VANCOUVER – OUTtv is developing T.E. Wilson’s Detective Sanchez novel series into a new serialized one-hour drama series called Mezcalero.
Produced in association with No Equal Entertainment, the series is set in and around the sunburnt landscape of Mazatlan, Mexico, and follows Ernesto Sanchez, a transgender Mexican-Canadian private detective with a penchant for mezcal. The first season sees Sanchez drawn into a missing persons case where he must navigate family dynamics, corrupt law enforcement, and a greedy multinational mining firm.
Mezcalero has been awarded development funding from the CMF Pilot Export Program and the Bell Fund Slate Development Fund.
“We are really excited to be working with producer J.B. Sugar on this amazing series that really goes to the core of the OUTtv brand,” said OUTtv Network CEO Brad Danks, in the news release. “It is a ground-breaking role for a transgender performer and we are confident that such a fascinating character will resonate with our ever-expanding global audience."
Casting director Russell Boast, president of the Casting Society of America and head of the organization’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee, recently led a world-wide open casting call for transgender actors and is a casting consultant for the series.
“Audiences are finally responding to inclusive and accurate portrayals of people in the world. A series about a Mexican-Canadian private detective who just happens to be transgender presents an opportunity for a ground-breaking role and sends a powerful message on behalf of trans people,” added Boast. “We are determined to find an actor who not only embraces the role but also gives an identity to trans men who for decades have been poorly, or worse, unrepresented in film and television.”
In addition, No Equal Entertainment is seeking Mexican co-production partners and will participate in Canada’s Mexico trade mission as official guests of the 2018 edition of Mercado, Industria, Cine y Audiovisual, taking place in Mexico City.
