Producer Report: Introducing Los Plantas

Hey!

In the case that we haven’t formally introduced each other or it’s been a while since we chatted, I’m Julissa Guajardo AKA Juls (@juls.media) owner of Juls Media, co-founder of the nonprofit Houston Film Scene, multimedia coordinator at LSC-CyFair, and I’m also producing this project I’m about to tell you about!

Since the beginning of 2025, I’ve been collaborating with a dear friend of mine on developing a new dramatic 7-min short film called Los Plantas, written and directed by Sergio Javier Valverde from Pink Eye Pictures (@pink_eye_pictures) and we want to make sure you stay in the loop for all we are getting up to!

Script of Los Plantas written by Sergio Javier Valverde

This story focuses on Angel, a young Mexican American refinery plant worker, who has to return to work despite going through another fight with his wife, Maria. The struggle to maintain a healthy and present relationship to his family while also trying to provide for them financially weighs him down, along with the substances he abuses in order to cope. At his usual morning breakfast stop, he is confronted by his life choices after meeting Manuel, a high functioning depressed senior coworker who's worked at the same plant for over 30 years. Should that be his destiny?

We want to focus on the unseen Mexican American experience, which involves bearing the knowledge in our mind, spirit, and body, of our family’s hardships and sacrifices they endured to build a better future for their children. Los Plantas will allow us to express how our culturally rigid family structures are perpetuated in a dark, dramatic, cinematic lens. 

Reference images of refinery plants

We will be focusing on the effects of machismo that encourages the men to tough out any hardships they face, in whatever forceful way they can, so he can get his job done within his family. In a country that preys on our labor, we can’t help but reflect on the actions of our past generations and explore what sacrifices are actually worth making to reach a dream that hasn’t been granted to us before.

We are looking to raise a total of $25,000 to cover through grants and personal investments to cover our 3 days of production in September.

We plan on having the edit finalized and packaged by mid-January 2026 to submit to film festivals across Texas and Mexico, especially those that promote our Latin culture and heritage. This work will also serve us in taking the next step within our careers in the film industry and will help set the standard of how we tackle future projects to bring more accurate representation of our people and culture on the big screen.

Production Timeline For Los Plantas Short Film

I would love to have your involvement in getting this project made with a personal investment of $1,000 or more to have your name or company credited on our film and join us as our VIP’s for our official screening party before it goes out to the festival circuit! 

AH! That’s a huge chunk of change to give out right now for the beginnings of an idea. No worries, we’ll be accepting contributions of any amount in the coming months and with a neat menu of incentives! The best way to keep up to date is by following our official Instagram page @losplantas_film and our team mentioned above. 

I’m very excited to be able to create a project with a team of amazing creatives that I get to call friends, and bring you a cinematic experience of this size and caliber that will elevate us to the next step in our careers as we highlight our Mexican American culture on the big screen.

Los Plantas Production Team (from left to right: Sergio Javier Valverde, Julissa Guajardo, Mariela Aguirre)

Thank you for the support you have given me to get me to where I am now, I couldn’t have done it without you. I’ll keep you updated!

Juls out!