Steven Canals (born September 14, 1980) is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known for co-creating and executive-producing the FX television show ''

Pose Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take. There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning. *''Position'' is a gen ...

''.

Early life and education

Canals grew up in the Housing Projects in

Castle Hill, Bronx Castle Hill is a neighborhood located in the southeast section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Its boundaries are Waterbury Avenue and Westchester Avenue to the north, Westchester Creek to the east, the East River to the south, and ...

. He began practicing filmmaking at the Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice after school program. He co-produced his first documentary about gang violence with other classmates when he was 15. Canals graduated with a BA in cinema and MA in student affairs from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

in 2005 and 2008 respectively. Canals received his MFA in screenwriting from

UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

in 2015.

Career

Prior to working in entertainment, Canals worked in university administration. He worked as a LGBT resource coordinator at SUNY-Cortland while completing his master's degree part time, where he was also residence hall director of Shea Hall and advisor to the university's gay-straight alliance for six years.

Allegheny College he, תגל ערבה ותפרח כחבצלת , mottoeng = "Add to your faith, virtue and to your faith, knowledge" (2 Peter 1:5)"The desert shall rejoice and the blossom as the rose" (Isaiah 35:1) , faculty = 193 ...

appointed Canals as associate director for gender and sexual orientation initiatives in June 2011.

Entertainment

Canals was a staff writer on Freeform's ''Dead of Summer'' in 2016. His short film ''Afuera'' premiered at the

LA Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

that same year. Canals developed the pilot script for television show ''Pose'' while studying at UCLA in 2014. He was initially inspired by the story in '' Paris Is Burning.'' He however found it difficult to get the script developed as industry executives found the subject matter about

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

and

ball culture The Ballroom Scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino ...

to be "too niche". Ryan Murphy, co-creator of ''Glee'' and ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'', would later come on as a producer in 2016, along with his producing partner

Brad Falchuk Bradley Douglas Falchuk (born March 1, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer, best known for co-creating with Ryan Murphy the comedy-drama television series ''Glee'', the drama series ''Pose'', the horror comedy '' Screa ...

. The first season premiered in June 2018 on FX. The show is noted to have the largest

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

cast in television history. He was named a "writer to watch" by ''Variety'' in 2018. Canals signed an overall deal with

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

in January 2020.

Personal life

Canals is openly

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

. He is of African American and Puerto Rican heritage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canals, Steven Binghamton University alumni UCLA Film School alumni Screenwriters from New York (state) American LGBT writers LGBT television producers LGBT African Americans LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people 1980 births Living people American people of Puerto Rican descent Queer men Queer screenwriters