'Ylse' Back For Season 2, Taps Booming Latino Market

Season 2 of “bicultural dramedy” web series Ylse (pronounced EEL-Say) kicked off today starting its 12-episode return. Ruth Livier, who’s also the creator and lead writer of the series, is back as Ylse, an aspiring TV host working her way up the talk show circuit hoping to one day reach the level of her espoused idol Oprah. For now, however, young Ylse is stuck in the dregs of the TV world on a bizarre Spanish language talk show.

We’ve had our eye on this series for a while now, and we’re glad to see it back for another season. The series had been picking up fans over the past year which included locking up a distribution deal with LatinHeat.com last fall and scoring the “Best Webisode” award at the 2009 Reel Rasquache Festival. Livier’s bilingual script effortlessly jumps from English to Spanish, making the comedy easily accessible even for us Spanish newbies.

Livier wrote recently on LatinHeat Online:

Like my friend [Executive Producer and creator of Showtime’s Resurrection Blvd.) Dennis Leoni says, “The oldest form of affirmative action is the ‘Good Ol’ Boy’ network.” And he is right. Try breaking through that! If you are not a part of the GOB network, mainstream media is super expensive. Let’s be real, the opportunities to break in through ‘traditional’ channels are slim. New Media is such a fantastic option. It affords us the opportunities that traditional media hasn’t.

Livier, a working actress who starred in Showtime’s Resurrection Blvd. is that rare blend of actor-writer-producer that pulls all three of them off. For the new season, she brought on some fresh guest stars like Alex Mendoza, who plays Ylse’s new love interest,  Judy Reyes and Yvonne De La Rosa to join regulars Marlene Forte, Alejandro De Hoyos and Gabriel Romero.

She notes that there are an estimated 47 million Latinos in the US according to early Census numbers. “Well, I’d say we are ‘THE’ untapped market . . . so I’m not too worried,” added Livier. “My focus is to continue to create projects to give up-and-coming Latino and Latina talent material with which to shine.”