They’re the most disproportionately underrepresented demographic in Hollywood, an industry that makes its headquarters in a county where they comprise the plurality of the population. And even as other systemically marginalized groups make prominent and visible strides in pop culture, Latinos have remained caught in a cycle of development hell, with projects created by and centering them canceled (or permanently shelved) even as they continue to prop up a significant share of the box office as audience members.

“There was an overabundance and then a complete 180 has now happened. The graveyard of Latino shows in the last five years, it has been a decimation,” writer Gloria Calderón Kellett tells The Hollywood Reporter. “In a row One Day at a Time, Vida, Diary of a Future President, Gentefied, all of these shows came out, all of them 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. They didn’t support the shows with marketing. They didn’t put money behind those shows, and those shows are now all gone.”

In part to rectify the systemic issues that have led to this downturn as well as address other concerns in the entertainment industry and beyond, Calderón Kellett is linking up with a number of other Latino luminaries in Hollywood to form the first-ever Visionary Alliance for the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Alliance members will lend their professional expertise to longstanding NHMC entertainment initiatives such as its Series Scriptwriters Program and Latinx Stream Showcase and also get involved in the nonprofit’s social justice and policy advocacy work.

“NHMC is about representation from the White House to Hollywood,” the coalition’s president and CEO Brenda Victoria Castillo tells THR. “The policies and decisions that are made in D.C. affect Hollywood. The way Hollywood decides they’re going to portray Latinos is the way we’re perceived and the way the public treats us, and it’s a vicious cycle.”

The inaugural Alliance members also include Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), Wilson Cruz, Rosario Dawson, Diane Guerrero (Encanto, Doom Patrol), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), Eva Longoria, Gabriel Luna (The Last of Us), Justina Machado, Encanto producer Yvett Merino, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Danny Pino (Mayans M.C., Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Aubrey Plaza, Gina Torres, Wilmer Valderrama and Lisa Vidal (Being Mary Jane).

Source: The Hollywood Reporter