'We are tired': Read the open letter 270 fed-up Latinx writers just sent Hollywood

Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Leguizamo and "One Day at a Time" co-creator Gloria Gloria Calderón Kellett are among 270 showrunners, creators, television and film writers who are calling for systemic change in the entertainment industry in regard to Latinx artists.

The group of writers and producers outlined their concerns in an open letter to Hollywood written in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends today. "We are tired," they write.

In the letter, the signatories contend that "Hollywood power brokers are complicit in our exclusion," noting that just 4.7% of feature writers and 8.7% of TV writers are Latinx, despite making up 18.3% of the U.S. population overall. Among the five demands laid out in the letter, the writers note the importance of hiring more Latinx talent, including in in decision-making roles like creator/showrunner: "No stories about us without us."

The letter is part of an initiative started by the Untitled Latinx Project (ULP), an all-Latina advocacy group founded by Tanya Saracho, showrunner of the Starz drama "Vida," to increase representation of Latinx-created stories for television.

Read the full letter below.

Dear Hollywood,

As we come to the end of Hispanic Heritage Month in the midst of a global pandemic and continued racial injustice, many of us in the Latinx community have found it difficult to celebrate. Inspired by the activism of the Black and Indigenous communities, many of whom also identify as Latinx, we stand in solidarity with our fellow Black, Native and Indigenous writers, co-signing their WGAW Open Letters and echoing their demands for systemic change in our industry.

As Latinx Showrunners, Creators, TV and Feature Writers, we are incensed by the continued lack of Latinx representation in our industry, especially among the Black and Indigenous members of our community. Our stories are important, and our erasure onscreen contributes to the persistent prejudice that prevents real change in this country. This prejudice is not as overt as the one that keeps immigrant children in cages and separates families at the border, or as violent as the racism that is killing our Black, Brown, and Indigenous community members at the hands of police. But when we are onscreen, we're often relegated to stereotypes or villains. And as a recent New York Times OpEd​ states, “White elites cannot muffle a huge, vibrant community for decades and not expect consequences. For Latinos in the Trump era, these consequences are deadly, from Hurricane Maria to the Walmart shooting in El Paso and the pandemic, as well as soaring hate crimes.”

Writers create television and films, the arenas where national conversations about culture take place. But while Latinx are 18.3% of the U.S. population, we only make up 4.7% of feature writers and 8.7% of TV writers. As Latinx writers move up to Showrunner level, the stats only get more dismal.

By refusing to tell our stories AND by refusing to put us in charge of telling them -- Hollywood power brokers are complicit in our exclusion.

We are tired of Latinx projects being developed with no Latinx writer, director, or producer attached. We refuse to be filtered through a White perspective.

We are tired of hearing “we couldn’t find any Latinx writers to hire.”

We are tired of Latinx writers being asked to repeat Staff Writer and lower staffing levels, which not only ensures that we stay at those levels, but also helps perpetuate the narrative that Latinx writers don’t exist at the Showrunner and other upper levels.

We are tired of being painted with the same brush. We are made up of an array of backgrounds and ethnicities.

We are tired of stories that are only about our trauma. We contain multitudes.

We are tired.

Movement on this is critical. Inclusivity is not enough. We want action. Here are our demands:

1. No Stories About Us Without Us

Make room for us to tell our own stories. It is not enough to hire one Latinx writer and expect them to be the sole representative of a vast and heterogeneous group of people. Hire more of us. Listen to us. Put us in positions of power. Don't know how to find us? Reach out to the WGA, or go to one of the TV writer lists created by members of our community. (​La Lista​, The Latinx Writers​, Afro-Latinx List​)

If you’re a non-Latinx White writer and are offered a Latinx-centered project with no Latinx writer, director or producer at the helm, consider partnering up with someone who is, or even passing it on to and advocating for a Latinx writer. While we recognize that writers can tell stories about an array of voices and experiences, until the Latinx community is close to reaching parity, we need to be included in the telling of our own stories.

2. Greenlight Our Projects

Make a plan to reach demographic parity. It is not enough to buy our pilots, you must also greenlight them. Only a handful of pilots by Latinx writers are bought each year, and most of those are never made. Likewise, if studios, networks, and production companies were more intentional about hiring BIPOC executives, more of our stories would be championed to production. And with the recent commercial and critical success of Pose, One Day At A Time, Vida, and Gentefied, it’s clear Latinx stories find loyal audiences and receive accolades.

3. Represent All Aspects Of Our Lives And Culture

Make sure the projects you greenlight reflect the diversity of our population. We are a diaspora from more than 20 different countries. We are more than just White Latinx and Mestizxs. We are Black and Indigenous. We are LGBTQIA. We are Undocumented. We are Disabled. We have different religious backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. We are more than our trauma. We write stories of joy, origin stories, genre stories, children’s stories, and much more. We demand to be seen and heard in our entirety.

4. Do Away With Repeating Levels

In television writing, we want advancement of all writers and regular promotions like our non-Latinx White counterparts. For too long, BIPOC writers have had to remain at Staff Writer level for multiple years, either because they are dismissed as “diversity hires” or due to the loopholes that Diversity and Inclusion Programs have unintentionally helped foster. Our talent is wasted for years at the lower ranks, keeping us from Showrunner positions. Rather than hold us back, invest in our growth.

5. Hire Us For Non-Latinx Projects

We are able to write more than identity stories. In fact, our stories are also American stories, stories of resilience, of liberation, of hope. Stories of business owners chasing the American dream, little girls that one day will be president or work for NASA, war veterans, nurses, musical artists and fashionistas.

Because we are steeped in the dominant culture, we speak at least two, if not more, cultural languages, well versed in yours as much as we are in ours. Our voices and our perspective will undoubtedly enhance yours and that of all Americans. ______

We submit this open letter in good faith that you, as our peers and colleagues, will consider it, likewise. And we will continue to demand an industry that sees us, hears us, and values our contributions so that the world will do the same through the stories we tell.

Stories are powerful. Stories change the world. Let’s get on the right side of history so we can continue to create needed change and tell captivating stories together.

In solidarity,

Jim Adler

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Rafael Agustín

Martin Aguilera

Laura Alemán

Sofia Alexander

A.C. Allen

Sabrina Almeida

Katherine Alyse

Mando Alvarado

Tom Alvarado

Fede Alvarez

Bernie Ancheta

Lemon Andersen

Keith Antone

Eva Aridjis

Alberto Arvelo

Juan Avella

Davah Avena

Marcela Davison Avilés

Shawna Baca

Michelle Badillo

Oscar Balderrama

Alfredo Barrios Jr.

Cristine Beato

Luis Bello

Roberto Benabib

Elias Benavidez

Samuel Garza Bernstein

Tawnya Benavides Bhattacharya

Diana Mendez Boucher

Ivan Brandon

Angelina Brillon

Janine Brito

Gabriel Brugni

Ernie Bustamante

Adriana Caballero

Deborah Calla

Zach Cannon

Jess Camacho

Julia Camara

Marta Gené Camps

Steven Canals

Alexis Carra

Eric Carrasco

Maria Agui Carter

Rafael Casal

Mary Castellanos

Alejandra Castro Castillo

Natalie Chaidez

Franceli Chapman-Varela

Ashley Charbonnet

Hailey Chavez

Yvette Chávez

Eduardo Cisneros

Elisa Climent

Lynette Coll

Jessica Combs

Rosemary Contreras

Fernanda Coppel

Gonzalo Cordova

Eliza Jiménez Cossio

Chad Gomez Creasey

Elena Crevello

Victor De Jesus

Christina de Leon

KD Dávila

Annelise Dekker-Hernandez

Eugenio Derbez

Emmylou Diaz

Leyani Diaz

Alex Diaz

Daniel Dominguez

Alan Dybner

Jessica Elaina Eason

Maria Escobedo

Felipe Esparza

Jessica Esteves

Morgan Faust

Juan Carlos Fernandez

Jonathan Fernandez

Dani Fernandez

Danny Fernandez

Cyrina Fiallo

Carlos Foglia

Claudia Forestieri

Kelly DeLeon Fullerton

Omaira Galarza

Zoila Amelia Galeano

Chris Garcia

Alexis C. Garcia

Priscila Garcia-Jacquier

Kim Garland

Valentina Garza

Esti Giordani

Lindy Gomez

Isaac Gomez

Jenniffer Gómez

Tony Gomez

Isaac Gonzalez

Megan Gonzalez

Eddie Gonzalez

Joe Gonzalez

Talia Gonzalez

Javier Grillo-Marxuach

Julia Ahumada Grob

Hilliard Guess

Jen Gutierrez

Brandt Hamilton

Erica Harrell

Eli Hernandez

Tara Hernandez

Dan Hernandez

Felicia Hilario

Joe Hortua

Monet Hurst-Mendoza

Michael Jones-Morales

Kira Kalush

Aubrey Villalobos Karr

Gloria Calderon Kellett

Julian Kiani

Brenna Kouf

Laura Jean Leal

Gisselle Legere

John Leguizamo

Marvin Lemus

Luisa Leschin

Benjamin Lobato

Leah Longoria

Eric Reyes Loo

Kamala Lopez

Niki Lopez

Josefina Lopez

Chelsey Lora

Phil Lord

Jenny Lorenzo

Marcos Luevanos

Gabriela Revilla Lugo

Al Madrigal

Michele Saenz Marburger

Hiram Martinez

Joseph I Martinez

Marcelena Campos Mayhorn

Cesar Mazariegos

David Mazzarri

Annie Mebane

Erik Francisco Medina

Vivien Mejia

Nancy Mejía

Natalia Mejía

Kimberly Mercado

Delondra Mesa

Brittany Miller

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Diego Molano

Jose Molina

Adrian Molina

Ana Maria Montoya

Lisa Morales

Natalie Morales

Jimmy Mosqueda

Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz

Peter Murrieta

Judalina Neira

GiGi Rios New

Jessie Nickson-Lopez

Christina Nieves

Jeffrey Nieves

Miguel Nolla

Silvia Olivas

Taylor Orci

Evangeline Ordaz

Sierra Teller Ornelas

Katrina Cabrera Ortega

Jordi Ortega

Lauren Otero

Emilio Ortega Aldrich

Edgar Pablo

Carolina Paiz

Ashley Soto Paniagua

Grace Parra

Roberto Patino

Ilana Peña

Kase Peña

Davy Perez

Jorge C. Perez

Raymond Perez

Jesse Peyronel

Tatiana Suarez Pico

Christina Piña

Jess Pineda

Omar Ponce

Jessica Poter

Desiree Proctor

Cheryl Puente

Miguel Puga

Christina Pumariega

Victor Quinaz

Ariana Quiñónez

Christina Quintana

Marina Quintero

Marco Ramirez

Jorge Ramirez-Martinez

Emma Ramos

Vanessa Ramos

Naima Ramos-Chapman

Nicki Renna

Jorge Reyes

Liz Rivera

Jorge Rivera

Carolina Rivera

Jacqui Rivera

Henry Robles

Eric Robles

Veronica Rodriguez

Gladys Rodriguez

Dailyn Rodriguez

Aida Rodriguez

Leah Benavides Rodriguez

Marlena Rodriguez

Maria Elena Rodriguez

Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez

Carlito Rodriguez

Pamela Garcia Rooney

Talia Rothenberg

Jesenia Ruiz

Paula Sabbaga

Marcial Rios Salcido

Danielle Sanchez-Witzel

Nancy De Los Santos

Tanya Saracho

Janine Salinas Schoenberg

Yamin Segal

Alfredo Septién

Norma Sepulveda

Sergio Serna

Aaron Serna

Shea Serrano

Ranada Shepard

Spiro Skentzos

Beto Skubs

Francesca Sloane

Charise Castro Smith

Rebecca Delgado Smith

Natalie Mercedes Smyka

Debra Moore Muñoz

Itu Sosa

Sasha Stroman

Robert Sudduth

Linda Sweigart

Gabriela Tagliavini

Charo Toledo

Danny Tolli

Christine Torres

Orlando Torres

Oskar Toruno

Joshua Troke

Mark Valadez

Noelle Valdivia

Laura Valdivia

Mercedes Valle

Evette Vargas

Joe Vargas

Celeste Vasquez

Mellori Velasquez

Lindsey Villarreal

Adrian Viña

Debby Wolfe

Lia Woodward

Moisés Zamora

Michal Zebede

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.