Tag Archives: Danielle Sanchez-Witzel

Andréa Burns to Star in the Hulu Comedy Series “Up Here”

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Andréa Burns is movin’ on Up (Here)…

The 51-year-old half-Venezuelan actress and singer has been cast in the Hulu comedy Up Here, starring Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes.

Andréa BurnsThe musical romantic comedy from 20th Television and Old 320 Sycamore Prods. is set in New York City in 1999.

It follows an ordinary couple (Whitman as Lindsay and Valdes as Miguel) as they fall in love while discovering the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves.

Original songs for the series are from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.

Burns, best known for her portrayal of the hairdresser Daniela in Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, will portray Rosie, Miguel’s mother.

Other series regulars include Katie Finneran, John Hodgman, Sophia Hammons and newcomer Emilia Suárez as Renee, the queen bee of Miguel’s high school.

Recurring characters are Ned (George Hampe), Fiona (Julia McDermott), Orson (Scott Porter, Marta (Ayumi Patterson), and Ted aka Mr. McGooch (Brian Stokes Mitchell).

Production on the show, which has an eight-episode straight-to-series order, begins this summer in New York. Writers/executive producers are Steven Levenson (showrunner), Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez.

Carlos Valdes to Star in Hulu’s Musical Romantic Comedy Series “Up Here”

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Carlos Valdes is movin’ on up (here)…

The 33-year-old Colombian-American actor and singer will star in Hulu’s musical romantic comedy series Up Here alongside Mae Whitman.

Carlos ValdesValdes will portray Miguel, who is described as sensitive and thoughtful, with an artistic sensibility and a romantic streak. Miguel has always struggled with the feeling that he doesn’t quite belong. But after a cataclysmic breakup, Miguel has decided to reinvent himself, burying his feelings and ditching a promising career as a video game concept artist for the lucrative world of investment banking, determined never to get hurt again.

Written by Steven Levenson, Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and directed by Thomas Kail, Up Here is set in New York City in the waning days of 1999. It follows the extraordinary story of one ordinary couple, Lindsay (Whitman) and Miguel, as they fall in love and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves – and the treacherous world of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that lives inside their heads.

Anderson-Lopez and Lopez will pen original songs for the series.

Production on the show, which has an eight-episode straight-to-series order, is set to begin this summer in New York. 20th Television is the studio, producing with Kail’s Old 320 Sycamore Productions.

Valdes most recently appeared in the Starz Watergate drama Gaslit as FBI agent Paul Magallanes. Before that, he had a seven-season run as Cisco Ramon on The Flash and numerous other Arrowverse shows including Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl.

He made his Broadway debut in 2013 in the Tony Award-winning musical Once.

Hulu Gives Series Order to Danielle Sanchez-Witzel’s Musical Romantic Comedy Series “Up Here”

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Things are looking good for Danielle Sanchez-Witzel up here…

Hulu has given an eight-episode series order to Up Here, a musical romantic comedy from the Mexican American comedy writer/producer, Steven Levenson, director Thomas Kail, and the Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.

Danielle Sanchez-Witzel20th Century Television and Kail’s Old 320 Sycamore Productions co-produce the series, which is casting with production set to begin this summer in New York.

Kail will direct Up Here, written by Levenson, Sanchez-Witzel, Anderson-Lopez and Lopez. Anderson-Lopez and Lopez will also pen original songs for the series. The quintet executive produces with Jennifer Todd.

Up Here is a musical romantic comedy set in New York City in the waning days of 1999, following the extraordinary story of one ordinary couple as they fall in love and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves – and the treacherous world of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that lives inside their heads.

The project falls under the overall deal Kail and Todd signed with 20th TV in 2020 to develop for all platforms under Kail’s Old 320 Sycamore Pictures banner.

For Sanchez-Witzel, currently under a deal with Netflix, Up Here stems from the overall deal she had at 20th Century Television where she served as showrunner on the praised comedy The Carmichael Show. 

Garcia Developing Two Comedies for CBS

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He’s created instaclassic television shows like My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope… And now Greg Garcia will get two chances to create more iconic TV.

In his first development cycle at CBS Television Studios, the 42-year-old Latino director, producer and writer has set up two half-hour projects at CBS: a single-camera comedy, which he’s writing, and a hybrid to be written by Danielle Sanchez-Witzel.

Greg Garcia

Information about Garcia’s own project is being kept under lock and key, but it’s reported to be in the same vein as Garcia’s previous shows, combining quirky comedy, original characters, relatable themes and a lot of heart. The Emmy-winner is writing and executive producing.

Meanwhile, Sanchez-Witzel’s Capturing Crazy is about a woman in her mid-20s who turns a documentary camera on her own family to prove once and for all that they’re absolutely bonkers. Sanchez-Witzel, who got her big break on Garcia’s My Name is Earl, will executive produce with Garcia.

Garcia and Sanchez-Witzel both signed overall deals at CBS Studios in the spring after long stints at other studios, 20th Century Fox Television and Universal Television, respectively.

Garcia’s four-year deal, which lets him keep working as the showrunner on Raising Hope for another season while developing other projects, is the longest CBS TV Studios has signed with a comedy showrunner. The two projects are bringing him backto CBS, where he co-created Yes, Dear.