Actress aims to bring Latino stories to TV

Gina Rodriguez arrives at the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 29, 2017 in Los Angeles. The actress is working on an immigrant-related series. Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service

By all appearances, Rafael Agustin had been the all-American high school student — he was class president, prom king and an honor roll student. But there was one hitch: He was also in the country illegally.

It was a discovery Agustin learned while applying for college in 1998 — before there was a program like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

"I was in shock," the Ecuador-born writer-performer said.

Agustin, now a U.S. citizen who received his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from UCLA's School of Theater, Film & Television, has channeled that experience and created a series inspired by his life about an immigrant family, tentatively titled "Illegal." The series is in development at the CW and is expected to be an hourlong dramedy that Agustin describes as an edgy Latino version of "The Wonder Years."

"Illegal" is one of two immigrant-related series that "Jane the Virgin" star Gina Rodriguez has in development under an overall deal at CBS TV Studios for her I Can & I Will Productions. (The other, "Have Mercy," is set up at CBS.) We talked to Rodriguez and Agustin, who is executive director of Edward James Olmos' Latino Film Institute Youth Cinema Project, about the dramedy.

Question: Why do you think it's important that this story is told?

Agustin: Because it's important to understand the complexities of immigration. When people see a face to these issues, it's different. It doesn't become villainizing. We're not fake, shadow people taking jobs.

Question: Gina, you've made it your mission to bring Latino stories to the screen. What sorts of responses did you get when news broke about the show?

Rodriguez: I felt like there was so much excitement and relief that somebody was in their corner trying to put their face on screen and have them be a part of the bigger conversation, and not just constantly hidden in the corner.

Question: The title could change, but talk about deciding on "Illegal."

Agustin: I think "illegal" is a horrible, derogatory term, and I wanted to address it head-on. I want this show to be a love letter on why we should no longer use this word. Let this show be the way that we as a nation are allowed to atone for our treatment of immigrants because no human being is illegal.

Read the full article here.