NHMC in the News
2016 Academy Member Nominations
Ligiah Villalobos Joins NHMC Board
NHMC TV Writers Program
Save the Date on NHMC’s Fall Events!
Policy Shop Staffing Update – Goodbye Mike and Hello Carmen
D.C. Policy Shop Update
NHMC is Hiring!
Happy Birthday to NHMC’s President & CEO!
Elena of Avalor Screening
TV Writers Program Countdown
Tune in to Support Latinos on TV this Summer!
Julian Samora Research Institute Summit
NBC Entertainment’s High School Pipeline Program
Upcoming Events
NHMC in the News
Law360 –
Hispanic Media Group Pushes FCC On Ownership Diversity
Washington Post –
Once again, Hispanics were considered for VP. Once again, they’re expecting to be passed over
Marketplace –
Finally, Disney introduces a Latina princess
Associated Press –
Disney’s First Latina Princess, Elena, Takes Her Bow On TV
Congratulations to the 2016 Class of Academy Members!
NHMC Impact Award Recipient Jorge Gutierrez
Early this month and in response to the #OscarsSoWhite outcry, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released the list of new member invites for 2016. This is the largest group of industry professionals ever to be offered admission (683) and 41 percent of nominees are people of color!
Although this list is historic in its diversity, including more than 70 Latinos, it still only increases the inclusion of Academy members of color by a mere three percent overall. This is an important step forward in overcoming the historic underrepresentation of Latinos and people of color in Hollywood, but much more work remains to be done.
NHMC’s Nilda Muhr recently published a blog on NHMC’s Medium page,
Latinx Mic, with an analysis on the importance of this move. To read the full piece, click
here.
Ligiah Villalobos Joins NHMC Board
Ligiah Villalobos joins NHMC as its newest Board Member. Villalobos is the Writer and Executive Producer of the independent feature film
Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), released by Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company. The film was an Official Selection at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and became the highest sale for a Spanish-language film in the history of Sundance. Made for under $2M, the film has earned over $23M worldwide.
More recently, Villalobos won a Humanitas Prize in 2013 for the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie,
Firelight, produced by Alicia Keys and Mary Martin, which aired on ABC.
Villalobos has developed projects for multiple studios and networks, including ABC, NBC, ABC/Family, F/X, Showtime, BET, and HBO, among others. She is the co-producer of two HBO movies,
Dancing in September and
Walkout. She was also the Head Writer on Nick Jr.’s hit children’s show
Go, Diego! Go! for three seasons.
Villalobos has also consulted on a number of high profile projects, including two Pixar movies,
Planes and the upcoming Day of the Dead themed movie titled,
Coco, as well as the
Nina’s World series on SPROUT.
Before becoming an independent writer/producer, Villalobos was a studio executive at The Walt Disney Company, where she oversaw all television production in Latin America for five years, launching eight children shows in seven countries and then overseeing the Writing Fellowship Program and the Directors Training Program for one year. She then worked as a Current Programming Executive at The WB, where she oversaw six prime-time shows, including the four highest rated shows on the network.
Villalobos recently wrote a half hour pilot titled
Half Sisters for ABC. She is currently working on
The Abby Wambach Story for Lifetime and Starz has just announced that she is the showrunner and executive producer on a new series based on the NY Times best-selling book
The Dirty Girls Social Club. She currently has two projects in production,
The Real MVP (The Wanda Pratt Story) at Lifetime and an animated feature film titled
Chito and the Land of Xo.
Villalobos is on the Board of the Writers Guild Foundation and the Advisory Board of Girls, Inc., Latino Initiative. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in December 2015.
NHMC TV Writers Program
NHMC is proud to announce the following exciting updates from our TV Writers Program graduates who are doing great work in the industry:
- Emmylou Diaz joined the writing staff of Girlfriends Guide to Divorce at Bravo.
- Liz Rivera accepted a writing position on a brand new YouTube Red series.
- Jorge Ramirez and Yelyna de Leon were both recently accepted to join the NALIP/Televisa Telenovela Fellowship.
Congratulations everyone!
Don’t forget to apply to the NHMC TV Writers Program!
Application deadline is August 7th!
The NHMC Television Writers Program is a direct response to the lack of diverse writers in television. NHMC invites all Latino television writers looking to hone their skills to apply for the paid, five-week workshop that focuses on writing an original TV pilot in a simulated TV writers room.
Submission Period: April 4 – August 7
Program Dates: October 3 – November 4
For more information and to apply please visit NHMC’s website at
www.nhmc.org/writersprogram. To read frequently asked questions about the program, click
here.
Save the Date for NHMC’s Fall Events!
For
sponsorship details, email Brenda Rivas at
info@nhmc.org.
Coming soon is NHMC’s
14th annual Los Angeles Impact Awards Luncheon to be held on September 8th at the Hilton Universal City hotel.
The luncheon gathers over 200 industry leaders to recognize talent and community leaders in Los Angeles, the second largest designated market area (DMA) in the country. Past award recipients include: Art Laboe, Ruben Luengas, Jaime Jarrín, Sam Rubin, Ana Garcia, Big Boy, Laura Diaz and Vikki Vargas. To see last year’s award recipients, click
here.
Policy Shop Staffing Update – Goodbye Mike and Hello Carmen
This month, NHMC said goodbye, after six great years, to Michael Scurato, a dedicated and talented colleague who recently joined the FCC as an attorney advisor to the chief of the enforcement bureau.
Luckily for NHMC, Mike introduced us to a brilliant Latina lawyer – Carmen Scurato! We are thrilled to welcome her to the NHMC family as our policy counsel. Carmen is based in our Washington D.C. office and works alongside NHMC’s policy associate, Andy Lomeli. Before NHMC, Carmen was a contractor at the Department of Justice, working in the Civil Fraud Section and the department’s Office of Legislative Affairs.
Carmen earned her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law and her B.A. cum laude in History and Political Science from NYU. While at law school, she was an Associate Editor of the Villanova Law Review and the Co-Chair of the Honor Board. To learn more about Carmen, click
here!
D.C. Policy Shop Update
NHMC Urges HUD to Require Broadband Infrastructure
Earlier this month, NHMC signed onto two separate sets of comments urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to require broadband infrastructure installation in any HUD-funded construction and modernization efforts.
NHMC joined New America’s Open Technology Institute, Resilient Communities Project, and Education Policy Program; the Benton Foundation; the Center for Rural Strategies; and Public Knowledge
in submitting comments supporting HUD’s proposal
to require broadband infrastructure installation in HUD-funded properties. HUD currently supports over five million low-income families, among which 30 percent have school-aged children. Low-income families are
far less likely to adopt broadband internet, with cost most often cited as the reason for lack of adoption. HUD’s proposal would help ensure that more low-income families have access to vital educational, economic, and health care resources via high-speed internet.
NHMC also joined The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
in a letter supporting HUDs proposed rules.
NHMC Applauds Congressional Investigation Debunking Lifeline Fraud
On July 12, House Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone
released an investigation debunking the core arguments made by Lifeline opponents who have claimed the program to be plagued by rampant fraud.
The Lifeline program was established under the Reagan administration and has offered a modest discount to low-income families struggling to afford basic landline or wireless phone service. Earlier this year,
NHMC applauded the Federal Communications Commission for voting to modernize the program so that Lifeline-eligible consumers could also apply the benefit toward broadband internet.
The investigation specifically found that many opponents had erroneously assumed that every application from a multi-household address-including veteran group homes, nursing homes, and homeless shelters-was fraudulent. This assumption did not take into account that some Lifeline applicants do not have the financial means to live in a single-family dwelling.
Said Jessica González, NHMC executive vice president and general counsel:
“This perpetual criminalization of the poor must come to an end and we have to ensure that no needy family is turned away from the essential services provided to them by the Lifeline program. The fact is that you can’t do much without a phone-you are unable to place emergency calls in times of crisis and you can’t get that call back for a job-things that people with phone service can often take for granted but are still major problems for many Americans.”
NHMC is Hiring!
Join the fig
ht for responsible and inclusive media!
Development Associate
NHMC seeks a self-motivated individual with outstanding writing skills for the Development Associate position. Applicant should have previous experience working in a not-for-profit development office. This position is responsible for managing and growing a diverse portfolio of funders through the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of new and existing individual donor and foundation prospects. The ideal candidate is a compelling writer with excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
Click here to read the full job description and application details for the Development Associate position.
NHMC Policy Fellowship Program – Fall 2016
Are you a current law student who is looking for a paid internship in the fall? NHMC is looking to hire one student for its
Univision Policy Fellowship Program and another for its
Facebook Policy Fellowship program for the fall 2016 semester. Application deadline is August 12th. Depending on availability, fellows will have a chance to visit and network with execs at either Univision or Facebook.
Email your resume, cover letter, and writing sample to brivas@nhmc.org:
Fall 2016 Consideration Deadline: August 12
Include “Fall 2016 Policy Fellowship” in the email subject line.
For additional information, click
here.
Happy Birthday to NHMC’s President & CEO!
NHMC staff celebrated Alex Nogales’ birthday this month. NHMC’s President & CEO is one of the founding members of the now 30 year old organization and has tirelessly advocated for the Latino community. We wish our jefe un gran abrazo and many more years. To learn more about Alex, you can read last month’s article “Our Diverse 100” by the Los Angeles Times. Alex was recognized for his work in advocating for more Latinos in the film and television industry – both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. To read the LA Times’ Q&A with Alex, click
here.
Elena of Avalor Screening
On July 16, at the Paley Center in Los Angeles, Disney held a screening of the upcoming Disney animated series
Elena of Avalor with the cast, writers, and a few familiar faces in attendance: NHMC’s President & CEO, Alex Nogales, attended the screening with his family. Also present was Silvia Olivas, the show’s head writer and a graduate of NHMC’s TV Writers Program. To read Silvia Olivas’ Medium piece on her journey to the writers’ room, click
here.
TV Writers Program Countdown
Are you on
Twitter or
Instagram? NHMC has been counting down to its TV Writer’s Program application deadline on August 7th, and we want you to follow along with NHMC!
This month we’ve had actors
Adam Rodriguez,
Nicholas Gonzalez, and
Andrea Navedo contribute, as well as cartoonist
Lalo Alcaraz and
CBS Entertainment’s Diversity division. Make sure you’re following NHMC to see what the end of the countdown brings!
Tune in to Support Latinos on TV this Summer!
Earlier this month, we released a new
Medium article about Latino talent that we are excited to see on television this summer.
While NHMC continues to hold TV networks accountable to the public on diversity, with the goal of achieving full inclusion and accurate portrayals of Latinos in popular media, we support the work done this summer to promote Latino representation in television. Fans can also support on-screen diversity by tuning into some of the 2016 summer season’s most anticipated and critically acclaimed shows.
Among this season’s noteworthy Latino ensembles, we’re extremely excited to catch the latest work by individuals who have earned NHMC Impact Awards for their on-screen performances. They include: Justina Machado (
Queen of the South, USA); Roselyn Sanchez and Judy Reyes (
Devious Maids, Lifetime); and Gina Torres (
Suits, USA). This year’s NHMC Impact Award winner for Outstanding Online Series, Hulu’s
East Los High, will also return with its all-Latino cast.
To read the full article by NHMC’s Univision Fellow, Alejandra Salazar, click
here.
Julian Samora Research Institute Summit
On July 15th, NHMC President & CEO, Alex Nogales was the keynote speaker at the Julian Samora Research Institute’s MI Latino/a Statewide Summit 2016 at Michigan State University. The focus of this year’s summit was:
“
The Mass Media and Latinos: Overrepresentation and Underrepresentation.” Alex’s speech,
“Latinos: Missing in Action in Film and Television,” centered on the misrepresentation and lack of Latinos in the media.
To learn more about the conference, click
here.
NBC Entertainment’s High School Pipeline Program
In 2012, NHMC was instrumental in introducing NBC Universal to the East LA Performing Arts Magnet (ELAPA) and creating a pipeline program for high school students that would benefit them in their education and their future careers.
It’s so exciting to see the program flourishing four years later! The ELAPA pipeline program’s first student graduated from the program this past month and on track to working with NBCUniversal Productions post-grad!
Upcoming Events
Aug. 8 – NHMC’s policy associate, Andy Lomeli, will be discussing Lifeline in a webinar titled
“A Changing Lifeline: 21st Century Update for an Important Low-income Phone Assistance Program.” To register for the webinar, click
here.
Aug. 26 – The release of
Hands of Stone in theaters! The film tells the story of boxing legend Roberto Duran. Starring Edgar Ramirez as Duran, Roberto DeNiro as his trainer Jay Arcel and Usher as boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. To watch the trailer, click
here.]]>
