Ellen is back with her 3rd interview of The Next Chapter series.  Today’s interview is with the amazing Vera Santamaria. Vera  is an Emmy-nominated television and feature writer whose career spans multiple genres and two countries. She is Executive Producer and Co-Showrunner of How to Die Alone, a series for ABC Signature / Hulu / Onyx Collective starring Co-Showrunner and EP Natasha Rothwell (The White Lotus, Insecure).

She was Executive Producer and Co-Showrunner on Hulu's much-lauded second season of PEN15, garnering a 2021 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy and WGA Award nomination for Best Comedy.  Her other television credits include the critically acclaimed Ms. Marvel, Orange is the New Black, Schitts Creek, Bojack Horseman, Playing House and Community. Vera signed an overall deal with ABC Signature in 2022. How To be Alone is her first project under her new banner, Welcome Stranger.

Born and raised in Toronto, Vera began her career writing for landmark Canadian shows such as Degrassi: The Next Generation, Little Mosque on the Prairie in addition to Co-Creating and Executive Producing the first North American television series to be centered on a South Asian family, How To Be Indie.  

Our interview talks about the many next chapters she has courageously steppin into from changing countries to being in male-dominated writer’s rooms. I know you will be as inspired by her as I am.

For more about Vera, visit: verasantamaria.com