Ok, kids, we want to take you back to the year 2012, when Twitter was still cool, Facebook wasn’t manipulating news feeds and Instagram was only two years old. That year was a time when a lot of independent Latino and Latina creatives (yes, we weren’t even using Latinx back then) were trying to support each other, hustling to get noticed and heard. At the time, a small group of us felt that if we just supported each other, maybe, just maybe, things would turn around. We did it because we believed that we were telling real and authentic stories that spoke to our world, one that was grossly misrepresented in places like entertainment and news.
Through endless texts, talks, messages and occasional drinks in noisy bars, we all felt that the mission was clear: our voices were setting the stage for the future, and one day, people would notice. It might take a while. We might not be the new shiny thing, but if we stayed true to our voice and never compromised, people would notice.
Such is the case of East WillyB, a web series that we were proud to support and believe in back in the day. (Yes, we have receipts.)
Well, we just found out that our favorite comedy series out of Brooklyn got some huge news this week: ABC bought the show.
As Deadline reports:
ABC has put in development East WillyB, a half-hour comedy based on the indie web series created by Julia Ahumada Grob and Yamin Segal from Korin Williams and Monique Nash’s Kronicle Media and ABC Studios. Written by Grob and Segal, East WillyB is an ensemble comedy that revolves around a truly unconventional family, dysfunctional neighbors who populate the last hold-out dive bar in gentrified Brooklyn. Together they’ll face life’s challenges —from love, friendship, and legacy, to family and change— realizing they can only do it if they lean on each other; their chosen family.
This news made us all smile here at Latino Rebels, because we have known Julia and Yamin for a while now. They are part of that original crew of 2012 creatives who propped each other up, helped others when it felt like obstacles were in the way and just pushed on. And they are winning.
A huge congratulations to them and the entire East WillyB team. We wish them all the success in the world.
