(bright rhythmic music) (bright rhythmic music ending) - Good evening, and welcome to "Horizonte," a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host, Catherine Anaya.

Tonight, we talk to one of the most influential Latinos in media.

Peter Murrieta grew up in Arizona and made it big in Hollywood, producing and writing for hit shows like Disney's "Wizards of Waverly Place," "Mr. Iglesias" on Netflix, "Lopez," and many other shows.

Here's a clip from "Wizards" for you to take a look at.

(bright droning music) (magic whirring) (Justin panting) (Justin grunting) (magic whirring) (liquid bubbling) - A little variation of that puddle spell.

- Justin!

- We have to end this!

(Justin grunting) That's it.

(tense rhythmic music) (magical music) (flower creaking) (tense rhythmic music) (magic whirring) (hand creaking) (tense rhythmic music continues) (magic whirring) I did it, I won!

I'm a full wizard.

(laughing) Wow.

(gentle droning music) - Joining me now to talk about his successful career, his advocacy for more Latino representation in Hollywood, and his role as deputy director and professor of practice at Arizona State University's Sidney Poitier New American Film School is multiple Emmy award winner, Peter Murrieta.

Peter, it's so good to see you.

- It's so good to see you.

And with an intro like that, I mean, it sounds like I'm very impressive.

- Well, you really are.

And first of all, let me say that I appreciate you joining me via Zoom.

I know you're feeling under the weather, sorry we're not here in person, but it's great to talk to you.

- Me too.

- Yeah.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

- I'm very excited to talk to you.

- Well listen, you have done so many wonderful things, and you grew up in Tucson, so of course we're very proud of you here in Arizona.

You attended the University of Arizona, where you studied creative writing.

Tell me a little bit about how you made your way to LA from Arizona and start writing for television.

- Well, you know, in college, I was only ever gonna be a high school English teacher was the big goal.

And I say "only" knowing how incredible that job is.

And that was the only thing I wanted to do.

And I had a professor of humanities who gave me a really bad grade on a paper, but wanted to see me in her office.

I got very nervous.

And when I got there she said, "This is the funniest thing I've ever read," which confused me 'cause I wanted to pass this class.

And she said, "No, no, no, you should be a writer, a comedy writer.

Meet this other group of people that makes comedy on campus and start working with them."

And that's really the beginnings of it.

And from there, I did that for a while, and then Second City Theater came to Tucson and did a touring company show.

And that's when I realized, "Oh my gosh, you can make your living at this?"

- [Catherine] Mm-hmm.

- So I got my stuff together and moved to Chicago.

- Well, you have such an incredible track record.

You end up coming to LA and then you have this successful career, but maybe you might say this as more importantly, you helped bring Latino representation to the screen with shows like we mentioned, "Wizards of Waverly Place," "Mr. Iglesias," "Primo" on Prime Video, your most recent- - Yeah.

- And you influenced the careers of people like Selena Gomez and George Lopez.

At what point in your career did you decide to make that advocacy a priority for you in creating shows that highlight Latino stories and Latino talent?

- Great question.

I think when I did my first show, "Greetings from Tucson," I had worked for other people on other shows and when you bring yourself to a writing room, you're always bringing your family, your family stories, your personal stories, and you're trying to craft them into something that will be a television story.

When I did "Greetings from Tucson," it was the first chance I had to do my exact story.

And coming out of that, I had a real feeling of how good it would be to continue to try to advocate for Mexican Americans, Latinos, in front of and behind the camera.

We had two or three people on the staff of "Greetings from Tucson," that felt so good, compared to usually where there's like one person in a room like that.

And then from there, it's just been that mission, you know, that mission to figure out how to get people where they need to be to succeed.

I don't think I do anything other than put people in a position for them to succeed.

- But you have made a difference.

Earlier this year, we had Rita Moreno on the show, and she talked about the fact that yes, we've made progress, but we still have a long way to go.

And you know, recently the primetime Emmy Awards, John Leguizamo, the actor and advocate, also got on stage and he delivered this really powerful message about the lack of representation.

He said, quote, "I didn't complain about the limited roles my people were offered.

Turns out not complaining doesn't change anything."

Would you agree with both of them on both of their fronts, and if so, you know, what is it going to take for Hollywood to catch up?

Because you talked about the importance of having decision makers of color behind the camera as well.

- Yeah, you know, I know John, and of course I worked with Rita the first year of "One Day at a Time."

I think John's point is well made.

I think we've got to grab the microphone and we've got to tell people that it's past time to do something.

I feel like I want my mission to be to keep rollin' that rock uphill.

Like, you know, "Primo" was on last year on Amazon, I've got two pilots at NBC I'm waiting to hear about right now, a drama and a comedy, and I feel like I can best serve all of us by continuing to push for those shows to get going.

And that to me is where my role is right now.

I think I've spent time in John's chair being the person that goes out and talks about the problem, and we need that.

Now I'm in a phase where I wanna just continue to make things that make it undeniable.

- But you are recognized for making this your mission.

Earlier this year, you were included in the Imagen Foundation's Most Influential Latinos in Media award.

What does a recognition like that, from the leading advocacy organization for Latinos in the entertainment industry, mean to you personally and in the work that you do in getting more representation in front of and behind the cameras?

- I feel like stuff like that is so important, but it hits me maybe a little bit different.

Ya know, I feel like when I get an opportunity to have a focus like that, there's a couple things that have to happen.

One is I have to look at that as it's a charge to me.

It's not saying, "Hey," pat you on the back, "You did good," it's like, "Don't forget that this is what you're doing, and you have a responsibility to keep doing it."

And I think even on the small scale of that night, that gala night in LA, where they announced it, the whole class of us, if anybody knows me, they know the two things I like least is going anywhere and getting dressed up.

And so I was like, "Well, do I have to go?"

(Catherine laughing) And everybody was like, "You have to go."

And I said, "Alright, what if I bring five students with me?"

And so I got to bring five students with me that night, and they got to mix with all the other people and network, and it was really cool.

- I love that.

Why was that important for you to take five students?

- I think because they're the future.

And I don't make that statement to mean that I'm the past, I think I'm the present, but I make that because if we don't hold the door open, then we're just kind of linin' our own pockets, we're not really doin' anything else.

And that's really important to me.

- Well, what do you like to teach your students?

Like, what would be your best piece of advice for not only the students that you have right now in the film school, but also any younger students who might be watching this conversation right now?

What is your best advice for breaking into the business?

- That's a great question, I've thought about that.

I'm gonna say this.

I tell students to get lost on purpose.

I'm like, "Go get lost somewhere, go get lost on campus.

Take a class that you're kind of interested in, but you don't know how it fits to you."

You know, I wanted to be a high school English teacher and a junior varsity baseball coach 'cause I didn't want the pressure of being a high school varsity coach, which is kind of hilarious now in my life.

And it's only because I took these detours.

And I think that there's this myth about being a starving artist that works really hard to make people who don't come from a lotta means think they shouldn't try because it's gonna be really hard and you're gonna starve.

I think that there are so many jobs in the business that we're in, that you and I are in, there's so many jobs, so many ways to make a living.

And one of the only ways you're gonna find out is get lost, get lost in it, figure it out along the way.

- One of the things I remember Rita Moreno telling me is just how hard it was for her back in the day when she was starting out.

You know, being a woman of color, and the racism she faced and the discrimination.

Would your advice for students of color be different?

- That's so cool to say.

Yeah, no, no.

I don't think it would be different, but I wanna respond to that and say that, you know, Rita was there 40 years before I was there, and it was hard when I showed up, and it's hard now.

And I think that it's always gonna be hard, but if you're telling the truth of your story, whether you're an actor, a writer, a director, a producer, if you're telling the truth of your story...

If you're a producer, you're not even a writer or director, but you pick up a book and you go, "This book makes me feel things about who I am," then go, go do it.

And I think that people like Rita, people like John Leguizamo, people like George Lopez, you know, I dare to put myself in that company, but we've been doing things so that you can run just a little bit faster than we did.

- [Catherine] Mm-hmm.

- Just a little bit faster, like go.

And I don't think the different advice is there, I think it's just knowing that the struggle will be there- - Yes.

- And acknowledging it.

- Very well said.

We only have a couple of minutes left- - Sure.

- But I really wanna hear what your new projects are because I know I started reading some of your writings online, and you're just so poetic in what you say.

- Yeah, I've got two projects I'm really excited about, three actually.

I do a Substack online, I found this platform called Substack that I just love, and I challenged myself to write an article every week for the whole year, and I'm still there.

Even though I was sick this week, I published this morning.

And then the two TV things I'm doing, I'm doing this project that I'm waiting to hear about from NBC, that's called "The Three Joaquins."

- [Catherine] Ooh.

- And it's my first drama, and it's about three people all named Joaquin in three different time periods.

It's a very ambitious project.

It's set in the 1850s and the 1950s and today.

And I just really loved writing it, and I really hope we get to that next level where we get to shoot it.

And then the other project is a workplace comedy, more of what I do, with the stand-up comic Pete Holmes- - [Catherine] Huh.

- Who I met and love.

And we've been working on that for about a year, and we've turned in the script and we're waitin' to hear about that too.

That'll be a fun one to do.

- Well congratulations, and best of luck with all three projects that you're working on right now.

And I really wanna encourage everybody to follow you with the Substack newsletter because you write about everything, even the iPhone.

(Catherine laughing) - That's right, that's right, that's right!

Last week was about the new iPhone OS.

- [Peter And Catherine] Yes.

- You have a lot to say.

- Tech reviews from a writer, yeah, that's great.

- Everything from Hollywood to tech reviews.

(laughing) - That's right, that's right.

- Peter, thank you so much, it's a pleasure.

- Thank you so much, and I look forward to seeing you in person soon.

- Yes indeed, come visit.

- Alright.

- Thank you, feel better.

Buh-bye.

And that's our show for tonight.

For "Horizonte" on Arizona PBS, I'm Catherine Anaya.

Thank you so much for joining us, have a great night.

(bright rhythmic music returns) (bright rhythmic music ending)