Eva Longoria and Cris Abrego, two of essentially the most high-profile Latinos in Hollywood, have joined forces.
The pair have launched Hyphenate Media Group, a brand new Banijay-backed enterprise that may develop and produce its personal slate in addition to spend money on creator-led firms.
The corporate, which has been within the works for months, was introduced throughout a keynote with the duo, who’ve been associates for years, at Mipcom.
Abrego will function the CEO of the corporate, and Longoria will function its Chief Inventive Officer.
As a part of its launch, Hyphenate has acquired the complete slate of Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Leisure, which has been behind collection resembling NBC’s Telenovela, ABC’s Grand Lodge, and CNN’s Looking for Mexico.
As such, Hyphenate will tackle Apple TV+’s Land of Girls, a six-part collection starring and exec produced by the Determined Housewives star that may launch in 2024.
The corporate will develop and produce each scripted and unscripted collection and each of them will produce for the enterprise with all tv initiatives directed by Longoria additionally coming below the brand new banner, which is about to agency up its management staff later this 12 months.
Abrego, who based Beneath Deck producer 51 Minds Leisure in 2003, will stay Chairman of Americas for Banijay and he additionally serves as Chair of the Tv Academy Basis and a member of the Government Committee for the Tv Academy.
“The train has left the station”
The transfer marks Banijay’s first funding into the scripted area within the U.S.
Talking at Mipcom this afternoon, Abrego spotlighted the decision-making behind launching a various content material firm, as he quoted analysis that discovered 50% of American under-18s usually are not white.
“Supporting creatives in their vision is what we will do,” he added. “The train has left the station and the content has to reflect that.”
He cited influential and gifted numerous creatives resembling Jordan Peele and Ali Wong, whose work “used to be niche but is now the centre.”
Reflecting on the corporate’s title and MO, Longoria stated folks had at all times mistaken her for an actor-turned-producer however she is in reality a “producer-director that fell into acting.”
“That multi-hyphenate is not surviving in Hollywood because the industry wants you to stay in your lane, particularly women,” she defined. “So it was my frustration and Cris’s ambition a couple of years ago after I realized it’s not just me who feels this way. I know creators who are being suffocated by the system so Hyphenate will create the ultimate model.”
Longoria added that the present U.S. labor motion is “a direct result of creators taking control back.”
