MICHELLE REYES IS NOT OKAY FOLLOWS THE AWKWARD TRIBULATIONS AND WILD EXPERIENCES OF MICHELLE REYES, A MODERN-DAY AFRO LATINA TRYING TO MAKE IT IN THE HEIGHTS WHILE OVERCOMING A WORKPLACE MELTDOWN.
“ It creates an excellent sense of the Heights, as distinct a version of ‘Latinx New York neighborhood’ as Parks & Rec’s Pawnee was for small towns.”
- The BLACK LIST.
Over 100,000 Dominicans call Washington Heights their home, making them New York City’s largest minority population. But in the past decade, hundreds of local businesses have been shut down. The gentrifying Heights is turning into the Williamsburg of uptown Manhattan. There’s more places to get a Caffè Latte than a Café con Leche. The neighborhood drugstore has become a mega sized pharmacy in a Latinx community underserved by mental health services. And as high rise luxury condos are soaring to the skies Dominicans are being displaced.
YET MICHELLE REYES HAS RETURNED HOME.
AND SHE IS HERE TO STAY.
THE STORY.
MICHELLE REYES WAS BORN TO HELP PEOPLE.
After getting fired for lashing out at co-workers and giving patients questionable advice at a renowned therapy practice in Connecticut, very burnt out AfroDominican therapist MICHELLE REYES moves back home to Uptown’s Dominican neighborhood Washington Heights and starts over. Except, Michelle was the kid who “made it out the hood” and feels too ashamed to be seen as anything other than the poster child, so she lies and says she’s “expanding the practice.”
MICHELLE REYES IS NOT OKAY follows Michelle’s journey as she starts a therapy practice under false pretenses and in the Heights of all places, where people just don’t go to therapy
Even with help from her cousin-from-the-block DORA and her childhood friend/bodega heir NIÑO, Michelle struggles to pierce the fierce resistance in the community to what’s seen as a service “for crazy people” and “just not for me.” Just as she’s ready to throw the towel in and come clean about her piling lies, Michelle gets what she wanted all along when her old Connecticut boss surprisingly offers Michelle her job back, applauding her “culturally relevant” business savvy, but Michelle’s torn: should she go back to Connecticut and pretend the “expansion” didn’t work—and sell out? Or stay and serve as the sole, struggling therapist in the community she calls home—and give up on her American Dream?
THE HEIGHTS HAS CHANGED.
The podcast series tackles the neighborhood’s gentrification while tapping into themes of female friendship, Latinx identities and surviving in a multicultural hub. It portrays immigrant communities through the lens of Michelle’s practice and life struggles as well as showcases the myriad and sometime hilarious personalities that inhabit this part of town.
BEFORE SHE CAN CALL IT HOME, MICHELLE MUST GET TO KNOW THE HEIGHTS ALL OVER AGAIN.
The Podcast
The population of Latinos continues to rise in the United States and yet the underutilization of mental health services in Latinx families has been a growing concern in research and clinical practices. In other words: LATINOS DON’T DO THERAPY. There are various reasons this is so: availability, accessibility, lack of insurance, time, child care, transportation, cultural factors and an overall distrust that is usually followed by a ‘OYE, WHY YOU ALL UP IN MY BUSINESS.’
Listeners will be introduced to the neighborhood through the therapy couch (a.k.a. Michelle’s awkwardly wallpapered office or any other location a particular patient feels comfortable meeting at).
Spanglish
is part of the hood. Michelle’s fluidity in Spanglish gives listeners a taste of the language that is used by many second generation Latinx.
Dora is a doer, known in the community for her sassy bluntness, constant hustle and greasing palms to get what she wants. Niño, Michelle’s childhood crush, has just taken over his father’s bodega shop and feuds with both his competitors and his customers. Both help Michelle set up her practice above Niño’s bodega.
The podcast’s core premise is going back home to rebuild one’s life—but reset with an Afro Latinx cast and an urban backdrop that give it new life and surprises.
THE SHOW PROVIDES A HILARIOUS AND INSIGHTFUL GLIMPSE INTO THE DOMINICAN AMERICAN GEN Z EXPERIENCE AND THE NUANCES OF IDENTITY IN AMERICA.
This serial comedy podcast will capture a vibrant, female-centered world and its off-brand relatable humor by tuning into Michelle's and Dora's converging life paths and weaving in neighborhood sounds and characters.
MADE BY AN AWARD-WINNING TEAM OF BIPOC AND ALLIES CREATORS, MICHELLE REYES IS NOT OKAY WILL HOOK AN AUDIENCE INTERESTED IN LISTENING TO FUN MEANINGFUL STORIES THAT BREAK STEREOTYPES.
The characters.
With a PsyD from Yale
by the age of 30, Michelle Reyes
was used to being the top of her class, but when she opens a therapy practice in the Heights and struggles, she learns what failure looks like for the first time—and then over and over and over again. Luckily, her cousin Dora’s got her back – they grew up together and may as well be sisters, especially since Dora’s gotten so close to Michelle’s mom. Michelle pretends it doesn’t bother her. It does. Michelle’s always vyed for her emotionally unavailable mother’s attention, burning herself out trying to always present her best self, be perfect, and show off her smarts. As a result, Michelle over intellectualizes everything, but that's not how to reach clients or family in the Heights. As she toggles her professional and personal identities, she has a long road of setbacks before she reevaluates what she considers success and realizes she was enough all along. Michelle Reyes is not okay, but she will be.
Where in the Heights is
Doralis Lopez ?
Dora is the outgoing motor-mouthed yin to her cousin Michelle’s more reserved and soft-spoken yang. Dora does everything with a capital BIG: BIG personality, BIG dreams, and BIG parties. She’s street-smart with untapped book-smart potential, and is always high-spirited but also very spiritual, actively practicing the Dominican Republic’s syncretic religion 21 Divisiones. Dora’s recently been exploring her sensitive side as her new relationship with her girlfriend Ceci continues to grow. After joining the Washington Heights Community Board for the local restaurant and club perks, Dora realizes she can use her power to stop a new noise ordinance from being passed in the Heights that threatens the fabric of its place and people– and it’s the first time Dora is demanding to be taken seriously. When it comes to helping her cousin Michelle grow her therapy practice, Dora’s got her back and dives into her well of connections to support Michelle’s new endeavor. These two cousins have a sisterly bond that is impossible to break– although it’s nearly fracturedy by Dora’s close relationship with Michelle’s usually apathetic mother.
Niño Ventura
owns the local bodega and has had a crush on Michelle since they were kids. Niño’s dreams of being a professional gamer were put on pause when he inherited the bodega after his father’s sudden passing. Now he struggles with living up to his father’s name in the eyes of the community, competing with the new organic food markets opening up in the neighborhood, and making decisions about his future, such as…does he even want to own a bodega? Niño wants to fill his father’s shoes, but what he needs is to get out from under his father’s shadow. The surprise return of Michelle to The Heights distracts Niño from the career purgatory he feels stuck in: Niño feared he was slowly becoming the cranky and hot-tempered bodega owner his father used to be, but around Michelle, Niño is personable, funny, and maybe even a little charming. He even offers her an empty office space in the store for her therapy practice. Michelle sees Niño as a kind hearted bodega boy next door but pretends to be oblivious to his secret affection for her.
Washington Heights
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS is a neighborhood in the northern portion of Manhattan aka WAYYY Uptown. At its highest point, you could throw a rock and it would land in the Bronx. It used to be a place that people who got priced out of everywhere else in Manhattan would move to because the rents were still reasonable. But to the Latino Community, specifically Dominicans, Washington Heights has become its core community and political base. The migration of Dominicans into this section of the city has resulted in the culturally vibrant and bachata blasting neighborhood it has become today. OUTLANDISH showcases this neighborhood through sound design every time Michelle visits a new patient at their apartment, their job, an authentic Latino food restaurant, or any one of its many parks. I mean, you couldn’t recreate this in Vancouver. The Heights is a big part of what makes Michelle appreciate where she came from and who she is.
The Team
Jaime Fernandez. Creator, Co-EP, Writer
Jaime Fernandez is the co-founder and hear writer of the comedy troupe Room 28, who were featured on NBC’s 2019 comedy competition series ‘BRING THE FUNNY’ and were also the first comedy troupe that were attached to Broadway Video’s online comedy channel ‘Mas Mejor.’
Wendy Muñiz. Creator, Co-EP, Writer
Creative producer, scriptwriter, visual artist, and educator. A Dominican immigrant and first-generation student, she obtained a PhD in Latin American Cultures from Columbia University and is the cofounder of Zero Chill. Her work as a producer has received the support of Ibermedia, DGCine (Dominican Republic), CNCINE (Ecuador), IMCINE (Mexico), and the Tribeca Film Institute, traveling worldwide from BAFICI, Dok Leipzig, and Montréal World Cinema to Colcata IFF, Sao Paulo, and Zlín. She is a graduate of the EAVE Producers Workshop and an Andrew W. Mellon fellowship alumni for her work as a researcher and educator.
Guillermo Zouain. Creator, Co-EP, Writer
A Dominican-American producer, director, and editor. He received an MFA in film directing from the ESCAC and is cofounder at Zero Chill. When not producing, Guillermo regularly creates content for Complex, Uninterrupted, the United Negro College Fund, and the National Literacy Project. His films have traveled worldwide through sales agents like M-Appeal and distributors that include Amazon. He also enjoys working as a creative producer for emerging Caribbean indie music bands.
Ashley Soto Paniagua.
Showrunner
A Mexican and Afro-Puerto Rican native of El Paso, Texas and a former high school teacher in Mississippi, Ashley currently writes on THE PROUD FAMILY: LOUDER AND PROUDER (Disney+) and before that on VIDA (Starz) and FAST AND FURIOUS: SPY RACERS (Netflix). Serving as Co-Executive Producer, Ashley currently runs a scripted podcast for Broadway Video and Audible, and she's also developing projects for Disney+. She was recognized with the CALI Catalyst Award by the Center for Cultural Innovation for her work co-founding #RaisethePercentage, a grassroots initiative that connected working TV writers with emerging Black/Afrolatinx writers in order to reduce barriers to access in the entertainment industry. A graduate of Amherst College, she is repped by Circle of Confusion.
