Filipino Emmy-winning TV producer speaks up on why representation matters

LOS ANGELES -- Writer and producer Roxanne Paredes wants Filipinos like her to know that there is space for them in Hollywood.

This is what she stressed in an interview with ABS-CBN News’ Yong Chavez, where she also talked about her team's Emmy win for the drama thriller “Mr. Robot.”

“I don't like like doing interviews and stuff. I feel weird about it but the reason why I wanted to do it is because I thought that if there are young kids in the Philippines or even Filipinos here in America, I think it would be really good for them to see that there are people that look like them and that grew up like them, that are working in Hollywood,” she said.

“Mr. Robot,” the show where she worked on as a technology producer, won outstanding interactive extension of a linear program at the Creative Arts Emmys, where talents behind the scenes of the best TV shows are honored every year.

“I grew up in the Philippines. I left when I was 17… I went to high school there. I went to Woodrose in Muntinlupa. My parents, when I was younger, they didn't want me to leave because I was the baby. I was ‘bunso’ and so they wanted me to stay and buy the house down the street from them. But I wanted to do my own thing. I knew I wanted to be a writer, so I left went to college in the States,” Paredes said.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the award shows were hbeld virtually this year.

“We were watching and waiting, we had no idea. It was such a surprise honestly. It was such a surprise for me to even be nominated because it was my first show, and I was just very lucky that I got to work on this particular aspect,” she said.

Paredes worked for Pixar for five years as a technical artist before going to Hollywood.

When asked to define what a technical artist does, she said: “Basically, everyone who works on an animated film, creating the assets for the film except for the animation. So there are different kinds: there are the people who model the characters and sets, and then the people who light the scenes. There are lots of different departments.”

“What I specifically did was painting textures for characters and sets and then I also did 3D rendering for when you go to the movie theater and you wear the 3D glasses,” she added.

Paredes was recently hired as a writer for a Marvel TV show for Disney+. She’s also working on another show where she has pitched a story with a Filipino character.