Endemol Shine Options To Selena with Love

LOS ANGELES: Endemol Shine North America and Major TV are prepping a television adaptation of To Selena with Love, the best-selling book about the late Latin music star written by her husband, Chris Perez.

Endemol Shine North America and Major TV have optioned the rights to the book and are working on the adaptation together with Blue Mariachi, the outfit founded by Perez and Carlito Miranda. The three companies are also developing other “culturally-driven scripted and non-scripted content.”

To Selena with Love sees Perez recounting his love story with Selena Quintanilla, the Grammy Award-winning Texas-born singer who was murdered in 1995. Her story was told on the big screen in the 1997 film Selena starring Jennifer Lopez.

“Selena is one of the most influential Latin artists of all time and her legacy continues to live on long after her tragic death,” said Cris Abrego, Endemol Shine North America’s CEO and chairman of Endemol Shine Americas. “Chris Perez’s beautiful book To Selena with Love captured their amazing life together and will make for the perfect foundation for a TV series that our team is currently developing for both English and Spanish audiences worldwide.”

“I spent several years keeping the memories of my late wife bottled up inside,” said Perez. “To Selena with Love allowed me to finally embrace my experience and understand the void it could fill in the hearts of so many others. I am now ready to take the important step of being fully transparent and bringing my everlasting relationship to life on the screen.”

“I could not be more honored and humbled to launch Major TV with Endemol Shine and the captivating love story of the legendary Selena Quintanilla and Chris Perez,” added Raymond Garcia—formerly of Celebra at Penguin Random House, which published Perez’s book—who heads up Major TV. “Having published To Selena with Love, I witnessed legions of fans moved to tears with a rare glimpse into the heart and soul of their eternal icon. I am very proud of Chris for sharing his deeply personal relationship for the first time on television.”