As news is still sinking in of President Trump’s decision yesterday to end the DACA program that protects undocumented immigrants who had been brought over to the U.S. as children, the CW is developing an hourlong dramedy about the family of a teenager in a similar situation. Titled Illegal, it is one of two projects Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez has sold as a producer in her first development cycle under an overall deal at CBS TV Studios for her I Can & I Will Productions. The other, Have Mercy, is a medical drama at CBS based on the German format Dr. Illegal. Rodriguez executive produces both projects with I Can & I Will development executive Emily Gipson.
I Can & I Will also has other projects in the works at CBS Studios, including a series adaptation of LA Story — the 1991 romantic fantasy comedy-drama feature written by and starring Steve Martin and directed by Mick Jackson — in conjunction with Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta of Gaeta Rosenzweig Films, and a drama based on the novel Flood Girls which they are executive-producing alongside Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and writer Corinne Brinkerhoff.
Illegal is written/co-executive produced by Jane the Virgin scribe Rafael Agustin based on his real-life experience. The Ecuador-born Agustin grew up in America, and it was not until high school when he learned that, like his parents, he was undocumented. Illegal is described as a light one-hour about sixteen-year-old Rafael. He is a charming but bumbling high school student just trying to survive puberty. But when this all-American teenager discovers that he is not American at all, his perfect Honor Roll world is turned upside down.
Written/executive produced by Queen Of the South co-executive producer Dailyn Rodriguez, Have Mercy centers around a Latina doctor unable to practice when she immigrates to Miami who begins work as a nurse’s assistant, but risks everything when she opens a makeshift clinic in her apartment to serve the community. Also executive producing are Intrigue Entertainment’s Tariq Jalil and Lucas Carter.
I Can & I Will also has other projects in the works at CBS Studios, including a series adaptation of LA Story — the 1991 romantic fantasy comedy-drama feature written by and starring Steve Martin and directed by Mick Jackson — in conjunction with Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta of Gaeta Rosenzweig Films, and a drama based on the novel Flood Girls which they are executive-producing alongside Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and writer Corinne Brinkerhoff.
Illegal is written/co-executive produced by Jane the Virgin scribe Rafael Agustin based on his real-life experience. The Ecuador-born Agustin grew up in America, and it was not until high school when he learned that, like his parents, he was undocumented. Illegal is described as a light one-hour about sixteen-year-old Rafael. He is a charming but bumbling high school student just trying to survive puberty. But when this all-American teenager discovers that he is not American at all, his perfect Honor Roll world is turned upside down.
Written/executive produced by Queen Of the South co-executive producer Dailyn Rodriguez, Have Mercy centers around a Latina doctor unable to practice when she immigrates to Miami who begins work as a nurse’s assistant, but risks everything when she opens a makeshift clinic in her apartment to serve the community. Also executive producing are Intrigue Entertainment’s Tariq Jalil and Lucas Carter.
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