Banijay Americas Launches Mexico-U.S. Hispanic Production Studio Led By Marie Leguizamo

Banijay Americas is launching a new production studio as part of an effort to address the growing demand for premium content for Latin American and U.S. Hispanic audiences. The new studio, labeled Banijay Mexico and U.S. Hispanic, will be based in both Mexico City and at Banijay America’s Los Angeles offices. It will focus on original content in both English and Spanish for broadcast, cable and streamers in the Mexican and U.S. Hispanic markets. 

Marie Leguizamo, an executive producer for some of the company’s top unscripted series over the last decade, will lead the new studio as its Managing Director. 

“Marie is perfectly suited for this role—she’s one of the most respected producers in this space, she has deep roots in both nations and is entrepreneurial at heart,” said Cris Abrego, Chairman of the Americas, Banijay and President and CEO, Endemol Shine Holdings, in announcing the launch and who would lead the new studio.

In 2019, Leguizamo, who is the sister of actor and comedian John Leguizamo, signed an overall development and executive producer deal with the company’s sister Mexico City-based studio Endemol Shine Boomdog. That division, which is led by CEO Alejandro Rincon, is behind unscripted and scripted shows such as ¿Quién Es La Mascara (Televisa/Univision), La Casa de los Famosos (Telemundo), Mira Quien Baila (Univision), Subete a Mi Moto (Amazon Prime AMZN ), Nicky Jam: El Ganador (Netflix NFLX ), among others. 

Leguizamo recently wrapped executive producing the third and fourth seasons of Boomdog and Amazon Prime’s Last One Laughing (LOL) with Eugenio Derbez and has served as the showrunner/EP on such Spanish-language hit series as La Voz Kids for Telemundo, Pequeños Gigantes USA and Mira Quién Baila.  

“It’s an incredibly exciting time in this space right now, with so many networks and emerging platforms looking to acquire premium programming,” said Leguizamo. “I thank Cris Abrego and our team for trusting me with this new role and I can’t wait to further establish Banijay as a leader in this territory.”