Tag Archives: Ventanarosa

ABC Developing Drama Project About a Mexican Family from Salma Hayek

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Salma Hayek may soon bring some serious Mexican family drama to The Alphabet Network…

ABC has put in development a drama project executive produced by Salma Hayek and Michael McDonald through ABC Studios.

Salma Hayek

Written by From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series scribe Diego Gutierrez, the untitled project is described as a soapy ensemble drama about the heirs to a wealthy Mexican conglomerate, who are in the midst of a battle for its future when they all become suspects in the murder of their father.

Тhe drama reflects some personal experiences for Gutierrez who was born and raised in a well-to-do family in Mexico City before attending Wesleyan University and making a life and career for himself in Los Angeles. His family is still in Mexico, with him traveling back and forth. The story on the show also spans Mexico City and Los Angeles.

Gutierrez pitched the idea to McDonald, who reached out to Hayek. The two have an existing relationship stemming from the ABC dramedy Ugly Betty, which Hayek executive produced and McDonald helped develop as an executive at ABC Studios.

Hayek and her producing partner Jose Tamez responded to the idea and boarded the project. It was pitched to ABC, which bought it preemptively with penalty, unusual for a project from sibling ABC Studios.

McDonald’s Stearns Castle and Hayek and Tamez’s Ventanarosa are producing for ABC Studios where McDonald is under an overall deal.

Gutierrez’s series credits also include Kingpin, Without A Trace and Warehouse 13.

Hayek & Horta Developing “Bastards” for ABC Studios…

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Salma Hayek is reuniting with her Ugly Betty cohort Silvio Horta to develop a Latino-themed dramedy for primetime television.

ABC and ABC Studios have put in development Bastards, from the 46-year-old Mexican actress and producer, who served as Ugly Betty’s executive producer and Betty creator Horta, according to Deadline.com.

Salma Hayek

Bastards, written by Horta, centers on a lively Cuban-American family who has its lives turned upside down when it’s revealed that the family patriarch had a child with the family maid more than 25 years ago. Now his wife will do anything to protect her children’s inheritance and prevent her family’s deepest and darkest secrets from ever being revealed.

Bastards originated from an idea by Hayek. She and Jose Tamez, her producing partner at their ABC Studios-based Ventanarosa, had been trying to tackle the premise for awhile.

Horta, who is of Cuban- American descent, recently received a call from Tamez and a Mark Gordon Prods executive who was once Horta’s ABC executive on Ugly Betty.

“I immediately sparked to the concept — it was fun and juicy and had the opportunity for both a lot of salacious situations and humor as well as a lot of heart and emotions, hitting that sweet spot I like to write,” said Horta.

After some quick deal-making, the team sold the project to ABC. Back in 2005, others had taken a stab at adapting the popular telenovela Ugly Betty for American audiences before Horta, but his version stuck. “I hope history will repeat itself,” he quipped.

Last season, Horta wrote and executive produced another dramedy about a Latino family for Fox. The project, based on an idea by Fox entertainment topper Kevin Reilly and executive produced by Jennifer Lopez, centered on three sisters and their interlinked lives. While it didn’t get to pilot, Fox kept the project alive and put it in redevelopment. The process kept Horta, who is under an overall deal at Sony Television, busy, so he missed the broadcast selling season and was preparing cable pitches when he got the call on Bastards. He’s now focusing on the script, which is due in a month.

In addition to Bastards, Ventanarosa has The Cisco Kid, a re-imagining of the iconic Latino character, for CBS.

 

Hayek Executive-Producing “The Cisco Kid” Reboot for CBS

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Salma Hayek is looking to bring an iconic Latino character back to television…

CBS has put in development The Cisco Kid – a reimagining of the half-hour Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role – with the 46-year-old Mexican actress, director and producer and X-Men’s Lauren Shuler Donner executive producing the project.

Salma Hayek

The Cisco Kid, written by Diego Gutierrez, is being hailed as a modern day retelling of the classic story of a handsome outlaw and his faithful sidekick similar to Lethal Weapon. It follows Cisco as he returns to Los Angeles after serving several tours as a Marine in Afghanistan.

After witnessing the murder of his father, Cisco and his best friend/fellow Marine, Sam, team up to solve the case and subsequently find themselves doing what the authorities can’t — defending the city’s oppressed and disenfranchised.

The Cisco Kid

First introduced in O. Henry’s 1907 short story The Caballero’s Way, the Cisco Kid became a fixture of 20th century pop culture — a rare achievement for a Latino character. The character went on to headline more than a dozen movies, beginning with the 1914 silent film The Caballero’s Way and most recently a 1994 TV movie starring Jimmy Smits as Cisco and Cheech Marin as his sidekick Pancho. The role won an Academy Award for Warner Baxter, who played Cisco in several movies. The Cisco character also spawned radio shows, comic books as well as an oft-covered song by War. On television, The Cisco Kid syndicated series starring Renaldo ran from 1950-56.

In its quest to create Latino-themed projects, CBS – the network behind the drama series Cane and comedy Rob, decided to place its bets on this fourth high-profile reboot at the network this season. CBS also has reboots of Beverly Hills Cop from Shawn Ryan and Eddie Murphy, the Vince Vaughn-produced The Brady Bunch, and Have Gun, Will Travel from David Mamet.

Hayek’s production company Ventanarosa co-produced the ABC dramedy Ugly Betty as part of its goal to develop, produce and acquire mainstream projects that either draw on Latin themes or feature Latin talent, both in front of and behind the camera. In features, the company has produced films like Frida. In addition, she’s developing The Prophet, an animated adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s book, which has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide.