Directed by Rodriguez from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, From Dusk Till Dawn was released in 1996 and starred George Clooney and Tarantino as two outlaw brothers who kidnap a family (Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu) en route to Mexico, where they happen upon a bunch of blood-thirsty vampires at a remote brother called the Titty Twister. The film also featured Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Tom Savini, Danny Trejo and Michael Parks, and went on to spawn two direct-to-video follow-ups, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Hangman's Daughter.
El Rey is an English-language cable network headed up by Rodriguez, which is due for launch in 2014. In addition to From Dusk Till Dawn, the network is also developing an original action series from K/O Paper Products, which is headed up by Fringe and Star Trek Into Darkness producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.