Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Selena comes to Rosarito’s Baja Studios

Studio was originally built in 1996 for the production of Titanic

Nobody rocks a studded bra like Selena impersonator and former Rosarito resident Teresa Mala.
Nobody rocks a studded bra like Selena impersonator and former Rosarito resident Teresa Mala.

Netflix is reportedly spending $20 million at Rosarito’s Baja Studios for the new Selena: The Series show based on the life and death of Selena Quintanilla, the late “Queen of Tex-Mex” music.

“The biggest advantage of filming at Baja Studios versus filming in the U.S. is the cost,” said Teresa Mala, former Rosarito resident and Selena impersonator.

“Filming [at Baja Studios] generates savings of ten percent compared to recording work in the U.S. or Australia,” said Comisión de Filmaciones de Baja California (Film Commission of Baja California) in a Cobertura360 news report.”

The south Rosarito studio, about a 25-mile drive south of the San Diego and Tijuana border, was originally built in 1996 for the production of Titanic. It sits on 46 acres with more than 3000 feet of ocean front, a favorable spot to reenact the 1993 “La Llamada” music video, where Selena is depicted singing and dancing to the cumbia instrumentals played by her siblings and her boyfriend Chris Perez at a house party overlooking the ocean.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Baja Studios is a self-contained production facility with dressing rooms, offices, scenery workshops, wardrobe facilities, and “some of the world’s largest stages and filming tanks.” Tank 1 alone provides “350,000 square feet of exterior shooting space for flooded or dry scenarios.”

“I remember when Fear The Walking Dead was filming down there,” Mala continued. Fear The Walking Dead was a prequel series to The Walking Dead. Both TV shows were produced by AMC.

Christian Serratos, who played Rosita Espinosa in The Walking Dead, will portray the Mexican-American Tejano singer, as she “comes of age and realizes her dreams.”

Netflix isn’t saying whether Serratos performs her own vocals for the role. But some fans are preemptively balking at the notion. “I’m down for a Selena series, but y’all really should’ve kept the original [Selena] vocals,” said a fan underneath the series’s preview. “Nobody was trying to hear Jennifer Lopez sing and we’re not trying to hear [Espinosa] sing either. It’s cute and all, but we’re gonna need Selena.”

There’s no mention on the press releases of whose vocals will be used in the singing scenes of the new series.

Blanca, a North Park resident and die-hard Selena fan, loved when Jennifer Lopez played Selena in the eponymous 1997 movie. “I really don’t care whose 'Bidi Bidi Bom Bom' and 'Dreaming of You' vocals are used in the 2020 series. Netflix is showing our new generation who Selena was before she was taken from us in 1995; many weren’t even born, yet.”

“Netflix is trying to show the values and principles of a Latino family,” said Baja Studios’ Kurt Honold Morales in a Cobertura360 interview. “[And] how the values and principles that Selena’s father instilled in her, and all the work she did, led to her being a star. They were very humble people.”

“I do Selena tributes in Rosarito and Las Vegas,” Mala said. “I do all of Selena’s top hits in English and Spanish.”

Mala sent me photos and video clips of her clad in sequined gowns, bikini tops, and skin tight, bell-bottomed pantsuits as she performed Selena’s Tex-Mex music at the Fremont Street Experience venue in downtown Las Vegas, and at Los Amigos Sports Bar and Grill in Rosarito. “.But since Covid-19, I haven’t been back to Rosarito. I miss Rosarito.”

“With all the clubs and bars closed down in Rosarito,” Blanca continued, “the $20 million Selena production... will help the city’s economy.”

As of press time, there is no mention of Netflix’s exact release date of Selena: The Series. The streaming service did mention “2020” and “Part 1” in a Tweet which led the fans to believe there will be more than one season, and that the show “was developed alongside, and will be executive produced by the Quintanilla family.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Victorian Christmas Tours, Jingle Bell Cruises

Events December 22-December 25, 2024
Next Article

Hike off those holiday calories, Poinsettias are peaking

Winter Solstice is here and what is winter?
Nobody rocks a studded bra like Selena impersonator and former Rosarito resident Teresa Mala.
Nobody rocks a studded bra like Selena impersonator and former Rosarito resident Teresa Mala.

Netflix is reportedly spending $20 million at Rosarito’s Baja Studios for the new Selena: The Series show based on the life and death of Selena Quintanilla, the late “Queen of Tex-Mex” music.

“The biggest advantage of filming at Baja Studios versus filming in the U.S. is the cost,” said Teresa Mala, former Rosarito resident and Selena impersonator.

“Filming [at Baja Studios] generates savings of ten percent compared to recording work in the U.S. or Australia,” said Comisión de Filmaciones de Baja California (Film Commission of Baja California) in a Cobertura360 news report.”

The south Rosarito studio, about a 25-mile drive south of the San Diego and Tijuana border, was originally built in 1996 for the production of Titanic. It sits on 46 acres with more than 3000 feet of ocean front, a favorable spot to reenact the 1993 “La Llamada” music video, where Selena is depicted singing and dancing to the cumbia instrumentals played by her siblings and her boyfriend Chris Perez at a house party overlooking the ocean.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Baja Studios is a self-contained production facility with dressing rooms, offices, scenery workshops, wardrobe facilities, and “some of the world’s largest stages and filming tanks.” Tank 1 alone provides “350,000 square feet of exterior shooting space for flooded or dry scenarios.”

“I remember when Fear The Walking Dead was filming down there,” Mala continued. Fear The Walking Dead was a prequel series to The Walking Dead. Both TV shows were produced by AMC.

Christian Serratos, who played Rosita Espinosa in The Walking Dead, will portray the Mexican-American Tejano singer, as she “comes of age and realizes her dreams.”

Netflix isn’t saying whether Serratos performs her own vocals for the role. But some fans are preemptively balking at the notion. “I’m down for a Selena series, but y’all really should’ve kept the original [Selena] vocals,” said a fan underneath the series’s preview. “Nobody was trying to hear Jennifer Lopez sing and we’re not trying to hear [Espinosa] sing either. It’s cute and all, but we’re gonna need Selena.”

There’s no mention on the press releases of whose vocals will be used in the singing scenes of the new series.

Blanca, a North Park resident and die-hard Selena fan, loved when Jennifer Lopez played Selena in the eponymous 1997 movie. “I really don’t care whose 'Bidi Bidi Bom Bom' and 'Dreaming of You' vocals are used in the 2020 series. Netflix is showing our new generation who Selena was before she was taken from us in 1995; many weren’t even born, yet.”

“Netflix is trying to show the values and principles of a Latino family,” said Baja Studios’ Kurt Honold Morales in a Cobertura360 interview. “[And] how the values and principles that Selena’s father instilled in her, and all the work she did, led to her being a star. They were very humble people.”

“I do Selena tributes in Rosarito and Las Vegas,” Mala said. “I do all of Selena’s top hits in English and Spanish.”

Mala sent me photos and video clips of her clad in sequined gowns, bikini tops, and skin tight, bell-bottomed pantsuits as she performed Selena’s Tex-Mex music at the Fremont Street Experience venue in downtown Las Vegas, and at Los Amigos Sports Bar and Grill in Rosarito. “.But since Covid-19, I haven’t been back to Rosarito. I miss Rosarito.”

“With all the clubs and bars closed down in Rosarito,” Blanca continued, “the $20 million Selena production... will help the city’s economy.”

As of press time, there is no mention of Netflix’s exact release date of Selena: The Series. The streaming service did mention “2020” and “Part 1” in a Tweet which led the fans to believe there will be more than one season, and that the show “was developed alongside, and will be executive produced by the Quintanilla family.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

Victorian Christmas Tours, Jingle Bell Cruises

Events December 22-December 25, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader