#National Hispanic Media Coalition Releases Its First-Ever Media Guide for Storytellers (Exclusive)

As part of its ongoing mission to promote Latinx civil and human rights, the National Hispanic Media Coalition is releasing its first-ever media guide for storytellers in the entertainment industry.

“The media guide is an analysis for the entertainment industry to understand our community,” NHMC president and CEO Brenda Victoria Castillo tells The Hollywood Reporter, adding that the resource, which is available for free online, will be continually updated to reflect as the Latinx community evolves.

To wit: The guide opens with an explanation of Latino/a/x/e nomenclature, as well as their differentiation from the “Hispanic” identity. NHMC’s guide uses mostly “Latinx” throughout because of its gender neutrality, but advises people to ask individuals their preferred descriptors.

The guide calls for fewer stereotypical depictions of Latinx characters – “cholos,” service roles, no or limited dialogue – and more that reflect the community’s expansive range: Latinx in science fiction and fantasy; multiracial, multigenerational and multilingual families; and also narratives that explore the effects of colonization on Latinx people.

The media guide also delves into representation issues within the community, such as colorism, pointing out that white-passing and light-skinned Latinos have advantages in front of and behind the camera that their darker-skinned counterparts do not. “We’re Afro-Latino, Indigenous Latino, Asian Latino, LGBTQ,” says Castillo, noting that the intersectionality within the community was consulted in crafting the guide.

Alongside examples of diverse, authentic Latino screen representation – from Pose to What We Do in the Shadows to Encanto – the guide also offers solutions and resources on history, market research and current entertainment industry inclusion data about Latinos in the United States, as well as a list of questions that any storyteller can reflect on when developing Latinx characters: Do your Latinx characters contribute to the story’s main plot or have they been relegated to the outskirts? Do they have professional positions, including leadership roles? Do they reflect a range of skin tones and body types?

“Throughout my career I’ve found myself having to choose very wisely, to exclude myself from certain choices because I knew that my participation wouldn’t serve my community. That has put me in a position where I had to work less,” says The Last of Us star Gabriel Luna, a member of NHMC’s Visionary Alliance, adding that he also does not blame any actors who opt to make different choices in order to provide for themselves and their families. “So something like this [guide] would have been very helpful in dealing with certain creatives that are structuring these stories.”