TANYA SARACHO: I know.
Trust me, Ive had that ache since I found out.
Was it hard for you to say goodbye to these characters and this world?
Was there a chance for you to actually say goodbye to them, in that sense?
SARACHO: Yes, that was actually the torture of it.
They told me as they greenlit me [for another season].
Image via Starz
I went through all the stages of grief.
I didnt really believe it, at first.
I was like, No, no, no, we can change their minds.
Image via Starz
Ill just make six masterpieces.
Also, they informed me that it was six [episodes], not 10.
Ill change their minds.
Image via Starz
It was the stages of grief.
I went through all of it, all the emotions.
Now, COVID-19 and this quarantine has helped me look inside a lot.
Image via Starz
I deliveredVidaon March 12th, full-on and ready.
Then, on the 13th, I went into quarantine.
All Ive done is look inside and look back at this great experience of four years of magic.
Image via Starz
I entered this just so inexperienced.
The “telling a story” part, I knew.
What I didnt know was that I didnt know what it was to be final decision-making power on everything.
But by the end, this experience has engendered a person who can do this.
Thats huge for me, on a personal note.
Im so grateful that I got three seasons of this story.
Starz was really great about letting this season and the episode length fit the story.
This aint no half-four, this season.
The episodes are 40, 45, and 55 minutes because the story asked for it and required it.
SARACHO: Well, I might never know that.
Maybe I have an inkling.
I knew that we had to serve the dad storyline.
It all comes to light here.
I had designs to burn down the bar.
We were gonna do so much stuff.
They were gonna be shut down because they didnt have a license to do concerts.
All of these things were gonna happen.
But Im very proud of this season.
I cant be mad.
These sisters have taken quite a journey, over the course ofVida.
Do you feel like youve pushed them in ways that they hadnt been pushed before, as actors?
SARACHO: I think we were all ready, so like I dont feel like I pushed.
I think that they were up for the challenge.
We were up all up for the challenge.
Sometimes, as Latina artists in this town, we just dont get the opportunities.
I just never got the opportunity.
She just needed that shot.
It was the same thing with Melissa.
She has a lot of experience, just none in this country.
Shes done a ton of telenovelas and musical theater and she was ready.
She just needed a shot.
So, I dont wanna take credit for pulling any performance out of them.
They just needed the platform and the characters.
They needed those rich characters for do it.
Its been so great, getting to grow with them.
SARACHO: Each one of us were all unknown, and Im not just talking about the actors.
She was the head of that department, and now shes in demand and I cant get her.
The fact that career got made, and that my career got made, by this show is awesome.
I love everybody, but thats what creates our stories: the writers.
Im trying to train a showrunner.
Im hoping everyone gets their shows because thats when well have the power.
We had an all-female editor team this season and they were all Hispanic.
Female editors, historically, dont get the movies right away.
Editing is still a boys club.
Its exciting to see them in demand, too.
This show also marked your debut as a director.
SARACHO: You know where Im supposed to be right now, if we were COVID-ed out?
I was supposed to be doing a cinematography course in London, at the London Film Academy.
But then, COVID happened, so no more London.
All I got from directingVidawas the bug.
So now, I wanna do it more because I realized how little I know.
Id directed 16 theater plays, but its not the same.
Speaking to actors and getting the performance out is the only thing that I feel comfortable with.
Thank god I had such good cinematographers because I only worked on feeling.
Id be like, When we enter the scene, I want it to feel like this.
I dont wanna just be doing that.
I wanna be like, Okay, I need you to use this lens.
Now, Im in talks to direct a couple of things, like movies.
That was such a great gift, that Vida left me with.
When people can start up productions again, what does that next thing look like for you?
SARACHO: We have to pretend that we can.
Right now, Im like, When?!
Do you know what youd like to do next?
I dont know whats happening to me.
All of these friends of mine are creating and writing a million things, and I am paralyzed.
I was really mean to myself, for the first two and a half weeks, about it.
I was like, Why arent you writing everything?
This is the time to do it.
Weve never been here, so we dont have a manual for how to act and how to react.
I realized that Im in survival mode only, and its okay to be there.
It says nowhere that Im supposed to create a bunch of things.
I wanna have it all.
We just need to get through COVID, so that people can go back to something.
Right now, its very stilted.
The end of this series is not neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow.
These characters are going to continue having their lives.
SARACHO: All of them are left open-ended.
Nothing has a hard period, for anyone.
If people do love the show, I would love for them to fill in the blanks.
Thats my favorite thing to do.
When Fleabag says goodbye to the camera, Im still imagining what her next day will be like.
Thats the beauty of an ending like that, or hopefully an ending like ours.
you’re able to still imagine it.
I would love to know peoples opinions.
Theres no resolution in Fleabag.
Its just an emotional ending.
Can you tell that Im obsessed with Phoebe Waller-Bridge?
Somebody asked me, If there were one show that you could EP, what would it be?
And I saidKilling Eve.
Im crazy about it.
And then, theresRunon HBO, also written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Those are the two, this week, that Im excited about.
VidaSeason 3 airs on Sunday nights on Starz.
