Justina Machado to Star in Netflix’s First Original Medical Procedural “Pulse”

Justina Machado’s pulse is on the rise…

The 51-year-old Puerto Rican actress has been cast as the first series regular on Pulse, Netflix’s first medical procedural original.

Justina MachadoHailing from first-time creator Zoe Robyn, who serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside veteran.

The show’s first two episodes will be directed and executive produced by Kate Dennis.

Pulse will feature a mix of medical cases and office romances. In it, while the staff of Miami’s busiest Level 1 Trauma Center navigate medical emergencies, young ER doc Dani Simms is unexpectedly promoted to Chief Resident amidst the fallout of her own provocative romantic relationship.

Machado plays Natalie Cruz, a brilliant and politically-savvy doctor, who oversees both administration and medicine in her role as the Chair of Surgery and Emergency Medicine.

Bradley Gardner, Emma Forman and Michael Klick also executive produce the series, which is slated to begin production in March in Albuquerque.

The greenlight for Pulse comes after Robyn and Cuse worked with a writers room last year to craft scripts.

Machado recently starred in the Amazon/Blumhouse series The Horror Of Dolores Roach based on the popular Spotify podcast of the same name.

She previously headlined Netflix/Pop’s acclaimed One Day At a Time reboot and recently guest starred on NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez.

Machado will next star in the independent feature The Throwback from director Mario Garcia.

Felix Solis Lands Recurring Role for Season Two of Netflix’s “The Recruit”

Felix Solis is officially a new recruit

The 52-year-old Puerto Rican actor, director and producer has joined the cast for season two of Netflix’s The Recruit.

Felix SolisSolis, who appears in The Rookie: Feds, will appear in a recurring role alongside James PurefoyBrooke SmithDevika BhiseYoung-Ah KimDo Hyun ShinSanghee LeeOmar Maskati and Alana Hawley Purvis.

Production on season two has begun in Vancouver. Filming will also take place in Seoul, South Korea on the series from Alexi Hawley.

They join previously announced new series regular Teo Yoo, along with returning Season 1 series regulars Noah Centineo as Owen Hendricks, Aarti Mann as Violet, Colton Dunn as Lester, Fivel Stewart as Hannah, Kristian Bruun as Janus and Vondie Curtis-Hall as Nyland. Kaylah Zander (Amelia), Maddie Hasson (Nichka) and Angel Parker (Dawn) recurred in Season 1 and were promoted to series regulars for Season 2.

Recurring cast for the upcoming season also includes Daniel Quincy Annoh as Terence, Jesse Collin as Dodge and Nathan Fillion as CIA Director Alton West.

Season 2 of The Recruit finds CIA Lawyer Owen Hendricks (Centineo) pulled into a life-threatening espionage situation in South Korea, only to realize that the bigger threat just might be coming from inside the Agency.

Solis is Tom Wallace, a senior diplomat in the State Department tasked with bringing American hostages home, he will talk to anyone to get our people back – even the worst of America’s enemies.

Hawley is the show’s creator, showrunner and executive producer. Additionally, Centineo, Doug Liman, Gene Klein, David Bartis, Adam Ciralsky, Charlie Ebersol and Julian Holmes also executive producer. Lionsgate Television is the studio.

Solis previous credits include The Rookie, Charmed, SEAL Team, One Day at a Time and Hawaii Five-0.

Isabella Gomez to Star in Indie Horror Film “The Mannequin”

Isabella Gomez is stylin’ and profilin’…

The 25-year-old Colombian actress, best known for starring in Netflix’s One Day at a Time reboot, will star in the indie horror film The Mannequin, from writer-director John Berardo.

Isabella GomezThe Mannequin follows Liana Rojas (Gomez), a creatively starved stylist assistant who discovers the historical downtown Los Angeles building where her sister mysteriously died is haunted by a serial killer who brutally murdered and dismembered his victims there half a century earlier. This forces Liana and her friends to find a way to free themselves and escape the sinister ghost before they lose their own body parts.

Rounding out the cast is Lindsay LaVanchy playing Hazel Miller, a nurturing leader and friend of Liana; Shireen Lai playing Nadine Yang, a newlywed and posh friend of Liana; Maxwell Hamilton playing Peter Adler, Liana’s ex-boyfriend and paranormal investigator; Gabriella Rivera playing Sophia Rojas, Liana’s sister and determined fashion designer; and Jack Sochet playing Jack Bernard, a sadistic photographer and serial killer.

The Mannequin is produced by Maxwell Hamilton and Ashley Rosenberg.

Gomez most recently starred as Gina Navarro in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe on the film side and concluded her time in the final season of ABC’s The Goldbergswhere she played Carmen in a recurring role. She is best known for her portrayal of Elena Alvarez in Gloria Calderón Kellet and Mike Royce’s series One Day at a Time, a revival of the 1975 series of the same name.

The Mannequin falls under the SAG-AFTRA Ultra Low Budget Agreement and was just added to the list of projects receiving an interim agreement from the guild. Production will begin in Los Angeles next week.

Gloria Calderón Kellett Appointed to Television Academy’s Executive Committee

Gloria Calderón Kellett is reporting for committee duty…

The 47-year-old Cuban American award-winning television writer/creator has been appointed to the Television Academy’s Executive Committee for 2023 by chairman and CEO Frank Scherma.

Gloria Calderón KellettCalderon Kellet is among six new committee members that includes Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO/HBO Max ContentGeorge Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS, and Chief Content Officer, News and Sports, Paramount+Pearlena Igbokwe, Chairman, Universal Studio Group; Lisa Nishimura, Vice President, Independent and Documentary Films at Netflix; and Zack Van Amburg, Chief Content Officer and Head of Worldwide Video for Apple TV+.

They will advise on the organization’s diverse initiatives and help lead the Academy throughout the upcoming year.

“I’m thrilled to welcome these accomplished executives back to serve on our Executive Committee,” said Scherma in a statement. “They will continue to bring their extensive experience and insight to our dynamic organization.”

Additionally, the Academy’s Board of Governors has elected the following Peer Group Governors as their representatives on the executive committee for the 2023 term: Eddie Bonin (special visual effects), Debra Curtis (television executives), Jill Dickerson (reality programming) and Troy Underwood (children’s programming). Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy Foundation, will also serve on the committee.

Calderón Kellett’s recent credits include the One Day at a Time reboot and Amazon StudiosWith Love.

Isabella Gomez Joins Cast of ABC’s “The Goldbergs” in Recurring Role

Isabella Gomez is ready to take your order…

The 24-year-old Colombian-American actress, who starred in Netflix’s Latinx themed One Day at a Time reboot, has joined the cast of ABC’s The Goldbergs for Season 10 in a recurring role.

Isabella Gomez,Gomez will play Carmen, the new waitress at the 50s-themed diner where Adam (Sean Giambrone) is working at. She will make her debut in the episode titled “Million Dollar Reward,” written by Mike Sikowitz, airing on Wednesday, November 30, at 8:30 pm EST.

In the episode, Adam forgoes his weekly Mama-Schmoo dinner date to hang out with his new colleagues, which includes a new special lady. Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) worried sick that Adam is running in too fast a crowd, pulls out the ultimate stop to end it all. Meanwhile, Barry (Troy Gentile) faces the harsh reality that medical school is tougher than anticipated.

Isabella Gomez,Season 10 of the series celebrates the ‘80s while also welcoming a new season of life. With everyone living back under the same roof, Beverly is preparing for her new role as Grandsmotherer. As this new chapter unfolds, the Goldbergs continue to remind us that there is no bond greater than family, and there is nothing they can’t handle with each other’s support.

The series also stars Patton Oswalt as adult Adam Goldberg, Hayley Orrantia as Erica Goldberg, and Sam Lerner as Geoff Schwartz.

Isabella Gomez,Doug Robinson, Alex Barnow, Chris Bishop, Annette Davis, Mike Sikowitz, David Guarascio, and Wendi McLendon-Covey are executive producers.

The Goldbergs is produced by Happy Madison and Doug Robinson Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Gomez is best known for her performance as Elena on Netflix’s One Day at a Time, which earned her an Imagen Award for Best Supporting TV Actress.

Most recently, Gomez starred in the HBO Max series Head of the Class in the role of Alicia. Additionally, she appeared in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and the feature Initiation.

In 2019, she starred in the Netflix feature A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish. Prior to that, Gomez recurred on Matador on El Rey Network.

Television Academy Names Rita Moreno to This Year’s Hall of Fame Class

Rita Moreno is entering a special hall

The Television Academy has announced its 26th Hall of Fame class, with the 90-year-old Puerto Rican entertainer among the honorees.

Rita Moreno,Moreno will be joined by choreographer and actress Debbie Allen, documentarian Ken Burns, BET founder Robert L. Johnson, CBS executive Bob Daly and cinematographer Donald A. Morgan.

Moreno, an EGOT winner (Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, Tony Awards), is a two-time Emmy winner for The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files.

She has starred in series including The Electric Company, Sesame Street, Nine to Five, Oz, Cane, Happily Divorced, Jane the Virgin, and the Latinx reimagining of Norman Lear’s One Day at a Time.

Moreno’s many accolades also include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors and the Peabody Award.

Moreno is among two of the honorees who’ve already received honorary awards from the Television Academy. She was awarded a “Televisionary Award” in 2008. Allen received a Governors Award last year.

The Hall of Fame event will take place on Wednesday, November 16, at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, California.

In addition to the induction of the 2022 Hall of Fame recipients, the event will include the presentation of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to actor/director/activist Sean Penn and the unveiling of new busts of four previous inductees.

“These legendary performers, creators, craftspeople and television executives are luminaries in our industry,” Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, said in a statement. “Their work has influenced and immeasurably elevated the current television landscape and culture. We are proud to induct these trailblazers into the Hall of Fame and honored to celebrate their extraordinary contributions to our industry.”

“This year’s honorees have told the American story through television in ways that will forever shape our history and culture,” said Rick Rosen, Hall of Fame selection committee chair (who is also WME co-founder and head of television). “Whether they reshaped the industry itself through visionary leadership or created pieces of work that have had a lasting legacy, these individuals will forever be remembered for the impact they’ve had on the medium.”

The 2022 Hall of Fame honorees join more than 150 individuals previously inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1984. The honors were presented every year from 1984 to 1993, but the Academy has skipped 13 years since then for various reasons. This is the first induction class since 2019.

In addition to Rosen, this year’s Hall of Fame selection committee included Marcy Carsey, Emmy-winning producer; Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman of Universal Studio Group; Peter Roth, former chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group; Nina Tassler, co-chief executive officer of PatMa Productions; and Dana Walden, chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content.

James Martinez to Appear on Paramount+’s Original Series “Wolf Pack”

James Martinez is joining the pack

The Latino actor has landed a recurring role on Paramount+’s upcoming original series Wolf Pack, which will premiere in January 2023.

James MartinezIn addition to Martinez, new recurring cast members include Bailey Stender, Chase Liefeld, Hollie Bahar, Lanny Joon, Rio Mangini, Stella Smith and Zack Nelson.

Additional casting includes Amy Pietz, Bria Brimmer, John L. Adams and Sean Philip Glasgow.

They join previously announced cast members Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rodrigo Santoro, Armani Jackson, Bella Shepard, Chloe Rose Robertson and Tyler Lawrence Gray.

Based on the book series by Edo Van BelkomWolf Pack follows a teenage boy, Everett (Jackson), and girl, Blake (Shepard), whose lives are forever changed when a California wildfire awakens a terrifying supernatural creature. Wounded in the chaos of its attack, the teens are inexplicably drawn to each other and to two others, fraternal twins Harlan (Gray) and Luna (Robertson), who were adopted sixteen years earlier by a park ranger after another mysterious wildfire. As the full moon rises, all four teens come together to unravel the secret that connects them – the bite and blood of a werewolf.

Wolf Pack will debut Thursday, January 26, the same day as Paramount+’s Teen Wolf: The Movie, exclusively on the service in the U.S. and Canada and next day on Paramount+ in the UK, Australia, and Latin America.

Premiere dates for other Paramount+ international markets will be announced at a later date.

Martinez’s previous credits include Love, Victor, House of Cards and One Day at a Time.

Dan Hernandez to Co-Pen Film Featuring Disney’s Iconic Dragon Figment

It’s no figment of Dan Hernandez’s imagination…

The 38-year-old Latino film and television writer and producer will co-write Disney’s upcoming film featuring its iconic small purple dragon Figment alongside Benji Samit.

Dan HernandezFigment serves as the mascot of Epcot’s Imagination Pavilion in Orlando.

The feature hails from Seth Rogen’s Point Grey.

Figment was created by Walt Disney Imagineers Tony Baxter and Steve Kirk, among other collaborators, in 1983, the same year it made its debut in the Epcot ride Journey Into Imagination. Figment is the embodiment of the imagining process— a figment of your imagination.

Although one of Disney’s more obscure characters, Figment has a devoted fanbase that has ensured his role at the park is never diminished. Various attempts to remove the ride or decrease his presence have been met with loud protests.

Today, he is the star of the latest version of the ride Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

The feature will not be Figment’s first time on the big screen, however.

He made cameo appearances in 2015’s Inside Out and 2019’s Toy Story 4.

The writing team of Hernandez and Samit penned 2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu and 2021’s The Addams Family 2 and developed the upcoming Hulu animated series Koala Man, premiering in 2023.

Other notable credits include Apple’s Central ParkThe Tick for Amazon and the One Day at a Time reboot.

Froy Gutierrez to Star in Renny Harlin’s Lionsgate “The Strangers” Remake

It’s a strange(r) time Froy Gutierrez

The 24-year-old Mexican American actor will star opposite Madelaine Petsch and Gabriel Basso in a Lionsgate remake of the 2008 horror film The Strangers, which has entered production in Slovakia.

Froy GutierrezRenny Harlin is directing the film, which will be the first in a trilogy, having locked in a deal to helm the subsequent pair.

The original film The Strangers was a home invasion film that Bryan Bertino wrote and directed in his feature debut, with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman starring.

It registered as a sleeper hit upon its May 2008 release via Universal Pictures and came to be appreciated in the years following as a cult classic, with the sequel The Strangers: Prey at Night being released in March 2018.

The new Strangers film will follow Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.

Lionsgate plans from there to expand the story in new and unexpected ways with its sequels.

Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland wrote the franchise launcher, to be distributed worldwide by Lionsgate.

“My mother instilled the love of movies in me through the world of Hitchcock and other masters of suspense and horror. My breakthrough to Hollywood happened with the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4,” noted Harlin. “It is only fitting that I get to return to my favorite genre with the incredibly well written trilogy of The Strangers. The characters and the storyline are all grounded in reality and offer me an endless tapestry of haunting visuals in bringing these movies alive.”

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

“When you’ve got two horror aficionados like Courtney Solomon and Renny Harlin coming together, you’ve got all you need to create some incredibly smart, lean-forward-in-your-seat, addictively thrilling entertainment,” said Mark Canton. “Fans of the original film will be blown away; new audiences will discover the intensely unnerving world of The Strangers.”

The Strangers taps into such primal fears that it will always be relevant,” added Eda Kowan, Lionsgate’s EVP of Acquisitions & Co-Productions. “But what truly sets this project apart is the way the filmmakers have expanded the story and given these characters a new life.”

Gutierrez plays Jamie Henson on the Freeform series Cruel Summer, which has been renewed for a second season, and has also been seen on shows like Light as a FeatherTeen Wolf and One Day at a Time. Also coming up for the actor is the long anticipated Hocus Pocus 2, which is slated for release on Disney+ on September 30th.

Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz Extends Overall Deal with Sony Pictures Television

Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz is staying with Sony…

The half-Colombian American television producer, director and writer has extended her overall deal with Sony Pictures Television.

Brigitte Muñoz-LiebowitzMuñoz-Liebowitz is the executive producer and showrunner of Gordita Chronicles, the coming-of-age HBO Max comedy series, which premiered this past week.

Under the new multi-year pact, Muñoz-Liebowitz will continue to develop scripted comedy series across cable and streaming, as well as run Gordita Chronicles if the series, which is drawing solid early reviews, is renewed for a second season.

Muñoz-Liebowitz already has a number of projects in the works, including Birthright, which she is co-writing with Lindsay Golder.

Created by Claudia Forestieri, Gordita Chronicles is set in 1980s Miami and tells the story of the Castellis who move from the Dominican Republic in pursuit of the American dream.

In shepherding Gordita Chronicles, which Muñoz-Liebowitz executive produces alongside Forestieri as well as Josh Berman, Jennifer Robinson and Chris King of SPT-based Osprey Productions, Eva Longoria, who directed the pilot, and Zoe Saldana, Mariel Saldana and Cisely Saldana for Cinestar Pictures, she draws on her personal experience.

Muñoz-Liebowitz, who grew up in Santa Clarita, CA, is the daughter of a Colombian immigrant mother who came to the US when she was 12, and a New York Jew father. Raised by her mom, dad and her Colombian grandmother, who only spoke Spanish, in a predominantly white neighborhood, “I was one of the brownest people in my class and the only person with two Zs and a tilde in their name, and I had very much a feeling of being the weirdo outsider,” Muñoz-Liebowitz said. “A lot of the things I really connected to when I read the original script were those feelings, and I also really saw my own family in the story of the Castellis and Gordita Chronicles, so many of the stories my mom had told me about when she came to the United States were some of the same exact stories in the show.”

With a Florida immigrant family pursuing the American dream at the center and a story told through the eyes of a school-age child, Gordita Chronicles draws parallels to ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat. Besides the Castellis coming straight from their country of origin vs. Washington DC where the Huangs moved from with their U.S.-born children, “our tone is slightly different,” Muñoz-Liebowitz said. “We tried to, not speaking about content necessarily, but we really tried to go for a different sort of comedy style, which is a bit more cinematic, referencing a lot of the movies that we grew up watching in the 80s that we looked at and were aspiring to when we thought of the American dream, the John Hughes movies and Chris Columbus films.”

Those include 16 Candles, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, as well as Home Alone, which came out a few years later.

“The pacing also is quite a bit slower,” Muñoz-Liebowitz said, adding that Season 1 chronicles the family’s first few months in the new country.

Muñoz-Liebowitz says she’s always wanted to be a TV writer ever since she was a child. With an educator mother and a small business owner father, she didn’t have any connections in the business, so “I had to figure it all out for myself,” she sad.

She finished USC with a degree in screenwriting but then switched gears by going to graduate school at Columbia University for producing.

“I discovered after going to USC that at that time, the kinds of stories that I wanted to tell were not attractive to studios because they were stories about people of color, that my that kind of humor wasn’t really à la mode.”

She worked briefly as a line producer and a production manager in New York in indie film and commercials while taking comedy classes. Her first television job was as a script coordinator under Jonah Nolan and Greg Plageman on the pilot for Person Of Interest and then she became a writers assistant on the series, moving to Los Angeles.

“So I actually learned about TV writing from drama writers on a sci-fi procedural,” Muñoz-Liebowitz said.

During her time on the series, Muñoz-Liebowitz kept applying to the NBC Writers On the Verge program while taking classes at the Groundlings and Improv Olympic West. She got into the NBC program on her third try. Her first job out of that was on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which led to a string of writing gigs on TBS’ People of Earth, NBC’s Abby’s, Disney+’s Diary of a Future President, HBO Max’s Love Life, and the Sony TV-produced One Day At a Time, on which she served as a Co-Executive Producer.

One Day At a Time was a wonderful experience because it was, I think, the first really safe space to be able to be myself entirely as a woman Latinx comedy writer, and watching [co-creator/EP] Gloria Calderón Kellett just be herself and push for the show and the content that she wanted was really inspiring.”

Muñoz-Liebowitz’s work on One Day at a TIme also got the attention of Sony TV brass who signed her to her first overall deal in 2020.

“Brigitte was a superstar for us on One Day At A Time and we quickly made a development deal with her to solidify our relationship,” said Glenn Adilman, EVP Comedy Development, Sony Pictures Television. “She did an incredible job running the amazing first season of Gordita Chronicles for HBO Max, where she helped build a very strong room of diverse writers and supported creator Claudia Forestieri’s great vision. We are beyond excited to have Brigitte tell her stories and continue our wonderful relationship together.”

Those stories include Birthright, about a Latinx woman who converts to Judaism for her fiance, then gets dumped at the altar and has to decide, am I still Jewish?

“It’s a comedy about identity and the different spaces we can we can fit into in our lives,” said Muñoz-Liebowitz who produces the project with her co-writer Golder as well as Israeli company MA Productions.

While all of her existing projects in development are comedy, Muñoz-Liebowitz said that she loves watching dramas and is open to revisiting her TV beginnings by tackling a drama under her new deal with Sony TV.

“Sony has been so incredibly supportive of all the projects that I brought to them,” she said. “They’ve been such wonderful creative partners, I’ve just felt like they’ve had my back and supported my vision.”