(Photo : Reuters)

Latinos in Hollywood are becoming rare and even the roles that they played in the different films and movies are seen to be stereotyped as villains, maid, or just one of the minor characters. 

In the previous post of Latin Post, it was found out that only 4 percent were made by Latinos out of more than 1,200 films created in Hollywood. And only 1 Latina directed a film out of 1,335 films. Indeed, Latinos are becoming rare in Hollywood.

However, 2020 is expected to give a big change to the Latinos and Latinas in Hollywood because of the acquisition of the nation's one of the Latino-owned film studios. 

The Los Angeles Times reports that the big film studios are owned by Ozzie Areu, a son of a Cuban immigrant who grew up in the Burbank. The studio is just miles away from his family's modest house. Areu did not plan to manage a film studio because all he dreamed to be when he was a child is to be a cop. However, after he took a job as a security in the Warner Bros., that was the time that got the film bug. 

He named the film studio as Areu Bros., which is located in Atlanta and it occupies a 60-acre where he plans to turn it to an inclusive media campus that champions Latino, women, and other underrepresented groups in the entertainment industry. He also plans not only to venture in motion pictures and TV but also in digital streaming, music, and gaming that goes beyond old Hollywood stereotypes and shallow tokenism.

Areu said that he wants to see the minorities in different roles not just as mechanics or maids. He added, "I feel I have a unique opportunity to build a media company made up of people who reflect the world that we live in." 

The Areu Bros., the film studio is located southwest Atlanta where it is mainly occupied by the Blacks and not in Los Angeles where half of the population are Latinos. This is because the studio he owned today was once owned by his former boss Tyler Perry who made millions of dollars in making commercial blockbusters for the Blacks.

Areu left his job in 2018 as the President of Tyler Perry's studio in the hope that he can extend the same business model as with Perry across a broader cross-section for minority and female voices. However, Areu said that he does not restrict himself to Latino and women audiences. 

He said that they will not only be producing movies and films about Latinos and women. He added "There will be some, but even in those stories, you're going to need white American males and you're going to need a little bit of everything. The most important thing is the substance and authenticity of the story." 

The head of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers Benjamin Lopez said that while it is surprising to see a Latino playing a leading role in the Deep South Play, it somehow makes a logical sense. Lopez said "His studio is a breakthrough, watershed moment for Latinos in the U.S. and globally and what he's doing is investing in US-based Latinos and giving this generation of talent a shot in the arm, an opportunity to prove themselves and show their work is profitable. That's going to signal to the studios: Guess what? This dude is taking a chance already. He's first dollar in."