Robert Rodriguez Talks From Dusk Till Dawn Series, El Rey Network

NEW YORK: Robert Rodriguez talks with World Screen about bringing the feature film From Dusk Till Dawn to television, and about curating content for the recently launched El Rey Network. 

WS: How did the idea come about to adapt the From Dusk Till Dawn feature film as a series?
RODRIGUEZ: I thought it was a great first project to do when I started [El Rey] Network because it would help draw attention since it was a known title. The film was one of the fan favorites. It was one that never would have been on television otherwise because Quentin [Tarantino, screenwriter on the film] and I control the rights and we would never have let anyone do it. But for El Rey Network it made sense, and I was able to take a big hand in it.

This first season takes the film and deconstructs it, adds new characters, and different things happen to the characters that existed; it almost retells the story in a different, more dynamic and bigger way. The feature film was a short story and this is the novel.

WS: How did you take the visual style you’re known for in your films and make it work in the television landscape?
RODRIGUEZ: I had never done television before; I had only heard TV was lower budget and shot really, really fast. I was curious because I tend to shoot pretty fast myself with my features and I try to keep the budgets low. I do [my films] in Austin, Texas, and now I did the show in Austin as well so I got to use my usual crew. I came to find that we had already been shooting in a TV-shooting schedule all this time! It really wasn’t that much faster than what we were used to. We were able to get our usual feature quality because of the way we do things down there; we created our own way of making movies way back when in Austin and it really translates perfectly for television, so we got a lot bang for our buck. The money we put in, which is on par with other networks, goes a lot further on our production.

WS: Did you take the same hands-on approach with the series as you’ve had with your films?
RODRIGUEZ: Yes, and because I’m also running the network I pretty much do everything but turn the TV on for you! It’s been fun to be that hands-on. I handpicked directors and the writing team. When I’m on my own set, I’m operating, directing, writing and working on the music. I’m also the still photographer because I have found that television shows can’t afford to have a still photographer around on a regular basis and I don’t want to miss out on getting good publicity photos. Even if I’m not directing, I go to other people’s episodes and I’m their still photographer and I get the good still shots.

WS: What’s the programming strategy for El Rey?
RODRIGUEZ: It’s pretty cool! It’s a curated network, in that everything that goes on it is something that I personally love or a creative collective really loves. One of the reasons I came up with the name El Rey for the network is because I wanted people when they turn on the TV to feel like they’re being treated like the king. Anything that they could possibly want that’s cool is there on one network, they don’t even have to change the channel. So curated content is really important, with grindhouse films and TV series that I’ve always been a fan of. Everything is on there for a reason and it’s because we’re really big fans of it, and we give it a lot of love; it doesn’t just sit there and fill up a slot. We curate it in a way that makes the audience feel like they are in on why it is essential viewing. It’s been working!

WS: How does the network target a new generation of Hispanic viewers?
RODRIGUEZ: This is something I’ve been doing even in my films—so for the past 20 years making movies like Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City, Machete—where you don’t even think of them as being Hispanic films, yet they are, but they have such universal appeal. Those who are Hispanic can look at them and say, That’s me as the hero, I’m in front of the camera, behind the camera, and it’s inspiring. Although it has an eye for the Hispanic audience, the network is for everybody. It is very universal, addicting and exciting television that you watch first and foremost because it’s cool and then if you look closer you might see that there’s a lot of diversity on the screen that you haven’t really seen before.