Selena's Dad Is Trying to Halt Production of a Series Based On 'Unauthorized' Memoir of Her Widower

Let me start with the good news: someone is trying to make a television series about the life of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, the Tejano superstar who died tragically at 21, when the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, shot her in the back. And now here’s the bad news: Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., is suing to halt production.

But it’s more obviously complicated than that. The series is based on a 2012 memoir written by Selena’s widower, Chris Perez, that Quintanilla has labeled “unauthorized.” Rolling Stone reports that Perez is bound by an agreement “to ‘not exploit’ Selena’s name or likeness in various mediums in exchange for 25 percent of the net profits derived from official Selena projects.”

They go on:

The TV show was reportedly being developed for both English and Spanish audiences, according to a post on Perez’s Facebook page. While [his memoir] To Selena, With Love was to serve as the primary text, the series would “also include details, stories, perspective and insights which were not covered in the book.”

I think an easy solution to this problem would be for any TV network to air Gregory Nava’s near-perfect 1997 biopic Selena every week, but who am I to make important programming decisions?