Nellie Andreeva

More Latino TV? Q&A With Showrunner Silvio Horta
Ugly Betty developer/executive producer Silvio Horta is returning to active TV duty. After fielding interest from several studios, Horta has signed a two-year, seven-figure overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. After Ugly Betty ended its four-season run on ABC in the spring of 2010, “I took big chunk of time off,” Horta said. “I wanted to decompress for a while and started working on things of my own, wrote a feature spec.” Now he is back just in time for the upcoming development season and is already zeroing in on a couple of projects.

One is a show at Fox about three sisters in Miami, the city where Horta was born and raised, with interconnected love lives. Also like Horta, the sisters are Cuban-American. Jennifer Lopez, who has an existing relationship with Fox via American Idol, may come on board as a producer. Additionally, Horta, who has only worked in the hourlong format so far, including creating UPN’s sci-fi drama Jake 2.0, said he has an idea for a half-hour comedy. “I’ve never done half-hours, and I would like to take a shot at that. I’m also definitely interested in venturing into cable.”

Sony TV’s equal emphasis on broadcast and cable was a big draw for WME-repped Horta when deciding which TV studio to ally with. Additionally, the writer-producer, who was previously based at ABC Studios, said he liked Sony TV’s status as an independent producing for all networks. “I’m happy to have a home; it feels like the right place where I would be able to try different things and work with different networks.”

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