Rodriguez helping to create CW show on immigrant life
By all appearances, Rafael Agustin had been the allAmerican high school student: He was class president, prom king and an honor roll student. But there was one hitch: He was in the U.S. illegally. It was a discovery Agustin made while applying for college in 1998 — before there was a program like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
“I was in shock,” the Ecuador-born writer-performer recalled during a recent phone interview. “I knew I was an immigrant — I remember a time when I didn’t speak English. But I didn’t know we were undocumented immigrants.”
Agustin, now a U.S. citizen who earned his undergraduate and postgraduate 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 Agustin describes as an edgy Latino version of “The Wonder Years.”
The announcement came a day after the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle DACA, which has provided hundreds of thousands of young immigrants the ability to work legally in the U.S. and a temporary reprieve from deportation.
“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 about “Illegal.”
Q: 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.
Q: Gina, you’ve made it your mission to bring Latino stories to the screen. What sort of response did you get 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 When we talk about inclusivity, there are many communities that aren’t ... discussed. And the Latino community, we have waves of Latinos doing projects — but do they get exposure? I want there to be such a plethora that you have to name us on multiple hands.
I saw a lot of kids in my feed happy that their stories — or at least an aspect — are finally getting told.