Aaron Izek is a writer on a broadcast comedy show The Neighborhood for CBS, going on his third season with the show and his fourth season writing for a multicamera comedy. The proud Mexican American—who has family from Mexico City, Chicago, and California—sees the impact of the work he does through his work with the Youth Cinema Project and the joy his uncle has for his successes.
What is your greatest career accomplishment to date?
A couple of years ago, I sold a show to CBS with a great friend (amazing writer and journalist Erick Galindo), and we’ve been developing it with the studio and network ever since. The whole team’s worked so hard on it, and we’ve never been closer to getting it out into the world for people to see. It’s so incredibly difficult to get a show made, but we’ve learned so much along the way and couldn’t be more excited about it.
What is your greatest personal accomplishment to date?
Years ago, my uncle invited me to enter a local writing competition with him. All you had to do was write a fifty-five-word short story and see if it got selected to be in the local paper. I was so delighted by the exercise and the freedom to tell a story in such a short amount of space that I proceeded to set out to write one of these little stories every day for a year. I did it four years in a row, compiling each year’s worth of stories into a little book. It was so fun and freeing to write something kind of just for me and seeing those little diaries of fiction sitting on my bookshelf always serves as a fun reminder of how lucky I am to be able to do what I love for a living.
What do you do today to impact your community?
Every year, the Youth Cinema Project works with the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival to bring together a group of local middle and high school students interested in writing for film and TV. The program gives these kids the opportunity to work on short scripts with writers like me and then see those projects put up by LA comedians and actors before the festival. It’s something I’ve really enjoyed helping out with and serves as an incredible reminder of how talent is truly everywhere and with the right nurturing, it can grow into something incredible.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I would love to be directing a feature, maybe somewhere fun that I wouldn’t necessarily go to on a vacation, but am so grateful to be visiting thanks to this cool project, whatever it is. I love being on set and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have gotten so many opportunities to do so, unfortunately something not too many writers can say. I’m looking forward to a future where I get to do a lot more of it, hopefully in places I’ve never been to, working on amazing things I haven’t even thought of yet.
What is the biggest issue that you want to help solve, and why?
It’s kind of a bummer that this is still an issue, but the lack of Latine representation in film and TV is obviously something I think about a lot. It’s pretty unbelievable how unbalanced the ratio is of creators to consumers when it comes to the Latine community and I’d like to say it’s gotten better since I started working in this industry, but it’s still pretty minimal. There are so many amazing artists out there doing cool work and so few of them get a platform to try it out because of antiquated understandings of how audiences might perceive them. But the truth is that the risks aren’t as high as people think they are, and the possibilities truly are endless. Give us a shot and I promise you’ll be astounded by what we can do.
What is a moment when you realized the impact of your work?
There was a moment a couple years ago when my uncle was in the hospital and a few of the nurses overheard him talking to me on the phone in that way that proud uncles do, excitedly telling everyone around him about the show that I was writing on. I tend to get pretty embarrassed by things like that, but hearing those nurses realize the show was not only a show that they watch but also a show that they love was pretty funny and getting to witness my uncle’s joy in hearing that his nephew was doing something that people thousands of miles away could enjoy felt very special.
Who inspires your leadership?
Easily my family. My mom and dad are to blame for all of my best qualities and I’m always thinking about how each of them would handle any situation I’m in. My sisters have also been two people in my life who I’m constantly going to for a different point of view and helpful advice. And then of course my uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins all have become an endless source of support and reality checks, helping me to keep things in perspective.
What is a surprising hobby or interest that helps you stay creative and energized?
I saw Guillermo Del Toro’s At Home with Monsters exhibit at LACMA years ago and his Bleak House truly felt like my dream home. For my whole life, I’ve steadily built up a pretty wild collection of masks, puppets, marionettes, oddities, knickknacks, and Mexican paper-mâché clowns (my mom started that one). As time has gone on, I’ve definitely gotten better at easing people into the Halloween-themed circus tent that my brain lives in, but you knock over one ventriloquist dummy and people tend to start looking for the exit pretty quick.
What is your Latino background?
Proudly Mexican American! My mom’s side is from Jalisco and Morelos, but we’ve got family all over, including Mexico City, Chicago, and California.
What song do you listen to that motivates you?
“Only For A Moment” by Lola Marsh is definitely up there for me, but really anything by Julieta Venegas will get me wherever I need to go.
