ABC Signs Talent Deal With 'Filly Brown' Star Gina Rodriguez

EXCLUSIVE: Gina Rodriguez, who is garnering a lot of buzz for her starring role in the Sundance entry Filly Brown, has signed a talent holding deal with ABC and ABC Studios to star in a pilot targeted for next season. She is yet to be attached to a project as ABC has just started picking up its pilots. One possibility is Marc Cherry’s Devious Maids, which revolves around four Latina women who are maids in Beverly Hills. Rodriguez first got the attention of ABC executives last year when she guest starred on the network’s comedy Happy Endings. Her series’ credits also include an arc on Army Wives. The deal comes on the eve of the Friday world premiere of Rodriguez’s movie Filly Brown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Already identified as a film buyers are watching for, Filly Brown, co-directed by Youssef Delara and Michael Olmos, centers on a young hip-hop artist from Los Angeles (Rodriguez) whose budding career comes to a crossroads when she’s offered a crack at stardom by a shady producer. Here is a scene from the movie posted earlier today by my colleague Mike Fleming. Rodriguez is with Paradigm and Intellectual Artists.