Esther Reyes(II)
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Esther Reyes is an Emmy-winning Director, Writer, Executive Producer and Showrunner with 20 years of experience as a filmmaker-directing, producing, writing and show-running complex true crime series, political and social justice documentaries, comedy docu-soaps and global travel series. Esther show-ran and directed the highly-publicized NBC/Peacock and Tplus true-crime series Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed examining the groundbreaking connection between the 1990s case of brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez who have served more than 34 in prison for murdering their parents José and Kitty Menendez after alleging a lifetime of childhood sexual abuse and recent charges brought by Menudo member, Roy Rosselló against his former music producer, Edgardo Díaz who he alleges repeatedly raped him during his tenure in the boy band from 1983-1986. Today the brothers Menendez are using the revelations brought to light in Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed as grounds for a potential re-examination of their case and this is the first-ever known criminal investigation surrounding Menudo and its creator by law enforcement. Before Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, Esther directed and show-ran Mi Vecino El Cartel (The Cartel Among Us) co-produced by Blackfin Productions and Selena Gomez's shingle, July Moon Productions for Univision and Televisa's new global streaming service, ViX. Mi Vecino El Cartel, the first-ever bilingual true crime series, examines the stalking and murder-for hire of an on-the-run Mexican cartel attorney who secretly relocates to an unsuspecting Texas town to go into hiding and is targeted by a trio of trackers before meeting his demise. Esther show-ran Murder Mountain a true crime series about the murder of a trimmigrant in Humboldt County, California for Lightbox and Fusion Network. She also directed and executive produced the bilingual comedy documentary Grace Anatomy for Fusion and Univision taking a satirical look at the fate of the Affordable Care Act in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. She received two Daytime Emmy nominations for directing, executive producing and show-running Travel Channel's Planet Primetime examining the wildest, most controversial and outrageous television shows on the planet. Esther directed and produced the Emmy Honors winning 30 Days with Morgan Spurlock's "Immigration" which examined the heartwarming relationship that develops between a California "Minuteman" and the undocumented Mexican family he moves in with for thirty days. "Immigration" premiered the second season of FX's 30 Days and received several awards including Best Continuing Documentary Series from the International Documentary Association. Esther has earned three Emmy wins for her documentary work and has been the recipient of two Golden Mike Awards for Excellence in Broadcast News as well as the Pacific Mountain Network Award for Best Documentary and the Los Angeles Press Club Award for Excellence in Journalism. She is an avid traveler and fluent in Spanish, French and Italian.