Banijay’s Mexico and US Hispanic arm unveils initial slate, makes first hires

Banijay America’s recently launched Mexico and US Hispanic label, led by managing director Marie Leguizamo, has unveiled its first projects and begun recruiting as it gears up to open offices and studio space in Mexico City.

Marie Leguizamo

The new outfit has signed a deal with US singer and actress Becky G to produce an unscripted documentary series following the all-female Latin group ANGEL22. The as-yet-untitled series will be coproduced with 2WS Films, with Becky G serving as an executive producer and also appearing on camera.

Banijay Mexico & US Hispanic also revealed it will produce the next season of Amazon’s unscripted series LOL: Last One Laughing in Mexico for Prime Video.

In addition, the label is creating a Latin American production hub for the series, based in Mexico City and overseen by Leguizamo, who has served as executive producer and showrunner for the past three seasons of the show’s Mexican version.

Leguizamo has also begun to build up her team, with veteran unscripted producer Andrea Hülsz joining as executive director of physical production, Miguel Sanchez as director of development and Fernanda Ruiz as manager of development.

Hülsz joins from fellow Banijay-owned studio Endemol Shine Boomdog, where she has spent the past decade producing series such as Big Brother, Nailed It Mexico (Netflix), LOL: Last One Laughing Mexico (Amazon) and Nicky Jam: El Ganador (Netflix).

Sanchez was previously with CMF Media, a production company he co-founded, and prior to that was a format developer for Cristina Palacio’s production company Alibi.

Ruiz, meanwhile, is a writer, producer and podcaster and in 2015 co-founded Kaptura Projects, a studio focused on developing and producing original content projects.

The announcement comes just ahead of the opening of the label’s first offices and studio space. The company, based in Mexico City and at Banijay Americas’ headquarters in LA, is focused on developing and producing original content in Spanish and English for broadcast, cable and streamers in the Mexican and US Hispanic markets.

Before being tapped to lead Banijay Mexico and US Hispanic, Leguizamo was an executive producer and showrunner on multiple unscripted projects for more than a decade. In 2019, she signed an overall development and executive producer deal with Endemol Shine Boomdog, owned by Banijay.

In addition to her work on the Mexican version of LOL: Last One Laughing, Leguizamo also recently served as showrunner and executive producer on La Voz Kids for Telemundo and Univision’s Pequeños Gigantes USA and Mira Quien Baila.

“Since we first announced the creation of Banijay Mexico and US Hispanic late last year, we’ve hit the ground running and I couldn’t be more excited about our initial slate of programming, the tremendous talent we are in business with including Becky G and the experienced team that we have assembled,” said Leguizamo.