It’s evident the life of a Hollywood movie scribe is challenging — even with as much experience as Farias has in the industry.
Originally from Eagle Pass, Farias earned a bachelor’s in drama from Stanford University in 1994 and a master’s in drama from the University of Minnesota three years later. After college, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked for more than 20 years as an editor and colorist for reality TV series, including American Idol, America’s Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance.
In 2022, Farias racked up his first co-writer credit on a feature film, Christmas with You, which debuted on Netflix. The holiday romantic comedy stars Aimee Garcia (Lucifer) and Freddie Prinze Jr. (24) as a pop singer and a high school music teacher who fall for each other.
Most recently, Farias, who moved to San Antonio from California in August 2021, co-wrote the screenplay for the golf drama The Long Game, which won the Audience Award in the Narrative Spotlight category at last year’s SXSW.
Set in the 1950s, The Long Game tells the true-life story of a group of Mexican American teens in Del Rio who form a golf team to compete against their Anglo peers at other high schools. The San Felipe Mustangs would go on to win the 1957 Texas state championship.
The film — adapted from Humberto G. Garcia’s 2010 book Mustang Miracle — stars Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights), Dennis Quaid (Far from Heaven), Cheech Marin (Tin Cup), Gregory Diaz IV (In the Heights) and San Antonio native Paulina Chávez (Fate: The Winx Saga).
Farias learned about the story from friend, executive producer and Edinburg native Javier Chapa (The Black Demon), who had just purchased the rights to Garcia’s book. Farias told Chapa he was interested in adapting the work into a feature film and brought in his writing partner, Jennifer C. Stetson, to assist.
However, the gig presented plenty of hurdles.
“We started writing the screenplay in 2018, but there were a lot of stops and starts,” Farias said. “[The production] was getting ready to happen and then the pandemic hit, and that caused a huge delay.”
The pandemic drew Farias and his family back to Texas. The crisis created a “change in priorities,” and they decided they wanted to be closer to their relatives.
“We just hopped in the car and drove down,” he said. “We spent a month in El Paso with my in-laws and a couple of weeks in Eagle Pass with my family. We realized we could probably buy a decent house in San Antonio.”
When The Long Game premiered at SXSW last year, the pandemic had subsided. However, the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes essentially shut Hollywood down, presenting yet another delay.
The film finally hit theaters last month.
Farias said writing a script for a film such as The Long Game was special to him because the main characters are all Latino. Increasing Latino representation in Hollywood is something he’s focused on his entire career.
“Telling these kinds of stories has always been my main objective as a writer,” he said. “I want to tell our stories in the best way possible.”
The Long Game is currently available exclusively on digital platforms. It will be available on DVD June 11, 2024.
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