Independent Writers' Caucus
Bettina Lopez Mendoza
Having spent her childhood moving across borders, first to Mexico then to the U.S., Bettina has always been fascinated by reality as a subjective construct. Her work often centers underdog characters who challenge the limits the world imposes on them.
After studying Psychology and Screenwriting at the University of Southern California, Bettina worked with and mentored under director Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman"), helping develop and produce works for commercials, film, theater, and animation. Most notably, it was through this close collaboration that she learned how to push the limits of cinematic storytelling through visual language.
During this time, Bettina also had the opportunity to shadow Academy Award-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine”). These experiences led to Bettina’s first writing assignments, including adapting Tom Fletcher’s best-selling novel “The Christmasaurus,” co-writing Netflix’s animated film “Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie,” and showrunning Audible’s Ambie Award-winning fiction podcast “PREVIA: A Tech Heist,” which she also directed.
Currently, Bettina oversees the fiction slate at Sonoro Media, where she has developed and story edited over 20 fiction podcasts. Most recently, Bettina completed her debut short film “Más Allá,” a live-action coming-of-innocence tale, which uses magical realism to explore the power of imagination in a young girl’s will to survive. The film is set to make its festival premiere in 2025.
Honors & Awards
Ambie Award for Best Fiction Podcast, The Podcast Academy – PREVIA: A TECH HEIST – 2024
Semifinalist, ScreenCraft Film Fund, ScreenCraft – MÁS ALLÁ – 2023
non-WGA
Female, BIPOC, Latinx
VIVAS
Dark Comedy, Crime, Mystery - The White Lotus & Big Little Lies
When a Y2K New Year’s Eve party leaves a dead body in its wake, four upper class women in Mexico City become the prime suspects.
THIS WICKED WORLD
Dark Comedy, Crime - Fargo & Burn After Reading
Set in 1977 after the real-life kidnapping of Charlie Chaplin’s corpse from his grave, this dark comedy pins incompetent criminals against incompetent detectives, while a grieving widow finds bizarre comfort in what seems to be her late husband’s final practical joke.
WILD ONES
Coming-of-Age, Dramedy -The Kings of Summer & Hunt for the Wilderpeople
When a cynical, young girl who suffers from paralyzing climate anxiety learns she was adopted from a Native American community, she sets off to find her biological grandmother.
Character-driven, Female-centric, BIPOC-centric, Thriller, Psychological, Coming-of-Age, Animation, Magical Realism
Female, BIPOC, Latinx
unrepped