If you’re one of the millions of Latinos who grew up watching Spanish telenovelas with your parents, you’re familiar with the wild tales the 30- to 45-minute soaps are known to spin over the better part of a year. Dramatic clips from popular ’80s and ’90s novelas are staples on diaspora- and nostalgia-themed social media accounts. Still, in the time of reels and streaming, the notion of investing that much time and attention into a single story seems like a quaint memory of a bygone era.
Minivela, a platform for short-form telenovelas aimed at younger audiences, seeks to capitalize on the form’s popularity while adapting to today’s media demands. The project is based in Miami and backed by some industry heavyweights: Cuban and Puerto Rican actor Carlos Ponce, who has built his career not only in the world of Spanish soap operas, but across Hollywood in hits like ABC’s 2014 sitcom Cristela and the 2009 comedy film Couples Retreat; and Manny Ruiz, cofounder of Brilla Media and former CEO of Hispanicize Media Group, a digital platform telling Latino stories, which actor John Leguizamo purchased in 2019.
In scouring ideas for their next business venture, Ruiz and his wife landed on an interesting concept growing in popularity in China: short, bite-size dramas filmed for reels across social media, with some garnering more views than contemporary box office hits. Ruiz and Ponce got to work on developing the idea, structuring Minivela not just as a one-off experiment, but as a scalable platform that could become the go-to space for short-form Latino storytelling. They saw an opportunity to utilize familiar tropes — steamy love triangles, evil siblings, shocking betrayals — in a format fit for the mobile screen. Crucially, they thought the platform could allow nascent Miami creatives to break into film and TV production.
“We feel we have an opportunity to bridge those gaps for Latinos that never get to see themselves in Hollywood, giving them one step closer to longer form series and films,” Ruiz tells New Times. “Yes, we’re having fun producing content that can go viral, but just as importantly, we’re testing stories that will be able to work for larger, future streamer deals.”
The team behind Minivela — which is now streaming its summer programming on YouTube, including its most viewed recent video, “Cholita Takes L.A.” — says Minivela aims to create accessible entry points for up-and-coming Latino filmmakers, actors, and writers in the South Florida market.
“Miami doesn’t have the culture or the depth yet, but it has the most gorgeous backdrop — so many stories, so many cultures — that it’s begging to have Minivela championed and produced here,” says Ruiz. “We’ve eliminated the need to have a half-million or million-dollar production to make it happen. We are democratizing filmmaking in a place that doesn’t have traditional financial support.”
Ponce has taken a hands-on role both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. “I was deeply attracted to Minivela because it truly represents a beacon of hope, experimentation, and opportunities for Latino creatives at a time when the Hollywood system is undergoing a much-needed reboot,” he tells New Times. “Producing the Minivela is a true blend of traditional filmmaking and social media content creation. Both disciplines are essential. The core, however, is storytelling that is compelling and relevant.”
The company has also recruited content creators with a proven track record of attracting audiences in the new media landscape. Among those collaborators are Ecuadorian influencer and actress Haydita Veloz — who boasts more than four million loyal followers on TikTok — and Alexander Arias, better known by his online alias “Mr. Red.” Known for his offbeat comedy about the trenches of Cuban-American life in Miami, Arias is stepping into slightly different roles with Minivela, from exploring his dramatic range to cultivating local talent.
“The way I started in my career, I wasn’t finding film opportunities or auditions in Miami,” Arias explains. “Then I realized every single video I post on social media is just a different audition with a different character. I couldn’t get an audition, so if I waited for auditions to come around, I’d be waiting a long time. What I realized was that every single day, I can have an audition — I just had to film it and post that audition, and people could view it. And that’s what this is doing for other creatives.”
