Ignacio, Betty's father, faces problems because of his immigration status. Is that issue one that has affected you personally?
Well, just to a little bit of a degree. I have aunts and uncles that came from Cuba that were in Guantanamo for a certain point, and dealt with it. When I wrote the pilot, it wasn't the story I saw for [Ignacio]. But then when I sat down and we started talking, we were like, "This is really interesting and so topical, and it would be interesting to play out. How would a family respond to this? How would Betty respond to this?" It just seemed like an organic way to shape the character.
How did you get started writing and producing for television?
I got started in features. The first thing I ever did was a movie called Urban Legend. I was right out of college and got into the feature business, and that was the first movie that got made. I sold a few other movies, but none of them got made. Then I sort of shifted to television.
I had a couple of series which aired and were very well received, but nobody saw them. The first show was called The Chronicle, which was on the Sci-Fi Channel, and then a show called Jake 2.0 on UPN. Anyways, [they were] shows that I loved and nobody saw. So that was my first TV experience. Then I wanted to shift into stuff that was less "genre-y," with more character and comedy. I did a pilot last year on ABC which we shot, but didn't go forward. And now Betty, which has worked out [laughs].
Has it been a whirlwind for you? You must be pretty exhausted.
It's kind of crazy. I've only recently really started to enjoy it, because, you know, it's so hard. I can't even describe the process. It kills you! It's endless and relentless. Even after the show premiered, people would ask, "Aren't you happy?" "Are you excited?" I was like, "We've got a script to do! We have a cut to make! We got a note about this!" Now we are finding our groove, and I think things are just gelling. It's nice.
Have any of the notes you've received from the network been especially interesting?
Notes can be very good or they can be not so good. Sometimes you get a note and you're like, "That's obvious. Great. Thank you." Sometimes you just go, "Come on!" I had a note at one point [about] Amanda, the receptionist. When we see her in some scenes, directly with other characters, who is answering the phone? [laughs] An intern? I don't know! [laughs] Are you kidding me? Who is thinking that? Then we had to take up screen time to explain: "Oh, they got Julia the intern..." No [viewer] is going to ask that question.
Article comments
1 - Bill Sherman
Didn't recall that Horta was behind both The Chronicle and Jake 2.0 (the second makes particular sense given that Jake's lead has popped up on Betty). I dug both series, but I'm glad to see the guy striking it with this 'un.