TV Director, Victor Gonzalez has made an exclusive development arrangement with Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment
Under the pact, Gonzalez via his Fortaleza Productions and Kapital’s Kaplan and Dana Honor will focus on content for the underserved Latino market, developing Latino-based multi-camera comedy series for broadcast, cable and streaming.
Gonzalez and Kaplan met more than five years ago when Gonzalez directed multiple episodes of two of Kaplan’s first series as a producer, Instant Mom and Wendell & Vinnie for Nick at Nite. Gonzalez has since helmed episodes of two other Kapital multi-camera series, CBS’ Friends with Better Lives and 9JK.
After directing 5 episodes, about a third of the entire 9JKL’s first-season order, this past season, Gonzalez is set to direct five episodes each of the initial 13-episode orders of Kapital’s two new multi-camera series for next season, The Neighborhoodand Fam, both on CBS.
“I’ve had a long relationship with Victor Gonzalez, both personally and professionally, and I think he is one of the greatest multi-camera directors currently out there, and all of us at Kapital feel privileged that he chose us to be his creative partners,” Kaplan said.
While there has been a concerted effort among the broadcast networks to increase diversity among pilot directors, directors of multi-camera comedy pilots remain predominantly white as the vast majority of multi-cam pilots are helmed by a handful of established directors, led by the prolific James Burrows, Pam Fryman and Andy Ackerman. This pilot season marked a rare multi-cam assignment for a diverse director, Phil Lewis, who did CBS’ Happy Together, subsequently picked up to series.
In addition to building up his company at Kapital and developing and producing new projects for Latino audiences, Gonzalez is expected to direct pilots for those that get green light.
“I’m thrilled to be entering into this exciting new venture with Aaron, Dana and the folks at Kapital,” Gonzalez said.
For the fast two seasons, Gonzalez has become a go-to episodic director for multi-camera CBS comedy series. He has directed a total of 16 episodes of 9JKL, Man With a Plan, and Superior Donuts. He also helmed 40 episodes of Last Man Standingduring the series’ run on ABC and also has directed episodes of three Latino family multi-cam comedies, George Lopez and Cristela on ABC and One Day at a Time on Netflix.
Since launching Kapital, Kaplan has forged partnerships with talent, signing pod deals with producers, Tracy Katsky and Wendi Trilling, which have led to series orders, producing pacts with writers/directors, John Hamburg and Gonzalez, and a joint venture with Merman, the company of longtime Kaplan collaborator Horgan and Clelia Montford. Gonzalez’s deal was negotiated by Kapital’s Sandra Ortiz and Paradigm.
Comments