Tag Archives: Rutherford Falls

Sierra Teller Ornelas Developing Comedy Series “Amigos” for NBC with Marcos Luevanos

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Sierra Teller Ornelas is in the friend(s) zone…

The part-Mexican American showrunner, screenwriter and filmmaker and Marcos Luevanos are developing the half-hour comedy Amigos for NBC.

Sierra Teller OrnelasTeller Ornelas and Luevanos will draw inspiration from their own lifelong friendship for the Universal Television-produced project.

Amigos is about a group of six Latine friends living in Los Angeles who lean and rag on each other as they find love, grow up and figure out what success means in 2022.

Ornelas and Luevanos will write and executive produce alongside Morgan Sackett.

Most recently, Ornelas was showrunner of the Peacock comedy series Rutherford Falls, which she co-created with Mike Schur and Ed Helms.

Previously, she was a co-executive producer on Loot for Apple TV+ and NBC’s Superstore where she worked for three seasons. She has previously written for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Splitting Up Together, and Happy Endings.

Luevanos is currently a co-executive producer on the new NBC multicam Lopez vs. Lopez starring George Lopez and his daughter Mayan Lopez.

Previously, Luevanos spent three seasons on the Hulu/Disney+ series Love, Victor produced by Aptaker & Berger and worked on Gloria Calderon Kellett’s With Love, Rutherford Falls, Charmed, and Life In Pieces.

He also currently has a project in the works at 20th Television with Steven Canals executive producing.

Sierra Teller Ornelas to Participate in Conversation About Indigenous Storytelling at ATX Televison Festival

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Sierra Teller Ornelas is ready to talk shop…

The ATX Televison Festival has added several additional titles and seminars to the lineup for its 2021 event, including the Navajo and Mexican-American showrunner and screenwriter’s “Indigenize the Narrative” session.

Sierra Teller Ornelas

It’s described as a conversation with Native American and Indigenous actors, writers, directors, and producers who are re-centering Indigenous storytelling and producing dynamic television in the process.

In addition to Teller Onelas, co-creator of the series Rutherford Falls, the panel will also include director Sydney Freeland, actor Michael Greyeyes, actor Kimberly Guerrero, and writer Migizi Pensoneau, alongside moderator Vincent Schilling.

Sofiya Cheyenne will take part in the special talk “The Messy Middle,” presented with DREDF’s Disability Media Alliance Project.

It’s a conversation that will examine representation of visible disabilities onscreen with writers and actors who are exploring the uncharted territory of the “messy middle,” where characters with disabilities are just as flawed, funny, and despicable as anyone else. Panelists will also discuss how creatives can push beyond the fear of getting it “wrong” when it comes to disability representation, and what getting it “right” actually means.

In addition to Cheyenne, who is part Dominican, other confirmed participants include actor Steve Way (“Ramy”), actor Ryan J. Haddad (“The Politician”), writer/producer Katherine Beattie (“NCIS: New Orleans”), and actor Kayla Cromer (“Everything’s Gonna Be Okay”), and moderator Kristen Lopez (IndieWire).

The 2021 edition will run from June 11 to 20 and will take on a virtual format amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Like its in-person iteration, this year’s ATX Television Festival will feature industry-focused panels with a number of showrunners, executives, teasing what’s the to come in the television scene.

Prospective attendees can book their festival badges, day passes, single tickets and find more information here.

The annual event will also feature panels for Netflix’s Sex/Life, Gloria Calderón Kellett’s History of Them, Starz’s Blindspotting, Showtime’s Work In Progress and UFO, Fox’s The Big Leap and Syfy’s SurrealEstate. More information about the panel slate can be found here.

Peacock Offers First Look at Sierra Teller Ornelas’ Groundbreaking Comedy Series “Rutherford Falls”

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Here’s your first look at Sierra Teller Ornelas’ groundbreaking project…

Peacock has released the first trailer at Rutherford Falls, an upcoming original comedy series from the 40-year-old Navajo and Mexican American showrunner, screenwriter, filmmaker and weaver from Tucson, Arizona and her co-creators Michael Schur and Ed Helms.

Sierra Teller Ornelas

Peacock will premiere the series on Thursday, April 22.

The comedy centers around two lifelong best friends, Nathan Rutherford, played by Helms, and Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding), who find themselves at a crossroads – quite literally – when their sleepy town gets an unexpected wakeup call. Michael Greyeyes, Jesse Leigh and Dustin Milligan also star.

The series represents a breakthrough in Native representation in comedy television both in front of and behind the camera with Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux) and Greyeyes (Nêhiyaw from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation), along with five Native writers staffing, comprising one of the largest Indigenous writer’s rooms on television.

The writers include Schmieding, Ornelas (Navajo), Bobby Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), Tai Leclaire (Kanien’kehá:ka [Mohawk Nation]/Mi’kmaq), and Tazbah Chavez (Nüümü [Bishop Paiute Tribe], Diné [Navajo], San Carlos Apache).

Rutherford Falls is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.