Ilana Peña
Meet the next generation’s go-to showrunner for Hollywood
Our latest and greatest episode features Ilana Peña, my fellow South Florida sister. We grew up near each other, hanging out in the same mall (when that’s what the cool kids used to do!), and we only pieced all of this together decades later after meeting here in LA.
So yes, Ilana holds a special place in my 954 heart.
She is the creator, showrunner, executive producer, and director of the critically-acclaimed, Emmy-nominated Diary of a Future President on Disney+. The two-season series has been called a “must-watch” by Parade, “wholly charming” by The AV Club, and “consistently sweet, authentic, and humorous” by Remezcla. It won "Best Latinx Show" from the Latino Media Awards in 2021, and was nominated for a GLAAD Award in 2021 and 2022.
Ilana was also named as a 2020 recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30: Hollywood and Entertainment, and honored in Variety's 2021 Inclusion Impact Report. Wow!
Ilana is continuing to develop projects through her overall deal at CBS Television Studios in addition to writing features for Universal Studios, Disney+, and 20th Century Studios, where she is penning the reboot of the 1988 film Working Girl, produced by Selena Gomez.
Gems from this episode include:
How Ilana became one of Hollywood’s youngest showrunners.
How she drew inspiration and authenticity from her 12-year-old self.
Why community is so important.
Tune in!
xx cg
“I say [be] loud and specific. You can’t just be loud and you can’t just mumble your specificity. You have to do both.”
- Ilana Peña
Episode Transcript
