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=== Rutherford Falls ===
=== Rutherford Falls ===
Ornelas is committed to gaining diversity in writers' rooms and the media.<ref name="Montpelier2018" /> She, [[Ed Helms]], and [[Mike Schur]] were co-creators of the series ''[[Rutherford Falls]]'', which presented its first episode on [[NBC]] in 2021. As showrunner, Ornelas oversees a writers room that includes four other Indigenous writers – Tazbah Chavez, Tai Leclaire, [[Jana Schmieding]], and Bobby Wilson. Having five indigenous writers for a series is believed to be a first for a major television production.<ref name="Tennant" />
Ornelas, [[Ed Helms]], and [[Mike Schur]] were co-creators of the series ''[[Rutherford Falls]]'', which presented its first episode on [[NBC]] in 2021. As showrunner, Ornelas oversaw a writers room that includes four other Indigenous writers – Tazbah Chavez, Tai Leclaire, [[Jana Schmieding]], and Bobby Wilson.


[[Mike Schur]] and [[Ed Helms]], both of whom she had previously collaborated with on various projects, initially pitched the show to Ornelas, seeking her creativity and Native perspective to help bring the vision to fruition.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Capriccioso |first=Rob |date=2021-08-16 |title=ALGORITHM PIONEER: Rutherford Falls creator Sierra Teller Ornelas weaves TV success, preps for second season |url=https://tribalbusinessnews.com/sections/arts-and-culture/13592-algorithm-pioneer-rutherford-falls-creator-sierra-teller-ornelas-weaves-tv-success-preps-for-second-season |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=Tribal Business News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Ornelas aimed to counteract the sense of weightiness and emotional misrepresentation she frequently experienced when viewing Native stories on TV that were crafted by non-Native writers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-14 |title=The creator of 'Rutherford Falls' wants to show 'Native joy' through comedy |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/rutherford-falls-season-2-native-sitcom-sierra-teller-ornelas-rcna32205 |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Rutherford Falls]]'' provided Ornelas with a platform to break Native stereotypes and showcase the diversity of Native experiences and highlight Native humanity through her storytelling talent.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-07 |title=Sierra Teller Ornelas Has Been Telling Great Stories for Years. With ‘Rutherford Falls’, It’s Personal. |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a36356017/rutherford-falls-sierra-teller-ornelas-interview/ |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=ELLE |language=en-US}}</ref>
⚫
Upon its premiere, the show receive positive reviews from critics for its comedic value and commitment to addressing Indigenous-related issues in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Otterson |first=Joe |date=2022-09-02 |title=‘Rutherford Falls’ Canceled After Two Seasons at Peacock |url=https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/rutherford-falls-canceled-peacock-1235358653/ |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> After two seasons, Rutherford Falls was cancelled by Peacock in 2022. Nevertheless, Rutherford Falls marked Ornelas as the first Indigenous showrunner in the United States. <ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKfFSLPN2us |title=Rutherford Falls Creator Talk with Sierra Teller Ornelas {{!}} VIFF 2021 |language=en |access-date=2024-04-23 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>

Ornelas was inspired to based the plot around museum employees from her experiences working with her mother as well as her time at the Smithsonian.<ref name=":1">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKfFSLPN2us |title=Rutherford Falls Creator Talk with Sierra Teller Ornelas {{!}} VIFF 2021 |language=en |access-date=2024-04-23 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>

⚫
Upon its premiere, the show receive positive reviews from critics for its comedic value and commitment to addressing Indigenous-related issues in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Otterson |first=Joe |date=2022-09-02 |title=‘Rutherford Falls’ Canceled After Two Seasons at Peacock |url=https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/rutherford-falls-canceled-peacock-1235358653/ |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> After two seasons, Rutherford Falls was cancelled by Peacock in 2022. Nonetheless, Rutherford Falls made history marking Ornelas as the first Indigenous showrunner and serving as the first major television production with five indigenous writers for a single series. <ref name="Tennant" /><ref name=":1" />


=== Other work ===
=== Other work ===
Teller Ornelas sold the pilot for a workplace comedy called “City Indians” to NBC. She co-wrote the Bay Area based comedy with two other Native artists, Bobby Wilson and Jackie Keliiaa. She has described “City Indians” as “a progression of the Native comedy that I really enjoy making” and as “Too damn special not to exist in the world.” <ref>{{Cite web|last=Gazzar|first=Brenda|date=2023-06-20|title=A Wave of Native Representation on TV Is Rising |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/wave-native-representation-tv-rising-130000458.html|access-date=2023-09-05|website=Yahoo|language=en-US}}</ref>
Teller Ornelas sold the pilot for a workplace comedy called “City Indians” to NBC. She co-wrote the Bay Area based comedy with two other Native artists, Bobby Wilson and Jackie Keliiaa. She has described “City Indians” as “a progression of the Native comedy that I really enjoy making” and as “too damn special not to exist in the world.” <ref>{{Cite web|last=Gazzar|first=Brenda|date=2023-06-20|title=A Wave of Native Representation on TV Is Rising |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/wave-native-representation-tv-rising-130000458.html|access-date=2023-09-05|website=Yahoo|language=en-US}}</ref>


In addition to writing and producing, Ornelas is a sixth-generation Navajo weaver.<ref name="PetskiAndreeva" /><ref name="AirzonaDailyWeaving" /> She was commissioned by the [[Arizona State Museum]] to make a documentary film, ''A Loom with a View: Modern Navajo Weavers'', which explores the weaving of family members: mother, [[Barbara Teller Ornelas]]; great aunt, Margaret Yazzie; and brother, Michael Teller Ornelas.<ref name="AirzonaDailyWeaving" /><ref name="Schmitt">{{cite book |last1=Schmitt |first1=Rory O'Neill |title=Navajo and Hopi Art in Arizona: Continuing Traditions |date=2016 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-62585-560-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGxBCwAAQBAJ&q=%22A+Loom+With+a+View%22+ornelas&pg=PT84 |access-date=9 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
In addition to writing and producing, Ornelas is a sixth-generation Navajo weaver.<ref name="PetskiAndreeva" /><ref name="AirzonaDailyWeaving" /> She was commissioned by the [[Arizona State Museum]] to make a documentary film, ''A Loom with a View: Modern Navajo Weavers'', which explores the weaving of family members: mother, [[Barbara Teller Ornelas]]; great aunt, Margaret Yazzie; and brother, Michael Teller Ornelas.<ref name="AirzonaDailyWeaving" /><ref name="Schmitt">{{cite book |last1=Schmitt |first1=Rory O'Neill |title=Navajo and Hopi Art in Arizona: Continuing Traditions |date=2016 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-62585-560-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGxBCwAAQBAJ&q=%22A+Loom+With+a+View%22+ornelas&pg=PT84 |access-date=9 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Revision as of 23:50, 23 April 2024

Sierra Teller Ornelas
Born (1981-03-03) March 3, 1981 (age 43)
Tucson, Arizona
NationalityNavajo Nation, American
EducationUniversity of Arizona
OccupationTelevision producer • screenwriter
Parents

Sierra Nizhoni Teller Ornelas (Navajo, born March 3, 1981)[1][2] is a Native American showrunner, screenwriter, filmmaker and weaver from Tucson, Arizona. She is one of three co-creators of the scripted NBC (Peacock) comedy series Rutherford Falls, alongside Ed Helms and Mike Schur.[3][4]

Known for writing and production work on shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Happy Endings, Splitting Up Together, and Superstore, Ornelas has also written and contributed to This American Life and the New York Times.[5] In 2019 Ornelas signed a multi-year development deal with Universal Television, beginning with the Peacock sitcom Rutherford Falls.[5][3]

Early life and education

Ornelas was born March 3, 1981 in Tucson, Arizona.[2][5][6] She is Navajo, born to the Edge Water clan. Her maternal grandfather is Water Flowing Together clan and her paternal grandfather is Mexican clan.[7]

Ornelas knew as early as second grade that she wanted to write for television.[8]

She attended the University of Arizona, where she studied media arts.[9]

Career

After graduating from college, Teller Ornelas worked for five years as a film programmer at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[5][10] She was inspired to leave that job and pursue her dreams of becoming a television writer by a "big swing" her mother and aunt had made in the 1980s when they spent four years weaving an enormous rug. They sold it for $60,000, which changed their family's lives.[8]

Ornelas applied to and was selected in 2010 for the Disney/ABC Television Group's diversity writing program.[11] After this, she gained a position as a staff writer on Happy Endings.[12][13] She contributed to a sub-plot in which Dave, played by Zachary Knighton, discovers he is one-sixteenth Navajo and begins playing into stereotypes about Native Americans.[12][13] Ornelas said in a 2011 interview with the Navajo Times that if done right, comedy can be a way to "get conversation going about very dense, complicated issues."[12]

Rutherford Falls

Ornelas, Ed Helms, and Mike Schur were co-creators of the series Rutherford Falls, which presented its first episode on NBC in 2021. As showrunner, Ornelas oversaw a writers room that includes four other Indigenous writers – Tazbah Chavez, Tai Leclaire, Jana Schmieding, and Bobby Wilson.

Mike Schur and Ed Helms, both of whom she had previously collaborated with on various projects, initially pitched the show to Ornelas, seeking her creativity and Native perspective to help bring the vision to fruition.[14] Ornelas aimed to counteract the sense of weightiness and emotional misrepresentation she frequently experienced when viewing Native stories on TV that were crafted by non-Native writers.[15] Rutherford Falls provided Ornelas with a platform to break Native stereotypes and showcase the diversity of Native experiences and highlight Native humanity through her storytelling talent.[16]

Ornelas was inspired to based the plot around museum employees from her experiences working with her mother as well as her time at the Smithsonian.[17]

Upon its premiere, the show receive positive reviews from critics for its comedic value and commitment to addressing Indigenous-related issues in the United States.[18] After two seasons, Rutherford Falls was cancelled by Peacock in 2022. Nonetheless, Rutherford Falls made history marking Ornelas as the first Indigenous showrunner and serving as the first major television production with five indigenous writers for a single series. [4][17]

Other work

Teller Ornelas sold the pilot for a workplace comedy called “City Indians” to NBC. She co-wrote the Bay Area based comedy with two other Native artists, Bobby Wilson and Jackie Keliiaa. She has described “City Indians” as “a progression of the Native comedy that I really enjoy making” and as “too damn special not to exist in the world.” [19]

In addition to writing and producing, Ornelas is a sixth-generation Navajo weaver.[5][9] She was commissioned by the Arizona State Museum to make a documentary film, A Loom with a View: Modern Navajo Weavers, which explores the weaving of family members: mother, Barbara Teller Ornelas; great aunt, Margaret Yazzie; and brother, Michael Teller Ornelas.[9][1]

Future Projects

Filmography

Television

Year Title Credited as
Creator Director Writer Producer
2011 Happy Endings No No Yes No
2013 Brooklyn Nine-Nine No No No Yes
2014 The Hustle No No Yes No
Selfie No No Yes No
2014 Surviving Jack No No Yes No
2015 Superstore No No Yes Yes
2018 Splitting Up Together No No Yes Yes
2021 Rutherford Falls Yes No Yes Yes
2022 Loot No No Yes Yes

References

  1. ^ a b Schmitt, Rory O'Neill (2016). Navajo and Hopi Art in Arizona: Continuing Traditions. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62585-560-2. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b @sierraornelas (March 3, 2024). https://twitter.com/sierraornelas/status/1764361410283254156/photo/1 Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b Montpelier, Rachel (20 November 2019). "Sierra Teller Ornelas Signs Multi-Year Overall Deal with Universal Television". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b Tennant, Zoe (7 February 2020). "Rutherford Falls brings Indigenous writers together for new NBC sitcom". CBC. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e Petski, Denise; Andreeva, Nellie (20 November 2019). "'Rutherford Falls' Co-Creator Sierra Teller Ornelas Inks Overall Deal With Universal TV". Deadline. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  6. ^ Harjo, Noetta (17 September 2018). "GGA Indigenerd Wire: Sierra Teller Ornelas Talks Authenticity and Humor in Native Storytelling". Geek Girl Authority. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  7. ^ Ornelas, Sierra Teller (30 January 2019). "Indigenous People's Long Road to Visibility in Hollywood (Guest Column)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b Miller, Stuart (April 21, 2021). "Sierra Teller Ornelas on the Roots of 'Rutherford Falls'". The New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "Weaving is part of woman's soul". Arizona Daily Star. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  10. ^ Sussman, Mark (10 May 2018). "Sierra Teller Ornelas on giving yourself permission to suck". thecreativeindependent.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Eight Chosen for Disney/ABC TV Diversity Writing Program". TheWrap. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b c Yurth, Cindy (24 October 2011). "For Diné scriptwriter, Hollywood is one big dinner table". navajotimes.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  13. ^ a b Montpelier, Rachel (14 September 2018). "Writer to Watch: Sierra Teller Ornelas of "Superstore"". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  14. ^ Capriccioso, Rob (2021-08-16). "ALGORITHM PIONEER: Rutherford Falls creator Sierra Teller Ornelas weaves TV success, preps for second season". Tribal Business News. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  15. ^ "The creator of 'Rutherford Falls' wants to show 'Native joy' through comedy". TODAY.com. 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  16. ^ "Sierra Teller Ornelas Has Been Telling Great Stories for Years. With 'Rutherford Falls', It's Personal". ELLE. 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  17. ^ a b Rutherford Falls Creator Talk with Sierra Teller Ornelas | VIFF 2021. Retrieved 2024-04-23 – via www.youtube.com.
  18. ^ Otterson, Joe (2022-09-02). "'Rutherford Falls' Canceled After Two Seasons at Peacock". Variety. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  19. ^ Gazzar, Brenda (2023-06-20). "A Wave of Native Representation on TV Is Rising". Yahoo. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
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