SAN ANTONIO – On Dec. 4, Selena fans will get to see a whole new telling of the story of the singer’s life and one of the writers behind the much-anticipated show is from San Antonio.
Raymond Arturo Perez was raised in San Antonio and graduated from Communications Arts High School.
Since graduating from the University of Texas in Austin seven years ago, Perez has been trying to get his big break in Hollywood.
That break finally came as he was hired to be a part of the writing team for “Selena: The Series” on Netflix.
“It still feels unreal,” Perez said.
Perez grew up a fan of Selena and knew her story.
“Selena is just part of the culture and you can be of any race or ethnicity, but it’s just a Texas story and it’s become an American story,” Perez said. “It being the first job is just really, really special.”
Another thing that was special to Perez was the fact that the entire writing team was Latinx.
“Oftentimes you’ll see a diverse cast and it’s not necessarily meaning that the writers of that show are diverse,” Perez said. “We were all are fans of Selena coming in, but then we also have just a breath of experiences culturally, our upbringings, our socioeconomic class.”
While Selena broke many records and milestones, the series about her life and family could be just what the Latinx community needs to make a bigger breakthrough in Hollywood behind the scenes.
“I think we’re still kind of further behind in terms of having writers, directors, and producers that our Latinx on projects with Latinx characters,” Perez said. “I’m excited to see that change and hopefully increase the representation there.”
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