Latina showbiz exec got start in Edinburg bakery
HOMETOWN HOLLYWOOD: Sandra Avila
>>> Festiva's "Hometown Hollywood" tracks down the big names that have emerged from the Rio Grande Valley, as well as the rising stars who are bound to make us proud in the future.
These days, Sandra Avila is a lawyer who sits at the top of a growing Latino-oriented entertainment empire. But 24 years ago, she was sweating through summers in the back room of her grandmother's sweet bread shop in Edinburg.
She was 15 years old when she started pounding dough and cleaning the back room of Magnolia bakery. She would watch as patrons came in and out of the family-run business to buy pieces of pan dulce and get advice from her grandmother.
She knows it's not the typical background of current Los Angeles entertainment executives. But it was character building. And it was one of the main reasons she found the strength to trek the rocky path through what she called a "man's industry" to the top of a company that strives to tell stories like hers.
Avila's mother was the oldest of 11 children. She grew up around family and never lost her appreciation for it. Despite being across the country, she tries to see them once every three months.
Misconceptions in the entertainment industry about real-life Latino families like hers are part of the reason she took her current job at Maya Entertainment, she said. Not all Hispanic families are drug dealers, nor do all Hispanic girls grow up to be maids - so, she asks, why are those portrayals still so prevalent on current TV shows?
Maya Entertainment has created buzz in the industry, especially in the past year, for being the only company owned and operated by Hispanics that produces movie and TV projects specifically for Latino audiences.
"It'd be nice to change what the media perceive and has been showing about our community," she said. "We're maids and blue-collar, but we're also attorneys and successful people."
After graduating from Loyola University with her law degree at 24 years old, Avila went through a change of heart, deciding that law wasn't for her. She saved money and moved to Los Angeles.
It was out of character. She'd always been "a pragmatic person," but the industry was something she was too passionate about to dismiss. She never let the irony of being a temporary worker with a law degree in showbiz for several months never fazed her.
"It's funny because there's a lot of former attorneys in the entertainment business," she said. "(It might be) because they long for the creative side along with the law side."
Within a few months, her temp work landed her a job as an assistant for a vice president at the Showtime network. In her seven years there, she assisted in the production of shows like Resurrection Blvd. and Dexter and oversaw the network's annual Latino Filmmakers Showcase, which awarded $30,000 for the production of a film that would premiere on Showtime.
In the process of running the contest, she realized the "lack of programming for our community." Shortly after, she was approached by Maya founder Moctesuma Esparza with a job offer.
"Being given an opportunity to make a difference ... turned out to be what my calling was supposed to be," she said.
All About SANDRA AVILA
Age: 39
Job: Director of development & and production for Maya Entertainment, former Showtime network employee
Where I live now: Los Angeles, 8.5 years
Graduated from: Edinburg High School in 1987
Went to college: St. Mary's, Loyola University
Long-term goals: create a show, run a network or be the president of a programming department
Her most recent project, One Hot Summer: Avila recently co-executive produced a film for the Lifetime Movie Network about three Cuban women facing difficult decisions. It's the movie adaptation of a popular book by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera. The movie premieres on the network July 26.
On the Hispanic voice in entertainment: "Here in the entertainment community, it's so small, but even more so the amount of Latino writers, directors and actors. There's simply not enough of them," she said. "The biggest problem I think we have in the entertainment community is that there are not enough Latino executives at the network and studio level who realize the potential."
On being a minority female in entertainment: "They still deal with certain levels of the ‘little boys club,'" she said. "You have to learn how to never take anything personally, no matter how much it pisses you off. I do admire that about men. They can look at things free of emotion. If you learn that, life will be a lot easier and you can better navigate yourself through the business world.
On the kind of show she'd like to create: "I'd really like to do a border show. A show about the men and women who work in that capacity," she said. Avila said she finds the Border Patrol particularly interesting. "It's a government agency like anything else. I mean, we've had stories about firemen and police men."
Inside look at Dexter's conception: Avila was working for the senior vice president when Showtime's wildly popular show Dexter premiered (its fourth season kicks off Sept. 27). "It had been brought to the president by one of his friends and one of the biggest concerns was that if anyone going to embrace a serial killer. How do you make a serial killer lovable?" she said. "I think that everyone involved has continued to make it one of the better shows."
Click the links below to read more Hometown Hollywood profiles.
* LEE PEREZ: Edinburg man now lives in 'House' with Hugh Laurie
* STEVEN ESCOBAR: TV editor went from Edinburg to Emmy Awards
* NOEL GUERRA Brownsville boy is behind your favorite TV shows
* MIKE ZEPEDA Former Mustang got his big break in 'Prison'
* LAUREL ST. ROMAIN 'Gossip Girl' makes McAllen fashionista the talk of the town
* DR. NOEL OLIVEIRA: Edinburg physician finds 2nd career on primetime television
* JOSH WISE: Mission actor starred in films, TV with Hilary Duff, 'Gossip Girl''s Penn Badgley
* SHELBIE BRUCE: Valley girl in 'Spanglish' is now an L.A. woman
* LINDSAY GRAHAM: Sharyland grad helped cast Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler
* CARLOS MORENO: San Juan actor had roles in Transformers, ER
* ENRIQUE CASTILLO: A South Texan who wrote music in Will Smith's new film, Seven Pounds
* VERONICA LOREN: A McAllen actress and singer who's sweeping 2008's indie awards
* LIZ RAMOS: A McAllen dancer who taught Brad Pitt to tango
* ERIC HAHN: A clown at the Nolana IHOP who did stuntwork in 'Platoon,' 'Delta Force'
* MANDO ALVARADO: San Juan actor shared scene with strippers, Doogie Hauser
* RICK DEL CASTILLO: A Brownsville rocker who found a knack for screenwriting
* RAUL CASTILLO: A McHi grad who has acted and studied with Philip Seymour Hoffman
* TANYA SARACHO: A Valley playwright who is hot in Chicago
* DAVID BARRERA: A San Juan native who was in an NYPD Blue episode everybody saw
* MICHAEL RAY ESCAMILLA: A writer, actor, director and producer from Pharr
* MARISA QUINTANILLA: A McAllen Memorial grad who was in Road House 2
* FAUSTO CUEVAS: A Brownsville drummer who has toured with Britney Spears and Stevie Wonder
* GABRIEL PENA: An Edinburg North grad who does Matrix-style stuntwork
