As a seasoned film enthusiast with a soft spot for discovering fresh talent, I can’t help but feel energized and inspired by this year’s Starz Take the Lead Writers’ Intensive participants! The collaboration between Starz, NALIP, and NFMLA is truly a testament to their commitment towards nurturing emerging voices in premium cable.
Starz, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), and The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) have revealed the chosen individuals for the third season of the Starz Take the Lead Writers’ Program.
This coming October 14th is when our annual event kicks off, showcasing authors such as Alyssa Katalyna, Eric De La Rosa, Justin Omori, and Nneka Samuel.
Starz has organized a set of educational workshops designed to provide attendees with insights and networking opportunities with professionals from various sectors of the television industry.
The partnership among Starz, NALIP, and NFMLA underscores our commitment to uniting efforts in creating and sustaining influential initiatives for nurturing the upcoming crop of writers in premium cable. The Starz Take the Lead Writers’ Program is a powerful catalyst within the entertainment industry, amplifying underrepresented voices and bridging the representation divide. We are incredibly proud of our collaborative work with Starz, a trailblazer and pioneer in the television sector,” expressed Diana Luna, NALIP’s Executive Director, and Larry Laboe, Co-Founder and Executive Director of NFMLA.
This year’s group of participants includes Kathryn Busby, president of original programming at Starz, Rebecca Cutter who is the showrunner and executive producer of “Hunting Wives”, Sebastian Arboleda, vice president of original programming at Starz, Tara Roy, director of original programming at Starz, Ian Olympio, TV writer and producer of “P-Valley”, Melissa Lora, executive director of drama development at 20th Television, Julio Castro, manager of drama development at ABC Hulu at Disney, Loreli Alanís, senior vice president of TV development at Point Grey Pictures, Julian Johnson, writer and story editor, Rae Benjamin, another writer, Carlos Bobadilla, partner and co-founder of Valor Entertainment, Eduardo Cisneros and Claudia Forestieri, both TV writers and executive producers, Faisal Kanaan, literary manager at Grandview, and more. These individuals will offer the writing cohort valuable insights into the television industry and support them as they progress in their artistic endeavors.
Learn more about the season three finalists below.
Alyssa Katalyna
Alyssa Katalyna, a Latina filmmaker with a penchant for the unconventional, has made waves in the industry. Her critically acclaimed podcast “Jack and Lou: A Gangster Love Story,” featuring Lisa Kudrow, won the 2022 Indie Series Awards for Best Audio Fiction Series and Best Ensemble of an Audio Fiction. Alyssa’s accolades include being a recipient of the George Lucas Scholarship at USC, winning the 2022 NALIP Emerging Content Creators Inclusion Initiative Scholarship, multiple-year National Hispanic Foundation of the Arts Scholar, and a 2024 Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today Fellow. Recently, she produced the Best Emerging Filmmaker Documentary at Cannes 2024, which also received the Jury Award at the 28th DGA Student Film Awards, an Epic Unreal Mega Grant, and funding from The Project Paradise Fund. Currently, she is producing ChikaBOOM!, the winner of the 2023 R&D Innovation Grant from the Entertainment Technology Center.
Eric de La Rosa
Eric De La Rosa, a queer Latinx graduate from the University of Texas with a major in TV/Film, has gained experience working at various entertainment companies such as The Jim Henson Company, MGM, Dreamworks, Warner Brother, and Fox. In his leisure moments, Eric pens television scripts from his home in Glendale, California. His works include “Gush’s White Whale” – a project for Jim Henson’s Splash and Bubbles (released on 06-12-2018), and “Motel of Miracles” – a finalist for the Shore Scripts TV Pilot Contest 2020 and a quarterfinalist in the Big Break 2022 competition by Final Draft.
Justin Omori
Born with a passion for art and storytelling, Justin Omori traversed the volcanic landscapes of Hawaiʻi Island while helping his father carry camera equipment. After completing his Creative Media degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa, he relocated to Los Angeles. His career has seen him working as a Writers’ Assistant on shows like “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Netflix and “Something is Killing the Children.” In 2018, he co-wrote “The Moon and The Night,” which was shortlisted for the Student BAFTA Awards and featured on the Criterion Channel. In 2022, he was recognized as a Film Independent Project Involve Screenwriting Fellow and received the Disney Studios Content Fellowship. That year, he wrote “Inheritance,” a short film funded by Tribeca Studios, Netflix, and Gold House. The short made its debut at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. He was also a finalist for the SFFilm Rainin Screenwriting Grant in 2023.
Nneka Samuel
Nneka Samuel is an award-winning film and television writer who lives to tell untapped stories. Recently, she was staffed on the second season of Showtime’s Flatbush Misdemeanors. Prior to, she developed a comedy series called Rejig with AwesomenessTV and Reform Media Group. Nneka also wrote for TV One’s NAACP award-winning music docuseries Unsung. In addition to being a 2019 WeForShe WriterHer List and Bitch List alum, Nneka’s work has been recognized by the Austin Film Festival and Hollywood Black Film Festival. As a freelancer, her writing has been featured in numerous print and online publications, including Uptown, Heart & Soul and MadameNoire. Nneka holds a BA in Cinema Studies from USC and MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, where she was awarded the Zaki Gordon Award for Excellence in Screenwriting for her feature script Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me, the NBC/NAACP Fellowship, the Felicia D. Henderson Scholarship and Carl David Memorial Scholarship in Film and Video. She was also a Screenwriters Showcase finalist. Nneka is repped by Verve.
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2024-10-15 20:47