The night I understood why this studio has to exist

My parents were named Bernie and Zulema. They raised me in Edinburg, Texas, deep in the Rio Grande Valley — a place with more stories per square mile than almost anywhere in America, and almost none of them on screen.

I left the Valley and spent 40+ years in Hollywood. I won a Primetime Emmy for editing The Amazing Race. I cut 23 seasons of CBS's Big Brother — over 2,000 episodes of network television, delivered on schedule, season after season. I've produced, directed, and edited across reality, true crime, drama, and horror.

And in all those years, I can count on one hand the productions I worked on that looked like my family. That told stories like ours.

BernieZule Films exists to change that. It's named for my late parents, because this isn't a market play for me. It's personal. And it's overdue.

The gap is enormous — and it's an opportunity

Latinos are more than 62 million people in the U.S. — the fastest-growing demographic and among the most engaged moviegoing and streaming audiences in the country. Yet Latino-led projects remain dramatically underrepresented on both the big screen and streaming platforms.

The demand is high. The supply is low. Films like Selena, McFarland USA, and The Long Game proved this lane works — authentic, family-driven, universally human stories told through a Latino lens.

We're not chasing a trend. We're building for a permanent audience that Hollywood keeps overlooking.

What we're building: a studio, not a single movie

BernieZule Films LLC develops, produces, and owns authentic Latino-led stories for film and television.

That word — owns — is the whole model:

Develop. We create high-concept, character-driven stories with universal themes.

Produce. We produce efficiently as a SAG-AFTRA signatory, with an experienced team and disciplined budgets.

Own. The Company holds the copyright in each finished film it produces, and licenses the underlying material it needs. Every film becomes a library asset that can generate revenue across theatrical, streaming, international sales, physical media, and licensing for years — not just at release.

One film funds the next. The library compounds. That's the studio thesis.

Our flagship: Zulema, Stay Here

Our first film is ready to move.

At six years old, Zulema Cantu watched her mother leave — taking her little brother and breaking a promise to return. She never did. Twelve years later, a volleyball scholarship offers Zulema a way out of the only life she's ever known. But leaving forces the question she's carried her whole life: does leaving make her just like the mother who walked away?

It's a true story about family, forgiveness, and the difference between running away and choosing to go. Female-led. Family-driven. Set in the Rio Grande Valley, where I'm from — a world I actually lived.

Where it stands today:

1. Screenplay complete
2. Production Budget: $789,196 under the SAG-AFTRA Moderate Low Budget Agreement
3. Production planned for 2027 in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas
4. Casting, scheduling, and full production package built

How your investment is used

We're raising up to $840,000. The production budget for Zulema, Stay Here is $789,196. The balance covers platform fees, offering costs, legal, accounting, and escrow — all itemized in our Form C. Our minimum raise is $250,000; if we don't reach it, every reservation is cancelled and no money changes hands.

BernieZule Films engages Cinema Factory, Inc. — my production company of many years — to produce our films. Total fees are $60,048: a 5% producer fee, a flat line-production fee, and a 1.5% overhead allocation. Of that, $15,696 is payable in cash and $44,352 is deferred, paid only from net proceeds if the film earns them. I also license the screenplay to the Company for no more than 2% of the production budget. Because I control both companies, this is a related-party arrangement, disclosed in full in our offering materials.

I wrote the screenplay for Zulema, Stay Here and own the underlying rights personally. BernieZule Films will acquire the rights it needs through a written option and license agreement, capped at 2% of the production budget, which must be executed before the offering closes.

Why I'm the person to build this

I'm not a first-time filmmaker asking you to bet on potential. I'm asking you to bet on a track record:

1. Primetime Emmy Award winner — Outstanding Picture Editing, The Amazing Race
2. 40+ years in film and television
3. 2,000+ episodes delivered across network, cable, and streaming
4. 23 seasons on CBS's Big Brother
5. Producer and owner of an independent film catalog, including a franchise holding a Guinness World Record

I've spent four decades making other people's shows on time and on budget. Now I'm building something we own — together.

The vision: a library that lasts

Zulema, Stay Here is chapter one. Our development slate already includes feature films, drama series, a horror feature, a crime series, and a music biopic — character-driven stories, proudly rooted in culture, built for global audiences.

We aren't just making movies. We're building a media company designed to last — a library of owned IP, a voice for our community, and a legacy my parents would recognize.

A studio for Latino stories. A flagship that starts it all. A future we build together.

Come build it with us.