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.

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.

 

Tags: ABC, ABC Studios, Bastards, CBS, FOX, Jennifer Lopez, Jose Tamez, Kevin Reilly, Mark Gordon Prods., Salma Hayek, Silvio Horta, Sony Television, The Cisco Kid, Ugly Betty, Ventanarosa

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