Hollywood has heard that our stories matter. At this point, I’m less interested in whether somebody nodded during the presentation than whether they intend to fund the production. You cannot pay a crew with an encouraging panel discussion. Believe me, somebody would have tried by now.
That is why Hurricane Seasons interests me. My friends Nicole Gomez Fisher and Javier Ortiz have brought together a production that gives this conversation something concrete to chew on: a screenplay, a director, producers and an ensemble moving a Puerto Rican family story toward the screen.
Friendship is my disclosure. The work is the reason for the piece.
Javier wrote the screenplay. Nicole directs. They produce alongside Aida Rodriguez, who also stars, Anthony James Faure and Nadia Barbarossa. That is already a more useful conversation than counting how many Latino faces made it onto a poster and calling the job finished.
In my essay about Hollywood boxing Latino talent in and shutting us out, I argued for money and authority behind the right people. Writing, producing, casting, directing, performing, marketing and distribution belong in the same conversation. A story needs people who understand how to carry it through all of them.
Here, the story began with something painfully personal. In an Impacto Latino interview, where Javier is credited as Xavier Ortiz, he described how his grandmother’s decision to stop dialysis brought a distanced family together. He wrote the screenplay in 2019.
The film follows Glori Camacho, played by Aida Rodriguez, back to Puerto Rico as her mother refuses treatment. A trip around the island brings three generations of women together. Naturally, the family secrets come along. Apparently, those never exceed the luggage allowance.
A Latino story can be intimate, funny, uncomfortable, culturally specific and recognizable to people who have never set foot in Puerto Rico. We do not need to sand ourselves down to become understandable. Nor does one film have to carry the entire population into the theater on its back.
“You have to believe in the story you want to tell,” Nicole said in that interview, translated from Spanish, while discussing rejection and financing.
She has experience carrying stories through. Sleeping with the Fishes starred Gina Rodriguez, Ana Ortiz and Priscilla Lopez. Good Egg brought together Yara Martinez, Andrea Londo and Lopez. Now Lopez joins Hurricane Seasons. People working together, then finding reasons to work together again. Imagine that.
And look at this ensemble: Rodriguez, Justina Machado, Elvis Nolasco, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Lopez, Jearnest Corchado and Carlos Ponce, alongside Willie Denton, Magali Carrasquillo, Aris Mejías, Modesto Lacén, Braulio Castillo, Joel Ortiz and Tanicha López.
A piece about the people who make a film should give the crew their due, too. Hurricane Seasons’ behind-the-camera credits include director of photography Heixan Robles, production designer Greg Barreto, and camera and Steadicam operator Héctor Santos. That acknowledgment extends to the entire crew and the Puerto Rican filmmaking talent helping bring this story to the screen. The cameras, sets and call sheets certainly weren’t running themselves. If we’re talking about an ecosystem, the people doing that work belong in the picture.
Established artists showing up for independent work matters. So does Aida’s work beyond her own performances: she directed Ian Lara’s Romantic Comedy and Entre Nos: The Winners 3, featuring Ralph Barbosa and Gwen La Roka.
Issa Rae has spoken about building alongside peers and supporting other artists. Yes. Build with the people around you. And if you have more reach, bring somebody with you. Opportunity should travel farther than the distance between two already comfortable people exchanging favors.
That is the spirit of LUCIR. Fund the work. Pay people. Share opportunity. Develop the skills to make decisions and the resources to act on them. Keep building relationships that produce something beyond another photograph with important people.
I’m not assigning ownership percentages or final-cut authority from a credits list. I am saying the ambition has to reach that far. We need financing, sustainable businesses and a meaningful say in what gets made. Betting on ourselves should eventually involve an actual bet.
Hurricane Seasons is listed at the Newport Beach Film Festival on October 18; check the festival’s admission information and current ticket availability. You can also check viewing options for Sleeping with the Fishes and Good Egg; availability varies.
Applaud them. Then help make the next project possible.
We’ve got a world to build and a lot of work to do.
Juntos y quizás revueltos, too.
Addendum, October 9, 2026: Updated to acknowledge additional crew contributions.