Roberto Orci is not the noisiest Latino creative in Hollywood. He and his longtime writing partner Howard Kurtzman are quite the opposite: quiet, un-flashy, hard working, and pretty amazingly successful. It’s true that Orci’s been relatively silent when it comes to new output for the last few months, but a recent announcement or two should serve as a reminder: don’t forget about him. Orci may, in fact, be one of the most powerful creative forces in Hollywood, based on his track record alone, and he’s getting more productive with every passing year.
Consider that Orci, (born in Mexico, but a resident of the U.S. for most of his 38 years) has been feeding the pop-culture beast since he and his partner worked on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. It’s been a string of highly recognizable hits ever since–first and TV, then at the movies, and now both. He was a writer and/or producer of Alias, and more famous movies of recent vintage than you can count: The Legend of Zorro, Mission Impossible, Star Trek, Transformers, Cowboys and Aliens. Right now, Orci and Kurtzman are creators and connected to Fringe on FOX and Hawaii Five-O on CBS. They also sold two new pilots last season, neither one of which made the cut (though one, Locke & Key, may be revived by MTV). And now, after a few months of uncharacteristic silence, they’d sold their first–but probably not their last–project of the season to CBS: a “female-centered, character-driven drama,” written by Anna Fricke and based on author Robyn O’Brien’s work and writing as a an author, research, mother, and public advocate. The new show, interestingly enough, hasn’t got a smidgen of gunfire, space travel, or explosions. Instead, it centers on “a congresswoman, wife and mother who fights for the underdog.” Meanwhile Orci’s partner just finished directing his first feature, Welcome to People, which he and Orci co-wrote, and the two are also working with J.J. Abrams on the Star Trek sequel.
We tend to forget about the Latinos who are making history behind the scenes in Hollywood these days–the screenwriters, show-runners, producers and directors. But they’re in there pitching—some of them, literally—every day. So even if he’s quiet for a little while, you shouldn’t forget about Roberto Orci. It’s the quiet ones you have to watch…
