Selena: The Series writers say Netflix disrespected the singer with a fast and cheap production

Los Angeles Times

Writers on the Netflix biographical series on Tejano pop superstar Selena Quintanilla complain that they were overworked and underpaid -- with the show given the backseat treatment with a modest budget. "It’s an intrinsically American story that seemed primed to join Netflix’s roster of big-budget U.S. originals," reports the Los Angeles Times' Yvonne Villareal. "Instead it was ordered as a Latin American original, with a modest budget to match — well under $2 million per episode, according to multiple sources, for a period drama with specific costume, makeup and set needs. The Crown, by comparison, cost a reported $13 million per episode at launch. (Selena viewers criticized the series’ apparent budgetary limitations on social media.)...The Writers Guild of America sets rules for minimum rates of writer compensation on streaming series based on episode length, episodic budget and the number of subscribers to the platform. Because Selena’s budget fell below the guild’s then-threshold of $2.5 million per episode for one-hour 'high-budget' series on platforms with more than 20 million subscribers — a category that includes much of Netflix’s programming — different WGA rules for minimum pay applied. This enabled the production to negotiate writers’ pay lower than the 'high-budget' minimums set by the WGA: Multiple Selena staffers who did not want to discuss their pay publicly in absolute terms disclosed that they made between 30% and 50% per week less working on the series, which was filmed in Mexico, than is typical for equivalent roles on those produced in the U.S." Villareal reports that the show took on a telenovela schedule with the writers "expected to complete the two seasons, totaling 18 episodes, in roughly 20 weeks, a time frame more typical for turning around eight to 10 episodes. The schedule was eventually extended by four months." Henry Robles, a Selena: The Series co-executive producer, says: "The show sort of experienced what Selena experienced. From the beginning, she wanted to sing in English. But people didn’t know what to do with her. The music industry didn’t know how to categorize (her) or they expected certain things of her because she was Mexican American. And it’s similar to this show.” Gladys Rodriguez, another co-executive producer, adds that she feels like she has “a little bit of PTSD” from the show: “I feel like our work was cheapened from the start. We were never given a fair chance. ... Representation is what we want but it goes beyond that — we want to be treated equally.” A Netflix spokesperson told The Times the company believes the writers were compensated fairly based on quotes negotiated by their U.S. representation.