Migdia Chinea Varela

Migdia Chinea-Varela (a.k.a. Migdia Chinea) is a Cuban-American screenwriter. She was a writer for the TV series The Incredible Hulk, The Facts of Life, Punky Brewster, and Superboy.[1][2]

In 1988 Chinea wrote an essay in Newsweek's "My Turn" column describing her experiences with minority quotas.[3] Later she filed a 138.6 million dollar class-action discrimination lawsuit against the WGAw and CBS in response to their implementation of a training program for minority writers that gave these trainees half pay.[4] According to Chinea's attorney Scott Myer, the problem was that "the only people who went through it weren't trainees, they were people who were experienced writers."[4]

As of 2011 Chinea is studying film as a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She wrote and directed the short film Anonymous (Street Meat) as part of an experimental film course. The four minute film, which is based on her experiences with faulty mortgage foreclosure notices,[5] was accepted to screen at the Cannes Short Film festival and earned an honorable mention at the California International Shorts Film Festival. Chinea hopes to be able to film a full length version.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ K L. Billingsley "`Voluntary' effort shuts out TV writer Hollywood puts Hispanics in second tier," Washington Times March 25 1997
  2. ^ Dipaolo, Marc (2011). War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film, p. 299. McFarland. ISBN 0786447184, 9780786447183
  3. ^ Chinea-Varela, Migdia. "My Life as a 'Two-Fer'." Newsweek Volume 112 (December 26, 1988).
  4. ^ a b Tara Copp "Hispanic writer suing CBS: Says minority program held her back" National Post [Don Mills, Ontario] March 7 2001
  5. ^ Cubias, Daniel (2011-11-06). "Are the Banks Still Coming for Your House?". Huffingtom Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cubias/are-the-banks-still-comin_b_1076388.html. Retrieved 2011-11-14. 
  6. ^ Taylor, Brittany. "Grad student Midgia Chinea's film 'anonymous (street meat)' selected for Cannes Short Film festival", Daily Bruin, May 25, 2011. Retrieved on October 2, 2011.
  7. ^ [http://www.nalip.org/LITI/2011/11_0816.html "Migdia Chineas NALIPster's film continues festival run"], Latinos In The Industry, August 16, 2011. Retrieved on December 3, 2011.

External links