Today we’d like to introduce you to Roger Gonzalez.
Hi Roger, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I reached out to Broadway United’s Willie Fernandez about 4 years ago. I was trying to bring a comedy, It’s All About Lorrie, to Off-Broadway, and Willie, a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway producer turned out to be a mentor and ally in the project. Together with Jim Kierstead, 8x Tony, Olivier, Emmy award-winning Broadway producer.
Together, they were invaluable in their advice and direction. We stayed in touch ever since, working on a few ideas, and during that time, Willie (based in Miami Beach), and Jim (living right in the NYC Theatre District), did something life-changing. During the pandemic, and realizing that theatre was going to be a slow-go until things got back to normal, they decided to take one of Jim’s plays (Borrowed) and make it into a film.
This was a pivot like no other…to produce a low-budget, Indie film out of a play that had been making its way to the stage. Keep in mind, these are two producers that had brought Borrowed to the stage for a limited run in Miami during the pandemic, and now they were teaming up with El Central to make movies and stream them on various platforms.
El Central is a LatinX production company with more than ten years of experience. Based between Miami Beach and Los Angeles, the company provides writing, development, production, directing, cinematography, and post-production.
Co-owned by Carlos Rafael Betancourt (Director/Editor, Cuban filmmaker, and AFI Directing Alumni based in Los Angeles), and Oscar Ernesto Ortega (Director/Cinematographer, Cinematography Studies at the University of Arts of Cuba working in the trenches of EL CENTRAL from Havana to Miami), the two entities decided to co-produce this new film, ad some LatinX talent to the project, and begin a venture that will lead to the creation of a movie studio right here in Miami!
The movie (an LGBTQ Thriller) was re-written for the screen, quickly found a distributor in Buffalo 8, and they were off! Without missing a beat, they enlisted more film creatives into a new film project, and shortly after produced and completed yet another Indie Film, Summoning the Spirit, a “big-foot” horror film, Directed by Jon Garcia.
Summoning the Spirit had its world premiere at The Miami Film Festival earlier in the year, and put Broadway United on the map as film producers. Excitingly, it was picked up by Dark Star and along with Borrowed is now available to stream on Amazon Prime! It was shortly after this world premiere, that I joined Broadway United as an associate producer and partner, working on both film and theatre.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In theatre and film, it is never a smooth road. The struggles begin from the moment you try to raise money for a project. Currently, there are two industry strikes in the process, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild.
This poses many challenges, but on the flip side, we were lucky to get two films and several plays up and moving before the strike. Still, as we work on our third film, Red Light (written by Jim Kierstead), there is much we can do in pre-production to keep things moving until the strike ends.
To build alliances and form more partnerships, we are teaming up with MDB Concepts, a Miami-based production and post-production company in order the bring a continued level of professionalism to all our projects. With this impending partnership, along with the work of El Central, we are utilizing this time (like was done with the Pandemic) to build a big presence in the Miami, South Florida market.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are all producers and creatives.
My background has been in New York-based Indie Theatre, mostly Off/Off Broadway, and Off Broadway. My background has also been in media and marketing, where I built a theatre site called LocalTheatreNY.com and served as producer, marketing consultant, and publicist for almost two hundred plays and productions.
When the pandemic changed all that and I met Jim and Willie, I knew my direction was meant to shift. Separately, I also am in the process of launching a theatre community called TheatreArtz.com, serving theatre nationally by offering a slew of free services and support. My move to Broadway Bound is marked by years of experience in theatre arts.
William (Willie) Fernandez is a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Pulitzer Prize winner. A journalist turned theatre producer, he has co-produced such critical Broadway hits as The Inheritance (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny (Tony nominee), American Son, and the current Mrs. Doubtfire. He is also executive producing the cast album for Caroline, or Change, Broadway’s newest sensation. He has invested in many Broadway plays.
As a producer, Fernandez has worked off-Broadway and in London, Chicago, and Miami. In Miami, he was the executive producer of the city’s longest-running hit, The Amparo Experience. On television, Fernandez currently is co-executive producing Season 2 of the Emmy-winning Amazon Prime series After Forever. Fernandez was the senior editor on the team that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He is also the recipient of three Emmy nominations.
Jim Kierstead is a Grammy-nominated, Emmy, Olivier, and 7-time Tony Award-winning producer of Kinky Boots, Pippin, Hadestown, The Inheritance, The Lehman Trilogy, and Company. His twenty-plus-year career producing theatre, film, and television is motivated by his passion to inspire, entertain, and educate audiences.
Together, we have committed ourselves to working with diverse talent to produce both film and theatre in both New York and Miami. Our goal is to build an Indie movie studio in the Miami area with an emphasis and bringing great entertainment to not only the country but internationally.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up as a Cuban-American in New York and visiting Miami almost yearly, I was always enthralled with film, theatre, acting, and entertainment. But my day jobs took more towards marketing and media.
When I met Willie, with his background also in media (both of us come from newspaper and journalism backgrounds), I knew right away that I ended up here for a reason. Together with Jim, we have just the right amount of passion for theatre, film, and all things LatinX. The Cuban connection is almost hard to believe. Borrowed is a collaboration that would not have been possible 10 years ago, so the fact that this happened so fast is no surprise.
As a child, I watched every movie possible and created film scenarios in my head all the time. Now I – with a little help from my friends and partners -can make it happen for real!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BX3YCXY6
Image Credits
Pix Jim Kierstead (Broadway United, Broadway & Film Producer), Roger Gonzalez (Broadway United), Katey Segal (Star of The Gospel According to Heather), Willie Fernandez (Broadway United, Broadway & Film Producer), (The Gospel According to Heather), Oscar Ernesto Ortega (El Central/co-Director, Borrowed), and Lauren Lopez (Actor, Summoning the Spirit)
