Sierra Teller Ornelas
Born1981 (age 42–43)
Tucson, Arizona
NationalityNavajo Nation, American
EducationUniversity of Arizona
Television
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine
  • Happy Endings
  • Rutherford Falls
  • Superstore
Parent

Sierra Nizhoni Teller Ornelas (Navajo, born 1981)[1] is a Native American showrunner, screenwriter, filmmaker and weaver from Tucson, Arizona. She is one of three co-creators of the scripted NBC (Peacock) comedy series Rutherford Falls, alongside Ed Helms and Mike Schur.[2][3]

Known for writing and production work on shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Happy Endings, Splitting Up Together, and Superstore, Ornelas has also written and contributed to This American Life and the New York Times.[4] In 2019 Ornelas signed a multi-year development deal with Universal Television, beginning with the Peacock sitcom Rutherford Falls.[4][2]

Early life and education

Ornelas is from Tucson, Arizona.[4][5] She is Navajo, born to the Edge Water clan. Her maternal grandfather is Water Flowing Together clan and her paternal grandfather is Mexican clan.[6]

Ornelas knew as early as second grade that she wanted to write for television.[7] She attended the University of Arizona, where she studied media arts.[8]

Career

After graduating from college, Teller Ornelas worked for five years as a film programmer at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[4][9] She was inspired to leave that job and pursue her dreams of becoming a television writer by a "big swing" her mother and aunt had made in the 1980s when they spent four years weaving an enormous rug. They sold it for $60,000, which changed their family's lives.[7]

Ornelas applied to and was selected in 2010 for the Disney/ABC Television Group's diversity writing program.[10] After this, she gained a position as a staff writer on Happy Endings.[11][12] She contributed to a sub-plot in which Dave, played by Zachary Knighton, discovers he is one-sixteenth Navajo and begins playing into stereotypes about Native Americans.[11][12] Ornelas said in a 2011 interview with the Navajo Times that if done right, comedy can be a way to "get conversation going about very dense, complicated issues."[11]

Ornelas is committed to gaining diversity in writers' rooms and the media.[12] She, Ed Helms, and Mike Schur were co-creators of the series Rutherford Falls, which presented its first episode on NBC in 2021. As showrunner, Ornelas oversees a writers room that includes four other Indigenous writers – Tazbah Chavez, Tai Leclaire, Jana Schmieding, and Bobby Wilson. Having five indigenous writers for a series is believed to be a first for a major television production.[3] Her overall deal with Universal Television was renewed in August 2021.[13]

Teller Ornelas sold the pilot for a workplace comedy called “City Indians” to NBC. She co-wrote the Bay Area based comedy with two other Native artists, Bobby Wilson and Jackie Keliiaa. She has described “City Indians” as “a progression of the Native comedy that I really enjoy making” and as “Too damn special not to exist in the world.” [14]

In addition to writing and producing, Ornelas is a sixth-generation Navajo weaver.[4][8] She was commissioned by the Arizona State Museum to make a documentary film, A Loom with a View: Modern Navajo Weavers, which explores the weaving of family members: mother, Barbara Teller Ornelas; great aunt, Margaret Yazzie; and brother, Michael Teller Ornelas.[8][1]

References

  1. 1 2 Schmitt, Rory O'Neill (2016). Navajo and Hopi Art in Arizona: Continuing Traditions. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62585-560-2. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 Montpelier, Rachel (20 November 2019). "Sierra Teller Ornelas Signs Multi-Year Overall Deal with Universal Television". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 Tennant, Zoe (7 February 2020). "Rutherford Falls brings Indigenous writers together for new NBC sitcom". CBC. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Petski, Denise; Andreeva, Nellie (20 November 2019). "'Rutherford Falls' Co-Creator Sierra Teller Ornelas Inks Overall Deal With Universal TV". Deadline. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  5. ↑ Harjo, Noetta (17 September 2018). "GGA Indigenerd Wire: Sierra Teller Ornelas Talks Authenticity and Humor in Native Storytelling". Geek Girl Authority. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  6. ↑ Ornelas, Sierra Teller (30 January 2019). "Indigenous People's Long Road to Visibility in Hollywood (Guest Column)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  7. 1 2 Miller, Stuart (April 21, 2021). "Sierra Teller Ornelas on the Roots of 'Rutherford Falls'". The New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 "Weaving is part of woman's soul". Arizona Daily Star. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  9. ↑ Sussman, Mark (10 May 2018). "Sierra Teller Ornelas on giving yourself permission to suck". thecreativeindependent.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  10. ↑ "Eight Chosen for Disney/ABC TV Diversity Writing Program". TheWrap. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 Yurth, Cindy (24 October 2011). "For Diné scriptwriter, Hollywood is one big dinner table". navajotimes.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 Montpelier, Rachel (14 September 2018). "Writer to Watch: Sierra Teller Ornelas of "Superstore"". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  13. ↑ Petski, Denise (2021-08-04). "'Rutherford Falls' Co-Creator Sierra Teller Ornelas Extends Overall Deal With Universal TV". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
  14. ↑ Gazzar, Brenda (2023-06-20). "A Wave of Native Representation on TV Is Rising". Yahoo. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
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