Embracing the 'Ugly'

Silvio Horta is the 33-year-old creator and executive producer of ABC's "Ugly Betty" -- which starts its post-strike run on Thursday.

Do you know when you're writing crap?

Yeah. Right now, my process? I surrender to the fact that what I first put on paper will be crap. So at least I have crap to work with. Then hopefully it's not crap anymore. Initially it's OK, I'm just going to put it down -- put something down. And then from there, it will hopefully get better, and when something's in good shape, I'll let other people see it.

And whatever did you do during the strike? All we heard was that you were "redecorating."

Well, I moved into a new place last year, so it was kind of bare and empty. So I started to actually furnish it. So I was picketing, and then I did some traveling around Christmas time. I went to Cuba for a week at one point -- and I knew the strike was coming to an end, and when we started working, there'd be no downtime for the foreseeable future -- so I cashed in my miles and went to London and Paris. And there I broke my foot. . . . Having that time to do nothing but sit down and think and reflect, I started to just gain a lot of perspective on the show and what we'd done and what we'd done well and what we hadn't done well. I came back with renewed energy, a renewed clarity on what the show was and what I wanted to do with it.

Do you have that encapsulated in a 40-word version?

The heart is really what it comes down to. The show's always been good and funny, but I started to feel in the beginning of the second season we got away from Betty and her point of view. It came down to basics -- and going back to what made the show a success and touched people. It was Betty.

Do you miss sci-fi -- the genre, not the channel? [Horta was an executive producer of "The Chronicle" on Sci Fi Channel.]

I definitely don't miss the channel. Though there's been about 30 regime changes since I was there. But the genre? To an extent. I'd like to do other things in that genre, but I'm happy where I am and doing what I'm doing.

Why is everyone afraid of [ABC Entertainment President] Stephen McPherson?

Um. I don't know if everyone's afraid. You know, um. No comment?

How gay is this show?

As far as content, or the staff, or?

I was thinking content -- but what about the staff?