Giovanni Maldonado Chinea is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and amateur salsa dancer. Despite his Italian-sounding name, Giovanni was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He ultimately traded gorgeous beaches and unbearable humidity for the smog and dust of Los Angeles, graduating from the AFI Conservatory with an MFA in Screenwriting. Giovanni’s pilot script, Novia – co-written with Myles Clifford Hawthorne and based on the life of Mexican film legend, Lupita Tovar – was featured on the Black List’s inaugural Latinx TV List, and his work focuses on the underrepresented, his Latin roots, and his deep love for genre.