Los Angeles, USA
Telling the facts that have marked her life and her community is the lesson that Puerto Rican screenwriter, of Dominican parents Claudia Forestieri learned in her effort to enter Hollywood and tell stories for a Latino audience, which despite multiple calls still do not have enough representation on the screens.
“They always encourage you to write something personal, because it will be a story that no one else is going to have, and that will be a cover letter of who you are and what your point of view is,” he tells Efe Forestieri, who came to Los Angeles has been looking for an opportunity to bring stories about Latinos to television or film for more than 10 years, and to fill the gap that exists in the industry.
However, he explains that he had reservations about writing about his life and getting a producer in Hollywood to bet on giving his project a try.
It was the election of President Donald Trump in 2016 and the constant attacks on immigrants and their community that prompted her to find in her own life experience the inspiration for “The Chubby Chronicles”. a Chubby).
THE STORY OF THE “FAT” IMMIGRANT
Despite having an American passport since birth, Forestieri claims to know what an immigrant faces in the US, and much more the adjustment problems that foreign children face.
Of Dominican parents, the Latin writer and her family moved to Miami, Florida, in the 1980s, when she was just seven years old.
“It was very hard because I didn’t know the language, the culture. They told me I had to start changing, and they started calling me ‘the chubby one.’ It was a very shocking combination,” he recalls.
Added to all this is the fact that Forestieri and his family reached a stage where immigrants were identified as the generators of violence in South Florida.
The screenwriter highlights how in 1981 Time magazine stated on its cover that South Florida was a “Paradise Lost,” a special with photos showing when Miami was known for cocaine traffickers, the wave of crimes, and an influx. of immigrants from Haiti and Mariel’s boats from Cuba.
“There were a lot of negative stories in the press, and that greatly affected the image of Cubans and other nationalities in Miami. Although criminals were a very small percentage, we all suffer from these allegations,” he said.
THE VALUE OF LATINS
Forty years later things have changed in Miami, Forestieri acknowledges, a transformation that is largely due to Hispanic and immigrant hands.
“This new face of Miami is largely due to our contributions,” he says proudly of the city he considers his home, and where “The Gordita Chronicles,” a comedy set in the 1980s around a 12-year-old Dominican girl.
HBO Max approved this month the pilot of the show.
Forestieri brings the experience of being part of the writing team of “Selena: The Series,” a Netflix production that premiered Dec. 1 reviving the legend of the Tex-Mex queen.
The Puerto Rican was also one of the writers of “Good Trouble”.
BARRIERS DIFFICULT TO FALL
To reach these teams, the 46-year-old Puerto Rican has spent more than 10 years of her career, knocking on dozens of doors and going through training sessions on NBC, HBO and Disney.
“It’s a very difficult path. You have to work on other things to pay your rent and survive. You have to give up a lot of things to get a chance, which may never materialize, and for Latinos the effort is double. , or the triple “, he considers.
The absence of Latin narratives in film and television is such a big problem that the Hispanic Congress Caucus led a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee a few weeks ago to address the disparity.
The Caucus and the House Oversight and Reform Committee requested in October that the U.S. Government Accountability Office. UU. Make a report on the topic. The ultimate purpose of the application is to “enforce federal equal opportunity requirements” in the film, television, and publishing industries.
“It is time for the federal government to examine this issue of systemic racism and the exclusion of Latinos in industries such as publishing and Hollywood,” Congressman Joaquin Castro, president of the Caucus, said in a statement.
The fact is that Latinos, who make up 18% of the population in the United States, make up only 4% of American cinema. A much lower figure than African Americans who account for 17% of all images in Hollywood cinema.
“There are a lot of hurdles, like convincing producers that our stories appeal to all audiences, not just Latinos,” Forestieri warns of one of the myths created in Hollywood regarding Hispanic themes.
For now, the Puerto Rican is focused on carrying out its creation, and in which a first season is approved.
He is also working on expanding the concept of his short film “Unimundo 45”, which explains the adventures that take place inside a Spanish-language news program in the USA.
“This is another world full of characters of different nationalities, experiences, but that brings together the effort and spirit of immigrants in the United States,” he concludes.