Topline:
Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary, the 2022 podcast from LAist Studios, has been optioned by Participant and is simultaneously being developed as a scripted and documentary limited series. The unscripted series will be directed by Rodney Lucas and Juan Devis will produce. LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, who wrote and hosted the season, will be a consulting producer.
Catch up on the show: Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary is an eight-episode investigative podcast that follows Guzman-Lopez , a Mexican-American journalist, as he explores the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1990s and unravels the mysterious death of one of its college leaders, Oscar Gomez.
The Forgotten Revolutionary team included Guzman-Lopez, former executive producer who greenlit the show, Antonia Cereijido, lead producer and co-writer and co-reporter of the series Natalie Chudnovsky, producer who helped report and sound design the series James Chow, and Pulitzer-prize winning editor Audrey Quinn.
The reactions: “Hosting and reporting Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary with the talented LAist team helped me discover the overlap between disparate parts of myself: my journalist self, Latino self and immigrant self,” said Guzman-Lopez, the podcast’s host and LAist's higher education correspondent. “The show told a very Southern California, Latino and American story. So I’m excited for the opportunity to have Participant amplify the podcast to other platforms and further the mission of connecting us to forgotten histories.”
"It was an honor to bring the story of Oscar Gomez's life and activism to more people through this podcast and I'm thrilled that more people are going to learn about him and what he stood for,” said Cereijido, former LAist Studios’ executive producer and now the host of Imperfect Paradise. "I feel that growing up I learned a lot about the civil rights movement but there is a large gap in knowledge of the history of activism that came after. I am excited that people in my generation and younger will get to learn more about the work of the Chicano movement in the 90s."
“I’ve been so proud to champion this podcast, which is one of the best pieces of documentary work I’ve ever heard,” said LAist Studios VP of Podcasts Shana Naomi Krochmal, who will be a co-producer on the narrative series. “Participant has a long and impressive history of making great work about real-life heroes, both in journalism and from communities who are often not seen as the heroes of the story. They are a great fit to partner with Imperfect Paradise and LAist Studios.”
“We are looking forward to partnering with Participant on the production and development of both series, based on Adolfo Guzman-Lopez’s incredible true-crime investigative podcast from LAist,” said producer Juan Devis. “Cross fading times and eras, the investigation into the death of one of the most promising Chicano leaders of the ‘90s becomes an examination into one’s own political and ethnic identity, and a meditation on the role of journalism and activism in contemporary society. This is an incredibly poignant story and with Participant’s partnership we will be able to amplify its relevance and impact.”
Catch up on Imperfect Paradise: Imperfect Paradise is a weekly narrative podcast and radio show from LAist Studios, diving into California stories about messy realities with universal significance. It is available on all podcast platforms and airs on LAist 89.3 every Sunday at 7 p.m. The Forgotten Revolutionary will air beginning March 31.
