Argos Dos Lunas, among others.
Mi Hermanastro (My Step-brother) is set up as a script at Hulu. Based on the online Latin American smash hit series with the same name, Mi Hermanastro is about two teenage step-siblings at odds with each other and struggling to find their place in life, who accidentally sleep together during a debauched game of seven minutes in heaven. Produced by Raze, the script is written by Liz Sczudlo whose credits include Lifetime’s Sea Change, Freeform’s Switched at Birth, Fox’s The Following, and CW’s 90210.
The Black Veil is set up at TNT. The events and characters depicted in The Black Veil are fiction, though inspired by actual events described in newly-released Inquisition documents from the Vatican regarding a criminal case against an Italian order of nuns, around 1800. The series centers around the cloistered Convent of St. Agatha’s, nestled in New Mexico’s Blue Mountains overlooking the town of Sagrado. As the U.S. enters WWII and New Mexico readies to send over 1800 of its rough-hewn cowboy, Navajo and Mexican- American soldiers overseas, the hierarchical population of nuns, novitiates and staff living behind the high stone walls of the convent struggle to remain solvent and unaffected by the war. To maintain their sanctuary hidden from the outside world, the nuns live in symbiotic collusion under the strong hand of a cultish Abbess. The isolation and constant search for enlightenment creates a hothouse atmosphere of religious ecstasies, miracles, sexual repression and powerful intrigue. A sophisticated, authentically depicted, nighttime series, The Black Veil features forbidden love, lust, poisonings, feigned miracles and murder. Produced by Raze, the script is written by Luisa Leschin whose credits includes Amazon’s Just Add Magic, Hulu’s East Los High, and ABC’s George Lopez, among others.
