Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced that writing/producing duo Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman have signed a writing/producing deal with the studio under their new production arm, RaqMar Entertainment. “It is critically important to us to tell stories that subvert negative stereotypes and embrace cultural specificity in an authentic way, and we are grateful to Sony Pictures for their robust support in helping us to achieve that goal. Our company name, RaqMar, signifies convergence and we are honored to be in a place where underrepresented points of view meet storytelling with a global theatrical appeal,” Cisneros commented.
“Eduardo and Jason deeply understand how to identify and execute relatable and broad audience ideas uniquely through a multicultural lens,” Sanford Panitch, President, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group commented “They are a triple threat as writers, producers, and mentors of young talent.” Cisneros and Shuman formed RaqMar Entertainment, the name of which is an amalgam of their respective mothers’ names. The new entity will focus on writing and producing with a multicultural emphasis for the theatrical market. The new company will also be cultivating up-and-coming talent by mentoring new voices from the U.S. and international/bilingual markets.
Cisneros co-wrote and co-produced the biggest Spanish-language film of all time, Instructions Not Included which generated over $100 million at the box office globally. With his longtime collaborator, Eugenio Derbez, Cisneros co-created two of the most successful Spanish-language TV shows ever: XHDRBZ and Familia P. Luche. As a writing/producing team, Cisneros and Shuman have established themselves as one of the most prolific creative teams in Hollywood. In 2020, they wrote & produced two worldwide globally released films – the crowd-charming Focus Features’ comedy-drama, Half Brothers and the Amazon Prime Video/Sony Pictures International Productions Spanish language comedy, War of Likes, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Maria Ripoll (Tortilla Soup). And in 2021, the two co-created, co-wrote and executive produced the international hit and Critics Choice Association nominee for Best Foreign Language Series, Acapulco, now streaming on AppleTV+.
Currently, Cisneros and Shuman are writing a remake of the 80’s classic film Short Circuit with Spyglass Media Group and are working on film projects for Sony Pictures and Paramount. Additionally, they are in post-production on the film drama To Leslie, starring Andrea Riseborough and Allison Janney for director Michael Morris. Their film The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, which had its world premiere at TIFF 2019 and was the directorial debut of Ali LeRoi, can currently be streamed on Hulu. Cisneros is on the advisory board of the L.A. Academy of Arts and Enterprise (LAAAE); and is a founding member of Clubhouse Latinx, the LGBTQIA+ Latinx film/TV writers’ organization. Cisneros is repped by Valor Entertainment Group and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Shuman is repped by Fourth Wall Management, CAA and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
