JoAnna Garcia Swisher Launches Production Banner THP Entertainment

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

JoAnna Garcia Swisher is hoping to bring more joy to the world…

The 44-year-old half-Cuban and part-Spanish American actress, producer, television host and entrepreneur is expanding her lifestyle platform The Happy Place with the launch of her production banner THP Entertainment, which she will co-run alongside longtime business partner and co-founder, Kate Gordon.

Garcia Swisher is known for her roles on Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias, ABC’s Once Upon a Time and Reba McEntire’s eponymous comedy series for the CW. Gordon is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in talent management, sports/media production, digital content creation and e-commerce product development.

Garcia Swisher and Gordon launched The Happy Place as a lifestyle digital and social media platform that celebrates the spaces, places and moments that bring joy and a sense of community to all visitors.

The site has reached close to a million subscribers and their social media accounts have reached over 4.8M in the last month alone, according to THP. The production banner is an expansion of the site’s book club THP Reads that will focus on bringing select stories to life through TV and film.

First up on the scripted slate is THP Reads March 2022 pick, Ladies of the House, produced with Black Label Media. The romantic drama will re-team Garcia Swisher with Sheryl J. Anderson, the creator/showrunner of Sweet Magnolias. Based on the novel by Lauren Edmonson, the series follows the wife and adult daughters of a Senator as they navigate the treacherous balance of personal and public lives after the Senator dies in compromising circumstances.

“The Happy Place is a destination where you come to be inspired and to feel connected through our mutual life experiences. We are constantly in awe of this inclusive community that embraces our desire to celebrate life’s moments, both big and small.” Garcia Swisher and Gordon said in a joint statement to Deadline. “THP Reads has become something that we enjoy together, month after month. It felt like a natural extension to bring this collective excitement surrounding books we read to life on screen in a way we can all be proud of and excited about.”

Swisher currently stars in Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias as ‘Maddie Townsend.’ The show is in production on its fourth season, and she will also return as the host of The Ultimatum: Queer Love. In film, she most recently starred in Vince Vaughn’s Christmas with the Campbells.

Netflix Acquires Rights to Raphael Alejandro’s Comedy “Incoming”

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Raphael Alejandro’s latest project is heading to Netflix…

Netflix has acquired the rights to Incoming, a comedy starring the 16-year-old Latino actor and Acapulco star.

Written and directed by Dave Chernin and John Chernin in their feature debut, the film also stars Mason Thames, Bardia Seiri and Ramon Reed.

Alejandro and his co-stars star as four high school freshmen who navigate the terrors of adolescence at their first-ever party.

Among those rounding out the cast are Bobby Cannavale, Kaitlin Olson, Scott MacArthur, Isabella Ferreira, Thomas Barbusca, Ali Gallo and Loren Gray.

The Chernin brothers are best known for creating The Mick, the Fox sitcom starring Olson as foul-mouthed babysitter Mackenzie Molng, which ran for two seasons.

Alejandro’s credits include Once Upon a Time, Kindergarten Cop 2, How to Be a Latin Lover and Almost Human.

All Seasons of Lana Parrilla’s “Once Upon a Time” to Begin Streaming on Hulu in September

Posted on August 29, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

It’s once more time for Lana Parrilla.

All seven seasons of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, starring the 46-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress as Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, will start streaming on Hulu on September 1.

The fairytale drama has been streaming exclusively on Disney+ since it left Netflix; it will now be shared by the two Disney entertainment platforms.

Exclusivity, considered paramount in the early stages of the streaming wars, has taken a back seat to media companies’ push for additional revenue and profitability. The strategy shift has led to original HBO series streaming on Netflix, for example, with NBCUniversal’s Suits also finding its way to the global streamer.

At Disney, there has been increasing cross-pollination between previously walled-up Disney+ and Hulu.

Once Upon a Time is considered a quintessential Disney+ series as it has been built on classic Disney IP, including most Disney princesses.

The move comes as both Disney+ and Hulu shed dozens of series and specials earlier this year in a cost-cutting measure as Disney is preparing to roll out a single streaming app with programming from both Hulu and Disney+ by the end of this year.

Created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, One Upon a Time, which streamed on Hulu during its run on ABC, blends the fantastical and real worlds with fairytale characters living in Storybrooke, ME. Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas and Lana Parrilla star.

Lana Parrilla to Appear on Season 2 of Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer”

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Lana Parrilla is lawyering up…

The 45-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress has joined the cast of Netflix’s hit series The Lincoln Lawyer for Season 2 in a recurring role.

She will play Lisa Trammell, a beloved chef and community advocate struggling to keep her restaurant afloat as a predatory real estate developer threatens the neighborhood around her.

Based on the series of bestselling novels by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer follows the redemption of Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a Los Angeles attorney who regains much of what he lost due to addiction with hard work and hustle. His success is also thanks to his devoted supporters: his ex-wives Maggie (Neve Campbell) and Lorna (Becki Newton), his driver and unofficial sponsor Izzy (Jazz Raycole), and the best investigator in town—and Lorna’s newly minted fiancé—Cisco (Angus Sampson).

The 10-episode second season will be based on the fourth book in The Lincoln Lawyer series by Connelly, The Fifth Witness.

Season 2 will be executive-produced by co-showrunners Ted Humphrey and Dailyn Rodriguez; as well as Connelly, David E. Kelley, Ross Fineman, Barry Jossen and Tana Jamieson. The series is produced by A+E Studios for Netflix.

Parrilla is best known for her portrayal of the Evil Queen/Regina Mills in ABC’s Once Upon a Time across the show’s seven seasons. Most recently she starred as Rita Castillo in Marc Cherry’s dark dramedy Why Women Kill. She’s also appeared in various hit shows including Spin City, NYPD Blue, Six Feet Under, 24, Lost and The Shield.

Her film credits include 2000’s Very Mean Men alongside Matthew Modine and Ben Gazzara, as well as 2020’s The Tax Collector opposite Jimmy Smits and George Lopez.

Lana Parrilla to Star Opposite J.Lo in Netflix’s AI Drama “Atlas”

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Lana Parrilla is heading out of this world…

The 45-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress will star opposite Jennifer Lopez in Netflix’s AI drama Atlas, directed by Brad Peyton.

Parrilla joins Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown and Abraham Popoola in the film penned by Aron Eli Coleite and Leo Sardarian.

In Atlas, an intelligence analyst gets stranded on a distant planet and must learn to fight inside a military-grade mech suit in order to survive.

Parrilla played Regina Mills, aka The Evil Queen, for 156 episodes on ABC’s hit series Once Upon a Time. Her work on the show earned her the NHMC Impact Award; an ALMA Award for Outstanding TV Actress; a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Fantasy / Sci-Fi; and, as voted by fans, TV Guide’s Best Villain twice.

She recently starred on Marc Cherry’s Paramount+ series Why Women Kill, a role for which she received a Gracie Award for Best Supporting Actress in Comedy. She also starred alongside Bobby Soto, Shia LaBeouf and George Lopez in David Ayer’s indie thriller The Tax Collector.

Prior to that, Parrilla was a series regular on ABC’s sitcom Spin City, Graham Yost’s Boomtown, 24, Swingtown, and on Jerry Bruckheimer’s medical drama Miami Medical.

In addition to her on-screen work, Parrilla stepped behind the camera and went on to direct one of the final episodes of Once Upon a Time. She also executive produced the documentary Split at the Root, which premiered this year at SXSW.

Rosario Dawson to Executive Produce the Border Crisis Documentary “Split At The Root”

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Rosario Dawson is laying down roots on an important new project…

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress and activist has joined the upcoming SXSW documentary Split At The Root as an executive producer alongside Lana Parrilla.

The Linda Goldstein Knowlton-directed film is scheduled to play in the Austin festival’s Documentary Spotlight section.

Split at the Root follows the emotional journey of mothers separated from their children at the U.S. border and the grassroots initiative that, against all odds, reunites those families. When a Guatemalan mother seeking asylum was separated from her kids under the Zero Tolerance Policy, a Facebook post by a mom in Queens coalesced into a movement as thousands of like-minded women across the U.S. refused to stand by quietly. Immigrant Families Together was born – a rapid response group committed to doing what the government couldn’t – or wouldn’t do: reunite parents with their children separated by the Zero Tolerance Policy.

Producers for Split at the Root include Emmy-nominated writer/producer Marti Noxon of Tiny Pyro Productions, Noxon’s President of Production Maria Grasso, Miranda Bailey of Cold Iron Pictures.

Dawson has produced fiction and nonfiction projects ranging from This Is Not A War Story, nominated for The John Cassavetes Spirit Award, the award-winning documentary The Need To Grow which she also has narrated, and produced two projects for Free Speech Television, The Assembly as well as Telethon for America 2020, both of which she co-hosted.

Behind the cameras, Dawson is highly active in political, social and environmental causes and has been involved with many social justice organizations including Amnesty International, Voto Latino, Save The Children, Doctors Without Borders and RESPECT!

“When it comes to immigration policy in this country, it is more than just a political crisis—we’re suffering a crisis of our very humanity. And one way to change the debate in Washington is by changing the language we use and the stories we produce such as Split the Root, opening the lens wider so people get the full picture. By having those who have come to the US to seek asylum front-and-center in this film and showing how every person can make a true difference to create change is why I wanted to join the producing team of this film” said Dawson.

Noxon added, “From the moment I heard the story of mothers on this side of the border helping mothers and children on the other side, I was compelled to know more. I couldn’t imagine any parent who knows the wrenching pain of being separated from their children who wouldn’t relate. And I had total confidence that Linda Goldstein Knowlton and the whole team would capture the beauty, despair, and hope of these women’s journey. I’m proud to be part of it and am so pleased to have Rosario join the team in amplifying these women’s voices and helping to shine a light on the compassionate Americans who supported them along the way.”

“My intention with this film was to tell an intimate, personal story of families separated by the Zero Tolerance policy, told by powerful women from both sides of the border. I couldn’t be more grateful to Marti and Rosario for helping to make this film a reality and bring the spotlight back onto the ongoing experiences of these families” said Goldstein Knowlton.

Parrilla’s television credits include Once Upon a Time, Spin City, Swingtown, Boomtown, Windfall and 24. For her turn as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills in Once Upon a Time, she won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress, an ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress on Television from the 38th Saturn Awards.

Kalinda Vazquez Signs Multi-Year Overall Deal with Netflix

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Life is but a stream for Kalinda Vazquez…

Netflix signed a multi-year overall deal with the Latina creator, writer, and producer.

Under the terms of the deal, Vazquez will create, write and produce new series and other projects at the streamer.

Vazquez, known for her work on Star Trek: Discovery and Fear The Walking Dead, is already writing and developing her first project Arbor Hall, an original YA concept that blends mystery, thriller, and genre story elements.

It tells the story of a Latinx teen girl who investigates the mysterious disappearance of her best friend on the campus of their exclusive boarding school. Along the way, she discovers an underbelly of her school that is far darker than just money and privilege.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining the Netflix family – it is a huge honor and joy to have a creative home at a place where originality is trumpeted and creators’ unique visions are fostered. I am so excited for what is to come,” Vazquez said in a statement.

“Kalinda is a rare talent with a passion for genre storytelling and a trove of ideas and original concepts,” says Alex Sapot, Netflix Director, Overall Deals. “We’re thrilled and privileged to support her vision and bring her distinctive voice, characters, and stories to the forefront.”

Vazquez is an upper-level film and television writer who has worked on Star Trek: Short Treks, Fear the Walking Dead, Runaways, and Once Upon A Time.

She’s currently writing an untitled Star Trek movie for Paramount and Bad Robot, as well as adapting the sci-fi novel Roadmarks as a series for HBO with George R.R. Martin producing.

Lana Parrilla to Star in the Indie Drama “Scrap”

Posted on August 17, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Lana Parrilla is scrapping her plans…

The 44-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress and Once Upon a Time alum will star alongside Anthony Rapp and writer-director Vivian Kerr in Scrap, an indie drama from producer Rachel Stander and her A Season of Rain banner.

Beth Dover, Khleo Thomas, Brad Schmidt and Julianna Layne have also joined the cast of the film, which is now shooting.

Kerr plays Beth, who has recently been laid off and struggles to maintain the appearance of a successful middle-class lifestyle as she bounces around Los Angeles. Hoping to land a new job and change her situation before her estranged older brother Ben (Rapp) finds out, Beth must confront her own pride before she can reconnect with him and provide for her young daughter Birdy (Layne).

Parrilla, whose most recent credits include Paramount+’s Why Woman Kill, will play Ben’s wife, a successful attorney who is secretly struggling with IVF and re-evaluating her own conflicted relationship with motherhood. Dover plays the principal at Birdy’s school. Schmidt plays Beth’s troubled ex, and Thomas is her potential love interest.

Kerr’s screenplay was a finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break Screenplay Competition; it later became a short film that starred Kerr and Rapp.

The adaptation is the directorial debut for Kerr.

Camila Perez to Star Opposite Eugenio Derbez in Apple TV+’s Bilingual Comedy Series “Acapulco”

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Camila Perez is headed south of the border…

The Colombian actress will star opposite Eugenio Derbez in Acapulco, Apple TV+’s bilingual comedy series inspired by 3Pas Studios and Pantelion Films’ 2017 Derbez starrer How to Be a Latin Lover.

Perez joins a list of cast newcomers that includes Enrique Arrizon, Damian Alcázar and Raphael Alejandro.

Richard Shepard will direct the pilot episode for Lionsgate Television.

Created by Austin Winsberg, Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman, Acapulco is a half-hour Spanish- and English-language comedy that centers on Maximo (Arrizon), a young Mexican man whose dream comes true when he gets the job of a lifetime at the hottest resort in Acapulco. But soon he realizes that the gig is far more complicated than he ever imagined as all of his beliefs and morals start to be questioned.

The series takes place in 1984, with Derbez narrating and playing the present-day version of the main character.

Also reprising his role from the movie is Alejandro, who plays Hugo, Older Maximo’s nephew.

Alcázar joins the cast as Don Pablo, the head of operations at the Acapulco resort. Perez will play Julia, the resort’s front desk receptionist.

Perez’s credits include Gotham and A Teacher.

Arrizon’s credits also include An Unknown Enemy.

Alcázar has been seen in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Perfect Dictatorship.

Alejandro starred on Once Upon A Time.

Kalinda Vazquez to Write “Star Trek” Film for Paramount Pictures

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Kalinda Vazquez has landed an out of this world opportunity…

The Latina television writer and producer has been set by Paramount Pictures to write a Star Trek film.

JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing.

Vazquez has written on Star Trek: Discovery, and insiders say this is a blind deal for an original movie that she hatched, one that expands her role in the Star Trek Universe.

Vazquez was a co-executive producer on Fear the Walking Dead. She also got her name from the original Star Trek series, after a character from the second-season episode “By Any Other Name.” In the 1968 episode, the character’s name was Kelinda.

Vazquez just made a splash in teaming with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin on an HBO series adaptation of the Roger Zelazny sci-fi novel Roadmarks.

Vazquez’s television credits include Marvel’s Runaways, Once Upon a Time, Nikita, Human Target and Prison Break, and she recently adapted Barrier, based on a Brian K. Vaughan graphic novel, for Legendary Television.

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