LA LISTA: A Latinx Writers Podcast

A NO SABO ECUADORIAN-AMERICAN SAD BOY WRITER FROM QUEENS Christopher Moncayo-Torres shares growing up Ecuadorian American in Queens as a recovering no sabo and latchkey kid, discovering writing through college creative writing classes and New York theater spaces, building community through The Moth and Fail Better Arts, turning his relationship with his dad into the Hollywood Fringe show No Sabo , and bringing both parents onstage in Before It's Too Late to explore family, language, loneliness, and what it means to be seen. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: A rainy Labor Day weekend ruins Thulio's beach fantasy, Animal enters the LA gay bar group chat, Olive Garden becomes a Mid-City gay haven with bottle service and an iPad baby, Stella Lefty is not beating the nepo-baby theft allegations, and HBO's Lanterns turns a gay Green Lantern into Yellowstone cosplay. Plus a Punch-Up on letting the Harry Potter reboot die already... and giving Brittany Murphy the Oscar she was owed. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A CHILANGA MOM WRITER Natalia Mejía shares growing up in Mexico City, starting her TV career straight out of college writing Mexican telenovelas, moving to Los Angeles to get her MFA at UCLA and learn to write in English while keeping her voice, working in U.S. rooms like Snowfall and FBI: International , and exploring motherhood, contradiction, and women caught between worlds in her work. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio makes his triumphant WeHo return and somehow wakes up in Glendale, Rubén gets accused of dining & dashing at Dave & Buster's, a pool day delivers Scorpio slander and a blown-out floatie, Margaret Qualley lets the dogs out in chopped Chanel, and Paramount's Warner Bros. Discovery bid becomes a billionaire hostage negotiation. Plus a Punch-Up on BYOT pool-party etiquette... and AirPods so bad they become anti-tech propaganda. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A MAGICALLY REALISTIC, QUEER COLOMBIAN LATINÉ WRITER MAKES AN ATTEMPT Dylan Guerra shares growing up queer and Colombian in Miami, being raised by artist parents in a world of improv, stand-up, and DIY theater, finding his voice after moving to New York and writing the wildly personal solo show Find Him , getting staffed on The Other Two , and using ghosts, monsters, grief, comedy, and queer Latine mythos to build his own version of American folktale. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio fights Karl the Fog at Outside Lands, Slayyyter saves a flop summer with "Brand New Chanel," Heated Rivalry casting discourse demands meat on the bones, Rubén turns Greg Araki's I Want Your Sex into an AMC Burbank side quest, and streamers double down on their video-podcast content-churn era. Plus a Punch-Up on job interviews with more rounds than Interview with the Vampire... and Black and Brown creatives whose indie projects somehow still have all-white casts. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A QUEER LATIN AMERICAN WRITER-DIRECTOR Fiorella Vescovi shares growing up in Montevideo, Uruguay, feeling trapped until sports opened a path to the U.S., driving from Missouri to Los Angeles with emo music and black nails, finding herself beyond acting by falling in love with writing and directing, joining the queer series And Also With You , and turning her father's experience during Uruguay's dictatorship into the tender LALIFF/Netflix-supported short Pilotos de Papel . Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio becomes a gay cowboy ghost-story extra, free LA archery turns him into Katniss Everdeen, Rubén finds artistic hope at a queer film night at Akbar, Comic-Con throws every Ryan into the MCU, and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey somehow makes Ancient Greece straight. Plus a Punch-Up on the gay guide to escalator etiquette... and late-stage capitalism turning everyone at LAX into the villain. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A MEXICAN-AMERICAN WRITER AND ARMY VETERAN FROM CHICAGO Jon-Alexander Genson shares growing up Mexican-American in northern Illinois, joining the Army to escape his hometown before a deployment to Guantanamo Bay helped him start accepting who he was, studying creative writing at Illinois State, breaking in through the Writers Guild Foundation's Veteran Writing Project and Support Staff Training Program, co-writing an episode of FBI: Most Wanted , and exploring masculinity, shame, and outsiders stumbling toward self-awareness in his work. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio survives The Abbey phone-theft industrial complex, Rubén's office job turns him into a fluorescent-lit shell of a woman, Love Island signs off and World Cup brain rot clocks in, Erling Haaland becomes the internet's strangest tall king, and The Great LA Exodus has everyone asking whether the dream is still worth the rent. Plus a Punch-Up on FIFA refs choosing favorites... and Riverside, the AI podcasting hellbox holding us hostage. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP LATINX WRITER Lisa Quintela shares growing up Cuban-American between New Jersey, Miami, and New York, how her parents' harrowing escape from Cuba shaped her drive and storytelling, moving from Tisch-trained actor to journalist to lawyer before writing a pilot about her family that brought her to LA, breaking into TV on The L Word: Generation Q , and using her legal background and love of exposing hidden rot in shows like The Lincoln Lawyer and CBS's Matlock . Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio returns from Gilmore Girls country and enters his World Cup Brazilian era, Rubén turns 35 and discovers his head is now extra-wide at Warby Parker, a queer vaquero fundraiser cracks the TikTok marketing code, Love Island takes over the algorithm, and the feed is fake but the clips are forever. Plus a Punch-Up on airlines forcing broke bitches to gate-check their carry-ons... and politicians letting data centers and toxic fires get way too comfortable in our neighborhoods. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro (New) Portable Projector with Multi-Angle Stand Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A GRATEFUL, CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC, IN-HIS-HEAD, OCD LATINX WRITER Eugene Garcia-Cross shares growing up half Puerto Rican in Erie, Pennsylvania, feeling like the Latino kid in his hometown and the gringo cousin in Puerto Rico, trading a decade in academia for a last-chance leap into TV writing, breaking in through the NBC Writers Program and writer's PA jobs, and finding his old-school sitcom dream on NBC's Happy's Place . Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Corporate Pride is dead (but the Chase Sapphire rainbow logo lives in our hearts), Thulio dodges the WeHo Pride tax, Rubén hits Club Cobra and begs DJs to let a song breathe, the LA mayoral race takes a post-Spencer Pratt breath, and Unc cinema faces the rise of Gen Z excellence. Plus a Punch-Up on Y2K parties with no whimsy... and nosy gays turning open vs. monogamous relationship discourse into a courtroom drama. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A CUBADORIAN WRITER-ACTION DIRECTOR Michelle Salcedo shares growing up Cuban and Ecuadorian in Miami, turning her parents' immigrant love story into creative fuel, finding her voice through years of writing features at the library, making her Sundance-supported short ' Cinnamon Skin ,' breaking into action with her feature ' Switch and Bait ,' and exploring why her work keeps returning to underestimated heroes, complicated morality, and the cost of freedom. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio gets spit-roasted by ailments, Brown & Out 8 has its final-final encore at the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, Akbar delivers DFMO antics, Gen Z boos AI and war criminals at commencement, and Gen Z filmmakers take over the box office with Obsession and Backrooms . Plus a Punch-Up on NPCs asking too damn much... and Spectrum, AT&T, and every other company failing to provide the service we're literally paying for. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A LATINO WRITER WHO WOULD LIKE EVERYTHING TO BE 10% WEIRDER, THANK YOU Alberto Roldán shares growing up Puerto Rican in rural central Pennsylvania, having his artistic world cracked open by Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia , detouring through Northwestern, NPR, and political work, navigating the long road to his first staff job, learning when to let the clown play before the professor takes over, and bringing his love of weird, thoughtful entertainment to Apple TV's Widow's Bay . Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio gets fed and read at Courier Cumbia, Rubén goes full wilderness girlie at Point Mugu, Brown & Out 8 gets a free encore at the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, Instagram launches "Instants" for some reason, and AI discourse hits Hacks , The Comeback , and our last nerve. Plus a Punch-Up on the DACA renewal backlog... and a punch-around on bad beard lines, AI Met Gala delusion, and people checking their Apple Watches mid-conversation. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Free Tix for Brown & Out 8 on May 24th! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream

A DRIVEN LATINA WRITER Christina Piña shares growing up in a loud Cuban-American Miami household, secretly applying to USC against her dad's wishes, cutting her teeth through years of assistant jobs before breaking in through the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program, rising from staff writer to supervising producer, breaking down strategies for how Latino writers can survive in a shifting industry, and writing on the new Miami-set NBC/Peacock series M.I.A. ! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

This week: Thulio survives a UTI (Rat Beach will pay for its crimes), summer is coming (Lorde hive rise), The Devil Wears Prada 2 review, Beyoncé Act III conspiracy theories, and TV fellowship season is among us... let's get in formation. Plus a Punch-Up on looksmaxxers... and immigrant stories that still treat us like set dressing. La Lista Podcast host Rubén Mendive and writer Thulio DaSilva ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Tower 28 SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream