Acting : Latinx representation in TV and Film by David Zannoni

Fantastic find, thank you for sharing David Zannoni! And thank you for keeping this incredibly important topic in the forefront.

Excellent case study on Latin representation - in case you are on Twitter, please feel free to tag celeb_studies to bring this issue to the attention of many Hollywood scholars and producers out there. I think the more writers and actors can produce / co-produce content that can address the issue of diversity & speak on it, there will be progress.

And the insanity of it is, that these companies, who are just about making the money, ignore the stat that Latinos are the most dedicated movie goers than any other group.

Thanks for all the great input. My impression is, and I believe this was also discussed during our panel, that the Latinx communities are also (heavily) underrepresented within the traditional talent agencies and independent sales agents. Could one of the reasons be that the Latinx community in the US is very segmented in itself, and that it is hard to define? How organized is the community and how strong is actually the community feeling, or is there a lack thereof, which inevitably manifests itself at representation level?

David Zannoni I think you have touched on something that isn't being talked about and that is that segmentation of the Latinx community.

There are diverse communities within that bigger community, each with different narratives in regards to their history and relationship to the current state of being.

Look at the blowback Lin -Manuel Miranda got from his casting choices for In The Heights and he's close to being the furthest thing away from the power structure that exists.

David Zannoni thank you for your insightful comments. I'm a big fan of world cinema and there have been some incredible indie films coming out of Southern America which have performed well globally in the last 2-3 years. Do you think that the rise of internationally successful indie Latinx films will start to permeate through to Hollywood (either via casting choices or appointment of producers/directors), or are the two entities so separate that the success of one won't impact on the other?

Love, love, LOVE this conversation!

Excellent question Joanna. This goes back as to how to define Latinx. My feelings is that the success of Latin American films and therewith directors and actors can contribute to pushing Latinx emancipation in Hollywood, but not necessarily. Latin American films generally deal with very local topics, lifestyles, etc, which often are (too) far away from American life to have any substantial (cultural) impact on the Latinx community in the US. If topics are universal, there may be more likelihood of any real impact. Series may be another thing, although also there, I think Latin American series and US series with Latinx elements have quite different dynamics. Should topics, lifestyle, format, etc grow closer to each other and therewith, the chance that communities feel more identified which each other, this could change. Music in Spanish is an example where indeed the mutual influences and impact can be huge.

Hey David Zannoni unfortunately these dismal numbers are nothing new. I feel this stems down to lack of representation in the Executive level. So many of our LatinX stories get lost in translation because executives don't relate with certain nuances. However, hope is not lost as many new companies are starting to diversify their staff. Thank you for sharing!

One notable bright spot this year, this indie animated short feature is getting Oscar buzz:

https://nuevoricofilm.com/

David Zannoni Your answer makes a lot of sense so thank you for explaining. It does sadden me that American audiences would potentially need to see something similar to their own experiences in order for greater representation to occur, though frustratingly the situation is the same here in the UK. Thank you for starting this conversation around it on S32; hopefully by creating informed dialogue in a forum like this people can begin to make more informed choices in their crew/cast.

Daniel, that film looks amazing! Can't wait to watch that.

I feel the Latin community is well represented in the film industry. Just a few names like Jennifer Lopez, George Lopez, John Leguizamo, Eva Longoria, Andy Garcia, Danny Trejo, Ricardo Montalban, Esa Morales, Cheech Marin! Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Pena, Sofia Vergara, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, Rosie Perez, and that awesome fella in Ozark that plays Omar Navarro, the Mexican drug lord. That guy is a phenomenal actor!

Depends on the network but equal representation across all ethnicities is the ultimate goal. As RB shares about the Gold Rush and I rate loglines, there is a lot of talent and high concept scripts with ample relatable characters on this National Screenwriting Day!

Awesome find, Colette "ByFilms" Byfield, thank you!