Master Class: Screenwriting with Linda Yvette Chávez

Join us for an in-depth conversation with writer, director, and showrunner Linda Yvette Chávez as we discuss the journey of creating fearless and impactful stories while maintaining personal and cultural integrity. Beginning her career as a prolific short filmmaker, Chávez has penned the Oscar-nominated Searchlight release Flamin’ Hot, winner of the 2023 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award, and created, directed, and wrote Netflix’s Peabody-nominated Gentefied. She is also the screenwriter behind America Ferrera’s feature directorial debut, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, in the works for Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios. A Q&A will follow the moderated conversation.

A networking mixer will immediately follow the master class at Adamus at The Silversmith Hotel (10 S. Wabash). Cash bar.

About Linda Yvette Chávez

Named one of the Top Latinas Changing the Game for Representation by Glamour Magazine, and recipient of Women In Films’ Crystal Award for Advocacy—creator, director, writer, showrunner, and producer Linda Yvette Chávez has emerged in the entertainment industry as a powerful voice for fearless and impactful stories. Chávez penned the Oscar-nominated Searchlight Pictures feature film Flamin’ Hot, directed by Eva Longoria. Flamin’ Hot is Longoria’s feature directorial debut and premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, winning the Audience Award. It was released on Disney+ and Hulu simultaneously, becoming Searchlight’s most-watched streaming film of all time. Chávez’s groundbreaking and award-nominated Netflix series Gentefied was praised for navigating larger themes of gentrification, and during its run was nominated for a prestigious Peabody Award, a GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, and ten Imagen Foundation Award nominations including Best Comedy Series and Best Directing for Chávez. In television, Chávez inked an overall deal with 20th Television, where she spent two years developing her own projects as well as executive producing other dramas and comedies created by diverse voices for all Disney platforms under her Andale Mija! Productions banner. Linda has also adapted the New York Times bestseller I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter into a feature film for Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios. The film will be America Ferrera’s feature directorial debut.

Hailing from Norwalk, California, Chávez developed her story writing talents while an undergrad at Stanford University. She went on to study Writing for Cinema and Television at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, earning her MFA and receiving the prestigious Jack Nicholson Award for merit in writing. Chávez serves on USC’s School of Cinematic Arts Alumni Leadership Council, joining other prestigious alumni in advising the school in its ongoing goals. She has served as a creative adviser for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab for the past five years. There, she provides support to independent storytellers by helping advance the development and production of their work.

Chávez is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and serves on the Writers Executive Branch Committee. She currently resides in the Los Angeles area.