Meet Alex Fumero | Producer / Writer / Podcast Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Fumero and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I used to be a development executive on the “buyer’s side” meaning for TV networks, including Fusion and HBO. One day I realized I was driving my boss insane bringing her one idea after another, sometimes admittedly asking for forgiveness, not permission, which is a big no-no in the corporate world. Truth is I wasn’t even aware of it! It wasn’t out of disrespect for the chain of command — I worked for very smart people, the best in the business — it was out of an insatiable desire to make things. Then I met my business partner Kareem Tabsch and we talked about Walter Mercado, a Spanish TV wizard we’d watched with our abuelitas and that one conversation changed my whole life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think at this point I’ve done most jobs you can do in this business. I started my career as an actor, doing experimental theater in New York, then was a series regular on a Telemundo telenovela, which was a weirder experience than any avant-garde naked play I’d done. I directed and produced short films, where I often had to hold the boom or log the footage or be my own PA. One of those films premiered at Sundance, which I used to get the only “real job” I could find in movies: a digital marketing manager. I became a comedy producer for a network that quickly promoted me to Director of Development and eventually that led me to a VP of Original Programming role at HBO, only to pivot completely again and start making documentaries, the first of which premiered at Sundance almost 10 years after my short! Now, in addition to TV and film, I produce and host podcasts and even doing some writing of my own. It’s not the most conventional career path, but I’m proud of having experienced so many different parts of the business. I think it gives me a special connection to and respect for the people I work with at every stage of the process.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The three things I most love about LA are the access to nature, the world class entertainment and the ethnic food.

You can’t come to LA and not go for a hike. When I first moved here as a Miami native I thought walking uphill for fun sounded insane, but once you catch that first view of the city at the top Griffith Park, or reach the Waterfall at Eaton Canyon you get hooked.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of shows at The Elysian. If Natalie Palamides or Courtney Pauroso are doing their solo shows or Chad Damiani is doing stand up and clown, that’s definitely something most visitors don’t get to see in their home towns. I also have a bunch of friends who do stand up, like Chris Garcia or Frankie Quinones, so if one of them is performing that’s guaranteed laughs.

Lastly, gotta go to San Gabriel for Boston Lobster, which is a Chinese-Vietnamese spot where ironically I always get the Shaken Beef. Or I ask my friend Erick Galindo, who has been a long time LA Taco contributor, where to take them for Mexican. In LA, it’s not about finding a great taco — it’s about what style of taco from what region of Mexico you want to enjoy. And lastly I live in Glendale and have my Cuban and Armenian go-tos: La Cubana for the former, Skaf’s Lebanese for the latter.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This may sound cliche, but I want to dedicate this shoutout to my parents — immigrants who had to claw and scratch their way through life so I could do something as bougie and impractical as working in Hollywood.

Website: trojanhorse.media

Instagram: Instagram.com/angryyuca

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexfumero