In celebration of Latin Heritage Month, on October 5, more than 200 attendees gathered in the Guild’s Los Angeles Theater for Rise Up, Mi Gente!, the fourth annual DGA Latino Summit. Hosted by the Latino Committee (LC) and its Career Advancement Sub-Committee — both dedicated to empowering Latinos in all Guild categories — the event provided attendees with an opportunity to connect and learn from their successful peers during an inspiring day of community, career development, and celebrating Latino excellence in the arts. The Summit underscored the Guild’s commitment to inclusion, representation and amplifying diverse voices across the entertainment industry.
“Today’s panels are not only exciting and energizing but also explore the ways entertainment can be an important driver of social change,” said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter as she welcomed the audience to the Guild’s Los Angeles Theater. “This afternoon is part of the Latino Committee’s commitment to fostering meaningful connections and thoughtful discussions about how to advance the careers of its members. The Committee has been laser focused on empowerment, recognizing the importance of growing representation across all areas of film and television. And it is through efforts like today’s Direct Connects Mixer and panels where that change can happen – where connections are made that can advance the future.”
Glatter then turned the proceedings over to LC Co-Chairs Eli Gonda, SJ Main Muñoz and Jay Torres, who spoke about the work of the Committee before they introduced the first of the day’s panel discussions.
Adelante! Social Activism in Entertainment
In a discussion moderated by Director Ilana Peña, Directors Alejandra Marquez Abella, Mario Díaz, Marvin Lemus and Max’s Executive Vice President of Original Drama Programming Joey Chavez explored how entertainment can inspire and be a catalyst for social change.
Peña started the discussion by asking the group about challenges they faced while working on a project conveying a social message and shared her experience of finding the social message through her characters. “I found that you have to let your characters tell you what they want to explore. It’s hard to go in there and say, ‘we want to tackle this specific issue,’ because that does not feel organic. I always think of an episode during Diary of a Future President where we wanted to explore how this teenage girl did not speak Spanish. We were really excited to explore that, but then we decided to turn it into a multi-generational story that had all these other layers, and it worked out to tell the story.”
Similarly, Lemus also recalled a moment on utilizing a social activist approach through his characters. “In Gentefied, we were dealing with so many social issues. We were dealing with class, race, generational trauma and gentrification in the Latino community. It was hard to talk about all these issues, but the way we did it was through the characters. That every single character was right – or otherwise it does start to get preachy. I couldn’t come into the show and say I had all the right answers. But I had to make sure every point of view was right and there were no villains in this very intense layered issue.”
Diaz emphasized the importance of contextualizing social issues in his documentaries. “My work always has a very important historical component. I’ve always had to contextualize and if you look at my films, they’re full of archival material and I often have to fight with the networks to allow me to contextualize. They always want me to cut to the chase, make it snappy and hook the viewer very quickly in the first two minutes. And I’m like, ‘wait, you kind of have to understand the story,’ There is always this aspect of educating and I find myself explaining things a lot.”
On the business side, Chavez elaborated on his role as programming executive and offered advice to creatives. “We are often being given boxes to play in – you can tell this kind of story, with this kind of budget. But for me, I am trying to figure out how to break out from those boxes. Give people in my roles the tools to see you in different ways that people may not expect – whether you have the samples or the resumé to back it up. Have the ambition and the specifics. We want to give you the shot to do the big stories, not just our personal stories.”
Marquez Abella illustrated Chavez's point recalling a how looking outside the box worked to her benefit during a pitching experience. “When I was pitching A Million Miles Away, everyone in the room did not seem to understand why a migrant farmworker who became an astronaut was relevant and important. But I was very driven to make a film about someone who became an astronaut who was a migrant farmworker. He had everything he needed, He had the discipline. He had the commitment. He had the perseverance and the capacity to dive into the unknown which is what a migrant does. That perspective was refreshing for those in the room and unexpected.”
Spotlight: In the Directors’ Chairs
The Summit's second panel featured a thought-provoking conversation between Directors Alejandro Brugués and Andy Muschietti where they discussed their cultural upbringing, breaking into the American entertainment industry and success, and the significance of representation in filmmaking.
Muschietti recalled his experience about transforming his first short film into the major studio film Mama. “It was less work to do the short, and then suddenly it is fascinating and strange to jump on a big opportunity and make it bigger and something else. When I say opportunity, I mean the industry, the machine of Hollywood.” He recalled advice from the film's Executive Producer, Director Guillermo del Toro. “Guillermo told me that I could make it in English or Spanish. But, if I made it in Spanish, someone in Hollywood would re-make it and make all this money for themselves. He has a lot of knowledge and is very blunt about it. He really prepared us for it.”
Brugués spoke of his success in Latin America with his film Juan of the Dead and how that effect did not translate into the US. “Budget-wise, the film did really well in Latin America, and it was seen all over the world. It won a Goya Award. And then, I come here to the US and they’re like, ‘What is a Goya?’ I never felt like the film really opened doors for me because everyone said I had to a low-budget, one-location, high-concept horror film to do it well, and I said I had just done a film with hundreds of zombies and elaborate sets. But it was in Spanish.”
Muschietti and Brugués ended their conversation by talking about the importance of cultural representation through filmmaking and learning to understand different cultures for a bigger impact in the industry and the rest of the world.
Pre-Event Mixer and Post-Event Reception
Prior to the presentations, the Summit began with a networking mixer hosted by Latino Committee Direct Connects (LCDC) where DGA members could meet directly with entertainment professionals with hiring authority. The day capped off with a reception in the Guild’s Los Angeles atrium and lobby.
See videos from this event in the gallery below.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
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Adelante! Social Activism in Entertainment
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 Director Alejandra Márquez Abella
Márquez Abella’s directorial credits include the feature films A Million Miles Away, El Norte Sobre El Vacío/Northern Skies Over Empty Space, Semana Santa and Las Niñas Bien/The Good Girls; and episodes of Narcos: Mexico, Sierra Madre: Prohibido Pasar and the upcoming La Liberación her first project as a showrunner. Márquez Abella joined the DGA in 2022. |
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 Director Mario Díaz
Díaz’s directorial credits include the documentary features El Efecto Clemente, Viva Cepeda! and Bazooka: Las Batallas de Wilfredo Gomez; the investigative movie for television SI True Crime; episodes of the documentary mini-series No Limit Chronicles, Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution and Death Row Chronicles; and episodes of the documentary series The Chicano Squad and Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole. He won an Emmy for his “Brothers in Exile” episode of the documentary series 30 for 30. Díaz has been a DGA member since 2016. |
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 Director Marvin Lemus
Lemus is a Director, Co-Creator, Co-Showrunner and Executive Producer of the series, Gentefied; and he is making his feature directorial debu with Alexander and The Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip. Lemus joined the DGA in 2021. |
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 Executive Vice President Joey Chavez
As the Executive Vice President of Original Drama Programming,Chavez oversees creative development for Max’s original drama slate and has been with Warner Bros Discovery since 2015. Before joining the Warner Bros Discovery family, Chavez was VP of Drama Development at NBC. |
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 Director Ilana Peña (moderator)
Peña served as Creator, Showrunner, Executive Producer, and Director of the Emmy-nominated Diary of a Future President. Peña’s other directorial credit is an episode of Gordita Chronicles. Peña joined the DGA in 2021. |
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Spotlight: In the Directors’ Chairs
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 Director Alejandro Brugués
Brugués’ directorial credits include the feature films The Inheritance and Juan of the Dead; a a segment in the feature anthology Satanic Hispanics; segments of ABC’s of Death 2 and Nightmare Cinema; and episodes of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, 50 States of Fright and Into the Dark. Brugués has been a DGA member since 2015 and currently serves as the alternate co-chair of the Latino Committee.
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 Director Andy Muschietti
Muschietti’s directorial credits include the feature films Mama, It, It Chapter Two and The Flash; a segment of the anthology Historias Breves 3; and an episode of the upcoming series Welcome to Derry. He is currently in production on the feature The Brave and the Bold. Muschietti has been a DGA member since 2016. |
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Latino Summit Networking Mixer VIPS
PRODUCING DIRECTORS
- Bianca Beasley
- Ana Breton
- Reggie Rock Bythewood
- Julio Castro
- Tatiana Castro
- Eduardo Cisneros
- Javier Chapa
- Jeffrey Clifford
- Tim Iacofano
- Liz Kelly
- Roberto Larios
- Sam Leon
- Aurelio Lopez
- Iain B. MacDonald
- Patrick Magill
- Halle Mariner
- McKenna Marshall
- Daisy V. Mayer
- Joe Menendez
- Gabriel Moura
- Elisa Oliveras
- Rosie Quintal
- Ashley Sandberg
- Scott Schulman
- Jessica Schwartz
- Mark Taylor
- Vicky Zamarripa
AD/UPMs
- Franny Baldwin
- Gerard DiNardi
- Franklyn Gottbetter
- Alex Leimone
- Mark Hansson
- Chemen Ochoa
- David Valdes
ABOUT THE COMMITTEE:
The Latino Committee was created as a networking group to advance career and job opportunities for Latino DGA members by improving craft skills, networking, and making Latinos better known to the Hollywood creative community.