Chicos de Alquiler (Rent Boys)
What happen when you put together in an apartment an Argentinian, a Mexican, a Venezuelan, a Colombian and two Puerto Ricans and besides that all of them are actors? Chicos de Alquiler is the answer.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Abimael Acosta
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Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The main reason why we made this web series is because we are aware that in the Hispanic TV production in the US there is just a few sitcoms in Spanish, and most of them are not necessarily representative of the whole Hispanic community. "Chicos de Alquiler" has characters from different countries in Latin America, like Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and we can see their similarities and differences as Hispanics. In the Latino TV production there is an inclination to homogenize the Latino characters and it's even usual to make the actors use a "neutral Latino accent", and in Chicos de Alquiler we want to highlight our different accents and our rich culture as Latinos from different countries.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Chicos de Alquiler is a very funny and fresh comedy with adorable characters and people can identify with them.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Every human being has dreams and goals they want to achieve and Chicos de Alquiler is about six Latino immigrants that live together in an apartment in Los Angeles looking to achieve their "American Dream". Each character is a person like you and me trying to be successful and struggling to be happy.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
Originally Chicos the Alquiler was written in English but later I noticed that even though we think that American TV stereotypes us as Latinos, there's no big difference how we as Latinos stereotypes ourselves as one "big thing" even though, as Latinos from different countries, we have a lot of characteristics that are great to show to the world. Originally this was written as a TV pilot but eventually we decided that as it is very difficult to put a show in a Network, the possibility of a web series would help us to gain an audience that eventually would help us to get the attention of a Network.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
At this time we have published three episodes and people love the show. We've gained many subscribers and views to our YouTube channel and we have received a lot of comments to our Facebook page and a lot of sharing from our social media pages.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We knew since the beginning that this idea would be very successful but one thing that surprised us was that when we looked into the YouTube analytics we have a very big part of our audience that is young male - we thought that females would be our main audience. The male audience really identify with the characters and their stories.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We are looking to reach a bigger audience, more subscribers to Chicos de Alquier YouTube channel, and the possibility that our webseries could turn into a TV Network sitcom.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We definitely need investors to do a second season because we were self financed for the first season of twelve episodes and we need investors for a second season, and we want to eventually have Chicos de Alquiler on a TV Network.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We want to show the rest of the world that Hispanics are more than just Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans, and that we have a very rich and beautiful culture that should be shown in TV to let the world know that although we are Latinos, and we are proud to be Latinos, we are also proud to be from our different countries.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Should Latinos show that there are a lot of characteristics that make them different inside their community or should Latinos be seen as a homogenized group?
Would you like to add anything else?
I want to thank your for the opportunity of being part of your important platform and to help us to achieve our goals.
Interview: August 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Chicos de Alquiler (Rent Boys)
What happen when you put together in an apartment an Argentinian, a Mexican, a Venezuelan, a Colombian and two Puerto Ricans and besides that all of them are actors? Chicos de Alquiler is the answer.
Length: 3-4 minutes webisodes.
Director: Alejandro Villalba/Abimael Acosta
Producer: Abimael Acosta/Omar Miranda
Writer:Abimael Acosta
About the writer, director and producer: Abimael Acosta is a Puerto Rican writer, producer and director. Acosta has been working in TV and films for more than 20 years.
Omar Miranda is a Puerto Rican actor. Omar Miranda is also the producer of Chicos de Alquiler and the protagonist of the movie Muerte en el Paraiso.
Alejandro Villalba is a Puerto Rican director and editor. Villalba works as news associate producer in an important Hispanic TV Network.
Key cast: Omar Miranda, Beto Ruiz, Gabriel B. Alexander, César D'La Torre, Dennis Velasco, Jorge De Los Rios.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Funders: Self Funded
Made in association with:
Release date: August 8, 2016
VIMEO LINK:
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