Netflix has been churning out tons of content over the past year, giving us many of our favorite binge worthy shows of the pandemic. From Tiger King and Selena: The Series to The Queen’s Gambit and Bridgerton, we’ve all been spending a lot more time with the TV screen thanks to Netflix.

Well, now, we’ll all have yet another reason to spend just a little more time in front of the screen thanks to an upcoming project Netflix is working on alongside Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera. The team are turning the iconic novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter into a movie with Ferrera in the director’s chair. And she’ll be bringing some of her crew from Gentefied. This is a mashup we can’t wait to see!

America Ferrera will step into the director’s chair for a Netflix project.

.@AmericaFerrera will make her feature directing debut at Netflix with I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER.

Based on Erika L. Sánchez's NYT best-selling novel, the screenplay will be adapted by Gentefied co-creator Linda Yvette Chávez.

a dream team of brilliant mujeres 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/Mh5rDrdRhR

— Con Todo (@contodonetflix) February 24, 2021

Emmy and Golden Globe winner America Ferrera is set to make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by author Erika Sánchez, who will serve as a co-producer on the film.

“Years ago, I fell in love with Erika L. Sánchez’ stunning novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” said Ferrera. “The depth, wit and searing intelligence of her writing, and her young Latina heroine, struck me to my core and left me wanting so much more. I am truly honored and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chávez’s beautifully adapted screenplay. The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can’t wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world.”

It’s America Ferrera’s first time directing a feature film but she is no stranger to being a director for TV, having helmed episodes of the hit series Superstore before.

Released in 2017, the story follows Julia Reyes, a first-generation American-Mexican.

THR reports that America Ferrera is set to make her feature directorial debut with Netflix's adaptation of YA novel 'I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter'.

(Source: https://t.co/9boLMBoYpm) pic.twitter.com/RmE15HKud9

— Geeks of Color #BlackLivesMatter (@GeeksOfColor) February 24, 2021

Released in 2017, the story follows Julia Reyes, the precocious and strong-willed teenaged daughter of first-generation Mexican immigrants. She often clashes with her more traditional parents, who wish she were more like her sister Olga, the platonic ideal of a Mexican daughter. However, when Olga is killed in a tragic accident, it is up to Julia to hold her family together.

She’ll also be working alongside fellow crew from Gentefied.

Not only is the project featuring the novel’s author, Erika Sanchez, as a co-producer but the film’s screenplay was adapted by Linda Yvette Chavez –the co-creator behind the Netflix series, Gentefied. It’s so incredible to see a powerful, female-driven team leading up such an important project.

Although Netflix has not yet revealed details about the cast, crew, or release date, America’s fans are excitedly awaiting her new project.

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The numbers are bleak. Latinos make up 18% of America’s population but only 5% of the number of speaking roles in movies in 2019 according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

Hollywood seems to be late to the party when it comes to Latino representation onscreen. But luckily, there are a handful of Latino artists and creators out there who are taking the fight to appear in front of the screen to behind the camera.

Take, for example, Eva Longoria, who was just announced to be directing and co-starring in the new action-comedy film, “Spa Day”

Eva Longoria to Direct Action-Comedy ‘Spa Day’ at Sony Pictures (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/FaP3GgE0yj via @variety

— Eva Longoria Baston (@EvaLongoria) September 25, 2020

This marks the third movie the Mexican-American actress will be helming and the first Latina to ever direct more than one major studio film.

The other films on Longoria’s roster include a vehicle for her and Kerry Washington tentatively titled “24/7”, as well as the upcoming biopic “Flamin’ Hot”–a movie centered around Richard Montañez, the man who invented Flaming Hot Cheetos.

Longoria has been candid about how the decision to move into directing and producing has been a strategic one.

“One of the reasons I went into producing and directing was I wasn’t going to sit back and wait for somebody to create a role I wanted to do,” Longoria told Variety in 2018.

“You can’t just sit around waiting for [good projects], and I wanted to create that — not just for myself but for other Latinas.”

But her career transition isn’t unique as a Latina in Hollywood. She has joined the ranks of other Latinas in Hollywood who have began to produce and direct their own projects in order to finally see Latino stories told on screen.

Her peers include Jennifer Lopez (“Shades of Blue“, “Hustlers“), Selena Gomez (“Living Undocumented“), America Ferrera (“Gentefied“, “Superstore“), Gina Rodriguez (“Diary of an American President,” “Carmen San Diego“), and Salma Hayek (“Ugly Betty”).

All of these women have thrown their weight behind projects that otherwise wouldn’t be made if their names weren’t attached to them.

All of these women are creating stories that feature Latino stories and Latino talent–in front of and behind the camera.

America Ferrera explained the reason behind her conscious career pivot from acting to directing/producing: “My genuine heart’s desire is to tell stories that haven’t been told,” she told CBS This Morning. “It’s hard to get stories about people like us made. And then to get those stories told by us is very very uncommon.”

Although the endgame is to have Latinx stories greenlit without having to first be a famous singer or actress, the work these ladies are doing might be laying the foundation for an easier road for future industry players of Latino descent. Or as Longoria so eloquently put it: “If we unite and create opportunities for each other and pull each other up, there could be a lot more success for representation on TV.”

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