Loyola Marymount University
School of Film and Television
MFA SCREENWRITING
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GRADUATES 2018
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2017–2018 MFA Screenwriting Graduates
Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television
As exiting Dean of the School of Film and Television
at LMU, I am delighted at the industry recognition
we have achieved for our very successful graduate
writing programs. I am pleased to present the 2018 MFA
Screenwriting directory, featuring the inventive work of
our Writing for the Screen and Writing and Producing for
Television graduates.
Within these pages, you will find original, moving and
imaginative stories that began as fragments of an idea in
the minds of our graduates. Extensive work and rigor while
studying at LMU have resulted in fully formed, engaging
characters and plots that take the reader on a rewarding
journey. Many of these stories have already garnered
attention as award-winners and honorees at festivals and
screenwriting competitions. Several of the graduates
have already sold their scripts and secured professional
positions in film, television and digital media.
We are excited to introduce these talented individuals
to an industry that is searching out stories that are
fresh, diverse, inclusive and told from a new point of
view. The Jesuit philosophy of “educating the whole
person” has provided these graduates with a comprehensive,
interdisciplinary education that celebrates creative
freedom, while inspiring the pursuit of knowledge for a
purpose greater than oneself. Our writers are ready to
step up and have their unique voices be heard. Given the
times in which we live, these voices are greatly needed.
I would like to thank you for your continued time and
support of our emerging storytellers.
Best regards,
Stephen Ujlaki
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FEATURE FILM SCREENWRITING GRADUATES
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Roosevelt Brown II
Mark Buenning
Kylie Chi
Mia Dingle
Daril Richard Fannin
Ana Gamundi
Ben Gross
Bonnie L. Harris
Jasmine Jafari
Hunter Karas
Ashley Locher
Jordan Mitchell
Tom Radovich
Rob Walton Smith
Camille Tucker
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“Don’t go out there and show your ass in front of all
those white folks,” said by a fervent Texas mother to her
only son; words meant to keep him on the straight...and
narrow. But his life became anything but. Roosevelt was
thrown a curveball when his father passed away tragically,
when he was just 17 months old. But support from his
mother kept him pushing forward. And even though he
dabbled in poetry early on, his path to writing was never
made clear to him until undergrad. Swept up quickly by
the weirdness of Austin, TX, an “aha” moment hit him and
made him realize what he had known his entire life: he is
a writer. But after college, a series of choices led him
to an unnecessarily long stint in sports television. After
his soul had been drained for years, his fight or flight
response kicked in, and he quit his lucrative job to move
across the country to follow his dreams.
Roosevelt wouldn’t classify himself as a comedy writer,
but a dramatic writer who often makes funny things happen.
A stereotype-deconstructionist who finds absurdity in the
most mundane of situations, where things like “a fart at
a funeral” are more commonly featured than not. But his
mother shouldn’t worry, once he succeeds his antics won’t
embarrass her...too much.
6969 Big Top (Half-Hour, Comedy) Angered by the broken
low-income housing system, a disgraced journalist goes
undercover to investigate the practices of a suspicious
new housing community. But after a mysterious murder
happens on his first night, he soon learns that this
complex is sitting on a “hell mouth” run by a fabulous
drag queen landlord.
The Perilous Plight of the Enigmatic William Wilson
(Feature, Sci-Fi/Comedy) After a lab accident rips the
fabric between two parallel realities, Will, the ‘Eeyore’
of the Human Resources community, convinces his eccentric
doppelgänger to swap places to better their lives. But the
grass isn’t always greener on the other side—when it’s
fertilized with bullshit.
Changing Faces (Feature, Comedy) After her twin sister
goes missing, Mack, a burnt-out police detective, must
assume her sister’s socialite identity to infiltrate an
underground organization where entitled husbands pay
to create the perfect Texas housewife.
7
Mark caught the writing bug after participating in the
thriving theater community in Chicago – where the only
things that were sacrosanct were scrappiness, versatility
and Shakespeare. His first job was on a film set. He’s
appeared on the main stages at Steppenwolf and the Second
City, played in an Irish punk band, written jokes for
Joan Rivers, and had his ass go viral on the front-page
of Reddit. He landed at LMU after a stint of yelling at
A-List producers, writers, and musicians as their personal
trainer, where he somehow managed to get paid to steal
their secrets and bake them ‘healthy’ cookies.
His life revolves around structure, collaboration, and
change. His work centers around strong relationships and
relatable characters, because real people say his words,
and he’d prefer those people were happy and less likely
to stab him. He watched the Twilight saga with his mother
without complaining. He’s proudest of the fact that his
niece tells strangers he writes movies. In his spare time,
he enjoys attacking the city of Tokyo.
The Candy Bombers (Feature, Adaptation) The story of
a Mormon pilot who galvanized the world’s largest
humanitarian aid mission to save West Germany from
starvation in the hope of getting back to the woman
he loves.
Headcases (Feature, Action/Comedy) A burned CIA agent’s
only chance at uncovering a conspiracy is the rogue,
boneheaded amnesiac agent she was sent to kill.
Killsquad (Half-Hour, Comedy) After an internationally
embarrassed eSports team loses one of their key players,
an unlikely captain takes drastic steps to bring his
fellow misfits back to the winners’ podium.
The Body Shop (One-Hour, Crime Drama) After a grisly
murder stumps the LAPD, an erratic special effects
fabricator is drawn into the world of criminal justice
and must use her shop and talents with anatomy to
recreate crimes.
9
An explorer from day one, Kylie Chi’s imagination ran
wild through the abandoned barns and over-lit strip malls
that make up the lonely landscape of rural Missouri. Then
puberty hit, the Internet became a thing, and the world
seemed suddenly bleak. Kylie, in the throes of despair,
asked her father if magic was still real. “Yes, magic is
real, but you have to keep looking for it.” With her
father’s words ringing in her ears, Kylie followed the
magic and discovered it hidden in places most people
overlook: fringe societies, forgotten places, and small
families trapped by twisted pasts.
River of Names (Feature, Family Drama) A gay woman must
return to the Appalachian hometown she has avoided for
a decade to save her sister and nephew from his abusive
father.
The Queen of Gibtown (One-Hour, Crime Drama) The matriarch
of a traveling carnival must turn a town of carnies into
the country’s most successful drug cartel to save her
daughter from her plotting ex-husband.
Up the Hill (Feature, Family Drama) A resentful daughter
must help her dying, daredevil father up a mountain to see
his favorite meteor shower to uncover the truth about her
mother who abandoned their family years and years ago.
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Hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, Mia is a lady in
the streets and a freak in them sheets... of paper, that
is. Readers of her outrageous brand of comedy will be
hooked like a hobo on a ham sandwich. With her vibrant
voice, Mia reinvents how young black women are seen in
media, and most importantly, how they see themselves.
Soul Count (Feature, Comedy) An ambitious game developer
makes a deal with the devil who uses her app to harvest
players’ souls. But when her own sister’s soul is taken,
she must venture into the depths of Hell, the best worst
party that never ends.
Kink (Feature, Comedy) A beaten down and buttoned up
kindergarten teacher becomes a dominatrix to pay off the
loan sharks circling her shopaholic mother and save the
family home.
Bitchspionage (Feature, Comedy) A night out goes horribly
awry when bickering sisters, trying to return a diamond-
encrusted grill to a famous rapper, find themselves on the
run from two psychotic queenpins who will kill anyone in
their way.
The Magical Negro League (Half-Hour, Animated Comedy)
A blundering janitor struggles to prove that he is worthy
of joining the Magical Negro League, a multi-ethnic
squad of super heroes who are devoted to patrolling and
protecting the galaxy from unruly cinematic tropes.
13
Daril Richard Fannin hails from a group of religious
extremists intent on sheltering themselves from the evil
influence of the world. For the first 17 years of his
life, he openly condemned movies, television, sports,
and everything else that could be deemed “Fun Childhood
Memories.” Desperate to escape this soul-sucking paradigm,
he resigned his position as the youngest licensed minister
in aforementioned cult and enlisted in the Army as a
combat medic in October of 2005.
Three years later, Daril was named “Region III Soldier
of the Year” and attended the movies for the first time.
In 2011, he represented the State of Tennessee as “Non-
Commissioned Officer of the Year” and began a ridiculous
new passion: screenwriting.
After an honorable discharge from the Army in July
2014, Daril moved to Los Angeles and attended LMU’s
Screenwriting MFA program. During the second year of the
program, he launched his career as the creator, writer,
and actor of the Netflix original series “The Green
Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse” (exec produced
by Matt Damon and Peter Berg).
Glutes (Half-Hour, Comedy) A comedy that follows day-to-
day operations of a quintessential Hollywood gym known for
turning asses into stars.
Redneck Ricky (One-Hour, Dramedy) A former rodeo trick
rider wages war with a cartel after they take his girl,
burn his trailer, and murder his pet chicken.
Becky Peterson’s List of Assholes (Half-Hour, Dark Comedy)
A woman tries to cope with sexual harassment at work by
journaling a list of names and offenses. But when her boss
finally tries to rape her, she kills him. At her next
therapist appointment, Becky gladly reports that she’s no
longer journaling about hate and rage, but rather joyous,
peaceful thoughts. And now she knows what she must do —
kill everyone she wrote about in her journal.
Flesh and Blood (Feature, Drama) After Madame Lorena’s
daughter is murdered by a man who owns a competing
whorehouse, she will stop at nothing to exact revenge on
the men responsible.
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Ana is a Miami-raised Cuban-Honduran bookworm with a
dash of sass who loves stories of romance. Raised in a
tight-knit Hispanic family, everyone’s story seemed a
fairy tale, except for hers. Henceforward, Ana decided to
write her own. Ana explores the dark side of love, often
undermined by the socially imposed and stringent labels of
politics, religion, duty and tradition. Crazy, right? But
one thing she knows: When it comes to love, people will do
crazy things.
Peshmerga (Feature, Political Drama/Romance) A former
slave turned Peshmerga soldier must return to her ISIS-
infested homeland and lure one of the terrorist group’s
leaders into trusting her, so she can rescue her sister
from a fate worse than death.
On the Eve (Feature, Historical Romance) When a young
Bolshevik learns the love of his life has been taken
prisoner alongside the royal family everyone so
determinedly wants dead in the midst of the 1917 Russian
Revolution, he risks it all to get her out.
Casual Affairs (Feature, Sex Comedy) Convinced her
boyfriend is the problem, a calculating math teacher signs
them up for a sex retreat to spice things up, only to
realize that her own issues are part of the equation.
Raising Hell (One-Hour, Dark Fantasy) In 1920’s Miami,
Hell’s seven demons (one for each of the Deadly Sins)
expertly manipulate free will. But when Pryed, the lead
demon (Pride), meets and falls for a young, virtuous
mortal, he sets out to redeem what might remain of his
soul, despite all the odds against him.
17
Ben was born an athlete and reluctant intellectual, not
a writer. His moxie led him to pick up a pen.
Being a second-generation American and first-generation
college grad created an enormous chip on his shoulder.
School was a constant battle. Trouble was too easily
found. But Ben surprised even himself by trading a
baseball scholarship for libraries at UC Berkeley.
That curious passenger inside blossomed in those years
when he began skulking around the dark net and trading
unmentionables on the Silk Road. Among these side hustles,
he was recruited to write for the school’s paper and
a comedy sketch group, researching true stories and
interacting in a writer’s room. However, it was only after
a year in the analytics world did Ben realize that life
becomes stagnant when you neglect your passions.
House of The Rising Sun (Feature, Period Drama) In 1866
New Orleans, a prideful Madame clashes against Confederate
Marauder threatening the underworld.
The Ladies Guide to Hacking (Feature, Cyberpunk/Western)
A reclusive hacker launders stolen bitcoins through a Wild
West VR game after she and her brothers are kidnapped.
American Crescendo (Cyberpunk, Pilot) A bounty hunter
with a checkered past embarks on missions across parallel
universes.
Cointelpro (One-Hour, Drama/Adaptation) A delusional FBI
Agent launches a vendetta against dissident political
organizations in the turbulent ‘50s and ‘60s.
Asylum (One-Act Play, Drama) A feuding couple on the verge
of a breakup must work together to solve their way out of
an escape room.
19
Equal parts domestic goddess, yoga junkie, and children’s
advocate, Bonnie Harris personifies the free-spirit of
Oregon and brings the tie-dyed nirvana of the Pacific
Northwest to the hectic rat race of Los Angeles. Her
stories of community and family explore complicated
parent-child relationships, most often from a teen’s point
of view. With her character-driven narratives, Bonnie
hopes to bring positive karma to the screen, reflecting
her belief that enlightenment through entertainment can
change the world for the better.
Scrap Metal (Feature, Family Space Adventure/Drama) Stuck
on his father’s orbiting salvage ship, an angsty teen
discovers a mysterious stowaway, who pulls him into her
fight against a mega corporation hell-bent on ravaging
Earth’s resources.
That Girl Named Christmas (Feature, Holiday Family/Drama)
On a quest to reclaim a family heirloom, an aspiring teen
musician, who can’t stand Christmas, must confront her
worst nightmare when she locates her estranged mother in a
town where the residents spend every waking minute of the
holidays singing carols, wrangling reindeer, and answering
letters to Santa.
#Ghost Friends Forever (Feature, Adventure/Comedy)
A misfit ten-year-old tree-hugger, determined to save
her family home from a crooked real estate developer,
joins forces with her best friend, who happens to be the
resident ghost. Together, they totally “poltergeist”
their house and the neighborhood to scare away the
developer for good.
Dance the Night Away (Children’s Play, Fantasy/Comedy)
Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, an impractical
princess and a bumbling magician unravel a mysterious
musical curse and free the royal family from imprisonment,
so the realm can live happily ever after.
21
Jasmine was born and raised in Anaheim Hills, CA, where
absolutely nothing ever happens. To make life interesting,
Jasmine told her third-grade teacher she was born in Iran
to add some spice into her life. The lie eventually caught
up with her, but the fun of creating a story out of thin
air sparked a newfound purpose in life; storytelling.
At the age of nine, Jasmine announced to her parents
that she was going to be a filmmaker. This shattered
her parents’ dreams of her becoming a doctor or lawyer,
the only two options for Persians. Her classmates all
throughout primary and secondary school believed she was
book smart due to the glasses, frizzy hair, and headgear,
but she spent class time brainstorming story ideas. In
high school, she would cut class to film shorts with her
friends in the courtyard. Her shorts captured the life of
typical melodramatic teenagers in Anaheim.
After growing out of her self-deprecating teenage phase,
Jasmine shifted her storytelling focus to the fascinating
effects of backstory on characters after realizing that
everyone around her struggles with insecurities from their
pasts. Jasmine wants to show through her writing that who
you are is okay, and you don’t need to lie that you were
born in Iran to be interesting. In the end, we all have a
four-eyed, frizzy-haired, headgear-wearing girl inside of
us we need to hug.
The Persian Art of Denial (Feature, Drama) On Persian New
Year, a dutiful daughter facilitates her grieving family
to move past her brother’s sudden death, but her parents
refuse to admit how he died.
Traitor (One-hour, Historical Drama) A rebellious daughter
of a British Captain joins America’s first female spy ring
after her family’s betrayal.
The Wrath of God (Feature, Historical Drama) In 17th
century London a determined physician fights an outbreak
of the Black Plague and the religious stranglehold that
threatens to wipe out the entire town.
23
Growing up in the Deep South, Hunter Karas found escape
from the Bibles, bullets and bigotry through the movies.
He’s developed a unique approach to scripts - method
writing. Just as a method actor fully inhabits a role,
Hunter immerses himself completely through research and
experience. Whether exploring the world of standup comedy,
eSports or America’s secret history, his stories feel
authentic and truly lived. Across his eclectic work,
Hunter focuses on character-driven plots, peppered with
dry wit to taste. He’s going to be a big deal. Yuge.
Everybody says so.
Quincy (Feature, Steampunk Fantasy Adventure) Inspired
by amazingly true events! Our sixth President, John
Quincy Adams, and his estranged son embark with a band of
explorers in search of the primeval and alien world hidden
within the Hollow Earth.
Undercover Comic (Feature, Comedy) An FBI agent,
struggling to cope with her partner’s death, infiltrates a
reality show competition for standup comics to protect the
host under threat for his highly offensive jokes.
Gamer Girl (Half Hour, Comedy) To maintain her sports
scholarship, an injured basketball player joins the
college eSports team, a squad of nerdy guys who show her
a new way to be an athlete — video games.
25
Despite her BA in Psychology, Ashley Locher is far better
suited to write about your problems than diagnose them.
Fascinated by untold stories, she strives to give a voice
to the voiceless by creating unflinching social commentary
with her poignant style of character-driven drama and dark
comedy. She suggests those opposed to feeling shocked,
tickled or emotionally gut-punched steer clear of her
work. (How’s that for reverse psychology?)
Bad Company (Feature, Dark Comedy/Drama) An idealistic
recruit injured during Hell Week fights for a second
chance to become a Navy SEAL while growing increasingly
disillusioned with the toxic culture.
End of Life (Feature, Dark Comedy/Drama) Desperate to die,
a headstrong matriarch diagnosed with a terminal illness
defies her moralistic daughter and hires an unstable end
of life advocate to assist in her passing.
Crude (One-Hour, Drama) To escape her abusive husband,
a world-weary trucker flees with her rebellious teenage
daughter to North Dakota, where they encounter both crude
oil and crude people.
27
For most of his adolescent life, Jordan Mitchell fought
an ongoing battle between what he was and what people
expected him to be. An introverted athlete standing at
6’7”, Jordan played basketball starting from the YMCA as
a youth to the Division 1 level in college; yet his heart
was always in storytelling. This passion manifested itself
when he drew his first comic strips way back in elementary
school.
Always the tallest and the geekiest on the team, while the
other players debated LeBron versus Kobe—Jordan was more
fascinated with Batman versus the Joker. (He does a killer
Heath Ledger impersonation from The Dark Knight.) His
father, a diehard sports fan, greatly encouraged Jordan to
pursue writing. Unafraid to take the unpopular opinion,
his fellow screenwriters at LMU gave Jordan the nickname
“contrarian,” proving even around other eccentrics like
himself, he still doesn’t quite fit in.
Today Jordan finds solace as a creative mind that channels
his competitive spirit, embraces weird ideas, unafraid
to tackle stories and characters both familiar and
extraordinary while subverting expectations.
Not My Dad (Half-Hour, Comedy) A black college graduate
with dreams of becoming a rapper lives with his loafing,
white-conservative stepfather after his mother abruptly
leaves.
Apocalypse Kids (Feature, Sci-Fi/Comedy) During the end
of the world, a slacker party-girl must protect three
troublesome kids from ancient monsters who attack inner
city Los Angeles.
Hitmans (Feature, Action/Comedy) A smooth talking dating
coach with a price on his head convinces a socially
awkward hit-man to let him live… by helping him woo the
woman of his dreams.
Shot Clock (One-Hour, Sports Drama) A desperate college
basketball coach, with a pill addiction, bends the rules
to salvage his reputation, the season and his relationship
with his daughter.
29
Tom Radovich knows you’re probably only going to read the
first two sentences of this bio so he better make this
count. Oh, crap I just wasted a sentence… Look, I hate
cutesy bios too, but they told me if I’m in comedy, I
better be funny. So how do you think I’m doing? You turned
the page to Rob already, haven’t you?
Okay, I’ll be quick: I love writing bold and unique genre
movies and comedies. I won grand prize in the Second
City Training Center Screenplay Contest, without bribing
anyone. I’ve optioned a script and have been paid to
write. And I try to be a good Catholic.
Mortis (Feature, Comedy) A high school goth, who
constantly fails at suicide, forms a terrible band with
his friends in an effort to win the heart of his crush.
- Grand Prize: 2017 Second City Training Center Comedy
Screenplay Contest
- Comedy Finalist: 2015 Page International Screenwriting
Awards
Red Velvet (Feature, Comedy/Horror) A pious, small-town
baker discovers that a millennial’s rival red velvet cake
puts all who eat it under the power of a demon and vows to
stop the impending Apocalypse.
- 2nd Place: 2nd Annual Stage 32 Happy Writers Comedy
Writing Contest
-Semifinalist: 2017 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest
Double Bogey (Feature, Comedy) Two high school graduates
face off in a miniature golf tournament, vowing to win the
life-changing prize money of $500.
Critical Mass (Feature, Dark Comedy/Thriller) An obsessed
fanboy of a cartoon show kidnaps a film critic to
coerce her into writing a positive review of its movie
adaptation.
Split Up (Limited Series Half-Hour, Comedy/Slasher)
On the edge of separation, a husband and wife put off
their divorce to get revenge on the slasher who killed
their promiscuous daughter.
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Picture the most inept, incapable person you’ve ever met.
Now imagine that the fate of the universe rests on that
person’s shoulders. Rob Walton Smith does this on a daily
basis, writing stories that explore the human experience
in the face of absurdity. Hailing from the Greater
Philadelphia Crime Statistical Area, Rob packed his car
and drove cross-country with no one but a volleyball named
Wilson at his side to bring you his take on the wacky
joyride of life.
High Risk (Feature, Action/Comedy) An emotionally stunted
tech wiz steps up to protect his former high school bully,
now the President of the United States, when assassins
crash their 20-year reunion.
Invasion of the Body-Builders (Feature, Horror/Comedy)
Three gym buddies team up to take down a sports supplement
peddler when they uncover his plot to turn their town’s
meatheads into an army of mind-controlled juggernauts.
Brew Brothers (Feature, Comedy) To secure his big break,
a materialistic, fast-talking businessman must join
an order of isolated, ascetic monks renowned for their
beer brewing.
Shakespeare in the (Trailer) Park (Half-Hour, Comedy) Some
of the Bard’s most beloved characters are reimagined as
the wacky and tormented residents of a rural Pennsylvania
mobile home community.
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Camille is Straight Outta Compton and proud of it. At age
7, the Montessori School she attended burned down and
she was bused to a private, college prep school in Palos
Verdes, CA. Feeling trapped between dual worlds, escapism
became her thing, through sci-fi and fantasy short
stories, but she disparaged the lack of black faces in
them. Yet, once she got her hands on the works of fierce
black women writers like Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou,
Octavia Butler, she found the power of words. She began
to write — poetry, plays, songs, raps, and eventually
screenwriting. Today, Camille passionately writes about
issues of gender, race, power and social justice. Not new
to the industry, she’s sold screenplays to studios such
as Sony and Universal and has worked with producers Robert
De Niro and Marc Platt. If she likes you, she’ll make you
a pot of her famous dirty south Gumbo, or maybe spit you
a few rhymes.
Unseen (Feature, Crime Thriller) When a string of girls
are murdered in Compton, CA, a traumatized psychologist
goes after an elusive serial killer, while corrupt law
enforcement sets out stop her at all costs.
Launch (Feature, Sci-Fi/Action) After aliens annihilate
everyone aboard her space station, a snarky teenager
escapes, and is joined by a band of mutant teens, to stop
the aliens from destroying earth and her earth-bound
father.
Sorority Sistaz (One-Hour, Dramedy) When a blonde, white
socialite finds out she’s half-black, she naïvely sets out
to pledge an all-black sorority, but she soon learns from
the sistaz what it truly means to be black.
The Kennedys of Compton (One-Hour, Drama) An ambitious
entertainment attorney is thrust into the cesspool of
Compton politics after his father, the beloved mayor,
mysteriously dies and he runs for his open seat.
34
WRITING AND PRODUCING FOR TELEVISION GRADUATES
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Matthew Black
Taylor Blackburn
Octavia Bray
Alex Dudley
Ailish Elzy
Sarah Fatemi
Karen Joseph Adcock
Emily Keene
David Larkin
Daniel Martinez
Amanda Chayne Pierson
Sheena Pinkney
Patrick Pittis
Ashley Marie Ryan
Liz Stickley
Eric J. W. Tate
Zaq Tull
36
Matt’s mother would describe his comedy style as,
“He thinks he’s funny.”
Matt grew up on a mountain outside of Denver, and his
shining moment was an impromptu stand-up comedy bit at
his Senior Cross-Country banquet where he said a bunch
of nonsense he can’t remember. Everyone said he was
“pretty funny” but also several others said, “I didn’t
think you were on the team.”
This is the part where Matt is supposed to describe some
emotionally bonding moment or near-death experience and/or
recovery where television became a major part of his life,
but the truth is film and television have been fundamental
to him his whole life – more like eating and shitting.
Suggestion Box (Half-Hour, Comedy) A heartbroken twenty-
something, who wears his heart on his sleeve goes online
to crowd-source his life decisions after discovering he
can’t trust himself.
Bermuda (Half-Hour, Comedy) A sheltered but ambitious
tropical fish joins her father’s property development
company that turns shipwrecks (a result of the above
Bermuda Triangle) into high-end urban-coral-living. A
live-action show where actors wear tights and shoddy fish
costumes on an equally cobbled-together set.
Apocalypse Morning Show (Half-Hour, Comedy) A “puff piece”
small market morning show crew struggles to get through
their “on air” day, oblivious to the new world-ending
apocalypse each show (2 shows per episode).
Everly (Half-Hour, Comedy) A sad woman summons a nearly
powerless genie named Everly who crashes at her apartment
as they both try to pick up their fractured lives.
The Grace Avenue Apartments (Feature, Black Comedy)
To cover up their involvement in the accidental death
of their neighbor, a depressed schoolteacher and her
sociopathic actor roommate execute a series of deaths and
cover-ups as it dawns on them they’re serial killers now.
38
Taylor’s eighth grade yearbook prediction was, “Finally
loses an argument.” She took that as a challenge and
in college became one of only two women to ever win
the National Championship in parliamentary debate.
Competition took Taylor as far as the historic halls of
the Oxford Union and humid classrooms of Kuala Lumpur,
but the biggest culture shock came from her entrée into
the activity’s elite boys’ club. It left her with deep
questions about what it means to be a modern woman —
questions she’s been thinking and writing about ever
since.
Whether through the story of a spitfire female chef
climbing the kitchen ranks, or a sex educator grappling
with her own issues with intimacy, Taylor’s work shines
a light on the sorts of modern women we’re yet to see
enough of on screen. She explores themes of desire, gender
dynamics, and changing norms around sex and relationships.
Incredibly, Taylor still has not lost an argument.
The Pleasure Center (Half-Hour, Dramedy) The dysfunctional
employees of a sexual education center work to get the
people of their small New England town to open up about
sex, but struggle to take their own advice.
Monogamish (Half-Hour, Dramedy) When a young married
couple admits their interest in other people, they realize
non-monogamy may be the key to their happily ever after.
The Break (One-Hour, Drama) America’s best and brightest
put their grades, relationships, health, and sanity on
the line to win it all in a hyper-competitive collegiate
debate league.
Alma (One-Hour, Drama) When a gifted young chef is
overlooked for promotion by her mentor, she must protect
her career and kitchen from her new boss, a washed-up
celebrity chef.
40
The product of two journalists, Octavia Bray spent her
childhood making tabloids with her sister (“Woman Pregnant
with Alien Baby!”) and proofreading the Chicago Tribune
(watch those apostrophes, y’all). As the oldest of four
siblings and frequently the only black woman in the room,
she put a lot of pressure on herself to be the “right”
kind of person for the benefit of the people around her.
Octavia writes stories of women of color pushed into
uncomfortable, unforeseen, and inexplicable situations.
Through writing, she now focuses on who she is, rather
than who she thinks other people want her to be.
Sweetheart (Half-Hour, Comedy) After her lifestyle website
is absorbed into the digital arm of a popular magazine, a
black woman who’s been comfortable behind the scenes must
become the face of her own brand.
WAR! (Half-Hour, Comedy) After an embarrassing incident
goes viral, an unpopular student runs for Student
Government as a means to elevate her social standing and
deliver comeuppance to the bullies that run the school.
Studio Response Unit (Half-Hour, Comedy) A homicide
detective takes a job as a security guard on a studio lot
after she’s suspended from duty for accidentally shooting
a mall Santa.
Promised Land (One-Hour, Drama) Six months after a
devastating earthquake, several people of color discover
that they’re the only ones able to access the mysterious
land formation created by the event.
Winging It (One-Act Play) A guy and a girl meet-cute at a
bar—and then the truth comes out.
42
When Alex was nine, her teacher, Mrs. Edwards, told her
parents that Alex was a “pretty girl doing the best she
can”. Horrified by how limited the comment made her
feel, Alex dedicated herself to her passions and became
a massive nerd. As she immersed herself in history and
literature, she created stories inspired by them, always
with a wicked comedic bent. In high school, Alex spun
the fall of the Roman Republic as a farcical play. In
college, she modernized Paradise Lost, imagining Satan as
the “Steve Jobs of Hell”. She likes finding the comedy in
tragedy – after all, she’s a Knicks fan.
Thus, Alex loves weaving her passions into her original
work. She writes about underdogs, particularly nerds
who end up proving their worth through what they love.
She creates comedic stories that satirize our biggest
institutions (universities, corporations, government)
through the POV of people that feel like they’ve been
left behind. She’s made “doing the best she can” pretty
damn good.
Stuck in Hell (Half-Hour, Comedy) A neurotic accountant
in Hell’s Sloth Department attempts to walk the righteous
path so he can ascend to Heaven. But his insidious
coworkers make it harder than just saying a couple of
Hail Marys.
Somewhat Selective (Half-Hour, Comedy) A spirited
admissions counselor battles collegiate bureaucracy and an
unruly student body to make her scandal-plagued alma mater
look good to prospective students.
Natural Order (One-Hour, Sci-Fi/Drama) Years after a
eugenics company experimented on her as a child, a
telekinetic bartender reluctantly reunites with her fellow
subjects in order to find her missing friend.
Extraterrestrial Affairs (Feature, Comedy) To boost
ratings for their talk show, a skeptical producer and his
eccentric host stage a UFO hoax that accidentally causes
aliens to crash-land on Earth.
44
Due to her Irish mom’s insistence on falling in love with
a black Marine from Watts, Ailish’s life has largely been
defined by her hyphenated identity. Born and raised in
Oakland surrounded by a melting pot of people led her to
march to the beat of her own drum and seek out various
learning experiences in places like France, Death Valley,
and on an 80-foot schooner.
Ailish spends most of her time telling people how
to pronounce her aggressively Irish name, and the
rest looking for mixed race characters in movies and
shows that she can relate to. Her love of writing and
storytelling extends into her general passion for learning
and teaching. A passion which began when she started
teaching babies at Gymboree and has only grown since she
transitioned into a teacher’s assistant for freshmen film
majors. While she hopes her passion for studying and
teaching film can grow into something more, right now
she’s focusing on writing as many stories and scripts
about mixed race characters as she can.
Boom or Bust (One-Hour, Drama) In 1848 Northern
California, a Black cowboy, his estranged sister and new
Native American ally fight to outsmart the power hungry
mayoral candidate and take back their town.
Hyphenated (Half-Hour, Comedy) In a world not built for
mixed race people, three best friends attempt to navigate
the weird and often surreal reality of living in the Bay
Area with a hyphenated identity.
When You Think Your Boss is An Alien (Half-Hour, Sci-Fi
Comedy) A blasé day care employee teams up with her
annoyingly positive coworker when they suspect their new
boss is an alien trying to infiltrate their suburban town.
Rush (Half-Hour, Comedy) After a racist viral video puts
the charter of the very white Kappa Nu Tau sorority in
jeopardy, two sisters recruit their first Black pledge to
help them change their sorority from within.
Suspension of Disbelief (Feature, Family) When a
screenwriter discovers his number one fan has written
his love story on a magical typewriter, they team up
to ensure it reaches its happy ending.
46
Even before Sarah Fatemi could talk, she knew she wanted
to tell stories. She would wrap her small, sticky hands
around a crayon and scribble out pictures that played
out like a cartoon. Fast-forward several years and those
cartoons turned into unique, comedic stories. Fatemi
even started her standup career young — at age ten, she
would keep people up laughing for hours. It fed into her
hunger for attention from strangers. Fatemi is a cross-
breed of several cultures (holla, diversity!), including
Middle Eastern, French-Canadian, and American. That often
transcends into her stories. She often writes about people
we don’t hear much about, such as people with special
needs, refugees, or the depth and complexities of brown
people. She loves story-telling and exercises her comedic
chops onstage all over Los Angeles as a standup comedian.
So, call her a comedy enthusiast, or as her parents might
say, a clown who couldn’t just become an engineer.
The Rules of Normalcy (Half-Hour, Comedy) This comedy
follows Nilly Zamani as she juggles high school, cognitive
developmental disorder, and being the first female player
on her school’s hockey team.
Daruvia (One-Hour, Drama) Hailing from the oppressed
country, Daruvia, college engineering prodigy, Meno Voreno,
works with other Daruvian students to help free his people
from a dictator who’s taken his country’s social and
political freedoms hostage for twenty years. Meno recruits
his world-renowned advisor for help, but complications
arise when he falls for the advisor’s wild-child daughter.
Saffron ‘N Rose (Webseries, Dramedy) This dramedy
follows the lives of two Iranian-American college women
who start a secret radio show dealing with taboo cultural
issues such as sex, virginity, racism, interfaith
dating, drug abuse, and the difficulties of visiting
and having family overseas.
Instagram: @saffronnrose_webseries
Twitter: @saffronnrose
48
Karen Joseph Adcock has two last names. They are her
mother’s maiden and married names, respectively. There’s
no hyphen, no empowering feminist backstory and no
foreseeable trace of Afro-Latina roots. The truth? Her
mother accidentally wrote Joseph in the “last name” box
instead of the “middle name” box. Karen became privy to
her legal name one tragic day in fourth grade when her
TEACHER (40s, Miss Trunchbull-type) forced her from the
front of the alphabetized line to somewhere in the middle.
Having grown up as a black girl in the deep south, Karen
has yet to feel oppression greater than the day she made
that line move.
Karen writes about small southern towns, non-nuclear
families and terrible people doing their best, because
“they” say write what you know; and Karen knows following
“their” rules is the only way to break into “their”
organization and find out what “they’re” really up to.
Welcome Back to Bumfuck (Half-Hour, Dramedy) After a
mental health break gets her kicked out of her elite
university, an anxious overthinker moves back to her hokey
hometown to finish her degree at the local state college.
Crater Lake (Half-Hour, Dramedy) A drug addiction
counselor tenuously maintains her commitment to her young,
troubled clients while feeding her own drug dependencies
and suppressing past regrets.
Spay’s Camp for Gifted Children (Half-Hour, Comedy)
Determined to prove the merits of an alternative fuel
source she discovered as a child, a cocky certified genius
returns to the Oklahoma town where she first discovered it
and learns it’s responsible for a group of super children
hiding out as a local summer camp.
Battlefield of the Mind (One-Hour, Drama) Set in the
Eighties, a jaded black Marine vet barely keeps his grasp
on his family and his thoughts as he runs from secrets he
thought he left buried in the murky Indo-Chinese waters.
Mall in the Family (Half-Hour, Comedy) A business school
dropout attempts to run a sporting goods store in the
seldom-trafficked South Wing of a large shopping mall,
hoping it’ll help him better understand his absent father.
50
After telling her 1st grade teacher that he looked like
a warthog at the Melbourne Zoo, Emily has had a flair
for comedy (and unflinching takedowns). She brought this
sarcastic sense of humor to the US and hasn’t looked back.
Her deadpan style may have come from her year in bed as
a chronically ill 14-year-old. During this time, Emily
developed a love of all things on screen by watching
hours and hours of television. Having survived this
period, Emily is now a comedy writer, with an encyclopedic
knowledge of The Simpsons, and whose main party trick is
dong the entire dance from Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend”
video (Yes, she is available for your next party). She’s
not sick anymore, but she is sick with talent.
Nun the Wiser (Half-Hour, Comedy) Sister Mary Danger
is the top spy for the Special Espionage Character
Eavesdropping and Reconnaissance team (S.E.C.R.E.T).
Fighting off the likes of Hitler and a zombie Pablo
Escobar, she’s the most dangerous nun in the world, but
you’ll be Nun the Wiser!
Joyland, Australia (Half-Hour, Comedy) In a last chance
attempt to save her career, a young theme park manager
is sent to Australia to fix their latest park after
an embarrassing accident, but finds she’s the real
embarrassment.
The Year That I Missed (Half-Hour, Comedy) Still reeling
from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that wiped out her teen
years, a young woman attempts to learn how to socialize
normally, despite being emotionally stunted.
Knockouts (Half-Hour, Comedy) After losing her biggest
fight, an MMA fighter re-evaluates her life by teaching a
self-defense class to an eclectic group of women.
Squirrel McNuts (15-Minute, Animated Series) A hardline
detective tries to make it in a changing world that he’s
lost touch with, probably because he’s a squirrel who’s
all out of nuts.
52
On a warm summer evening in the late nineties, a group
of kids lounged around the Larkin family room, deep into
another Friday the 13th marathon. That fateful night 10-
year old David asked a question that would forever shape
the course of his life (and maybe history): “Why don’t
we just make our own horror film?” Over the next couple
months David directed the neighborhood kids as they poured
their hearts and souls into making... Shriek? Or was it
Stabberz? It really doesn’t matter, because it was such
garbage that David swore off filmmaking for over a decade.
But now he’s ready for the remake.
As a lifelong fan of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy,
David enjoys finding ways to incorporate a bit of his own
sense of humor, personality, and relatability into each
of those genres. Possibly due to his horror film origins,
he loves putting characters into unexpected survival
situations and letting them claw their way out. And while
his skills have certainly refined over the years, he’s
still that passionate little 10-year old at heart.
Confident (Half-Hour, Comedy) A recently paroled con-woman
transforms a zany, unsuspecting L.A. based improv group
into her new con-team.
Reil and Tim (Half-Hour, Comedy) After escaping his
orphanage, ex-prince Tim Charming and his self-made, janky
puppet of an adoptive father set out on an epic quest
through twisted fairy tale worlds to rescue his kidnapped
mother, Cinderella.
Final Fan Girl (Feature, Horror) A group of student
filmmakers are forced to rely on their horror film
knowledge when they’re stranded in the woods with a
homicidal horror movie fanatic.
Best Buds (Half-Hour, Comedy) An L.A. based medical
marijuana budtender juggles work, school, an overbearing
mother, and a recent Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis.
The Stacks (Half-Hour, Comedy) A video game obsessed
teenager starts her own e-sports team after her father
moves the family from Hawaii to Sunnyview, Alaska: a town
so cold that all 240 residents live in the same fourteen-
story building.
54
As an actor, Daniel went on countless auditions. But,
there were hardly any roles for brown, slightly chubby,
gay men. He’d either be too Mexican to play American or
too American to play Mexican. He realized that even in
diversity, people tend to gravitate towards stereotypes...
and he doesn’t fit any, unless being a die-hard Selena
Quintanilla fan is a stereotype. If so, guilty as charged.
That’s when he became inspired to write his own material.
Even with the upswing of diverse voices, there aren’t
many Latino characters that showcase what life is like
when you’re not closely tied to your culture. Daniel grew
up feeling unworthy of calling himself Mexican. He hates
beans, guacamole, and menudo, he doesn’t speak Spanish,
and he doesn’t have a “crazy abuela.” Daniel’s inspired to
write and create stories about characters of color that go
beyond “first generation” issues. He hopes that someday,
other brown, slightly chubby, gay boys will grow up 100%
unashamed of being themselves.
Round Hole (Half-Hour, Comedy) Fresh out of the closet, a
doughy and naive young man forces himself into the ripped
and fit gay lifestyle in an attempt to live what he thinks
is his truth and break a mysterious bruja’s generations-
old curse on his family.
(Extra)ordinary (Half-Hour, Comedy) An entitled rich
girl, a fading gay lothario, and a sheltered on-set
medic are desperate and determined to launch their
A-List acting careers. There’s just one problem; they’re
background actors.
Conventional (Half-Hour, Comedy) In 1920s upstate New
York, three female asylum patients and a male fugitive
lie low in a convent by masquerading as nuns and a
groundskeeper. The women’s growing attraction to his
stunning physique arouses the Mother Superior’s suspicions
and threatens to unveil their masquerade.
Cycle (One-Hour, Drama) Plagued by visions of a violent
murder, a troubled high school senior enlists the help
of his best friend to save the mysterious victim. As he
digs deeper, he learns that his visions are actually
memories from his past life, and that his family has a
murderous history.
56
Amanda Chayne Pierson believes in multiple universes; the
details are a little muddled, but it stands to reason that
there are infinite Amandas in endless worlds who all chose
different paths. That’s why this Amanda wanted to be a
writer so she could live all those lives by writing them
down. She left North Carolina to embark on her own Hero’s
Journey to Los Angeles with only the promise of a lifetime
of student debt. Some would loosely describe Amanda as
‘absurdly wonderful,’ ‘Angela Lansbury from Murder She
Wrote’ and ‘the girl who paints cats.’ She likes to help
people, make them smile, but most of all she wants them
to feel. So, she builds fantastical worlds made of words
and fills them with stories that need to be told — little
pieces of herself and things that haunt her. In hopes that
of all the worlds and all the Amandas, maybe this one got
it right.
Lighthouse (One-Hour, Sci-Fi) After a night that ends in
the death a woman who bears her exact likeness, a troubled
writer finds herself stuck in a parallel universe where
she is forced to live the life of her alternate self and
search for a way to return home.
Arcane (One-Hour, Fantasy) In a world where Arcane, humans
born with alchemic powers, are hunted down and killed by
law, a Royal Guard finds himself torn between the people
he serves and the secret of who he is, when a vengeful
Arcane master returns with plans to seek his own justice
and starts a war for control of the galaxy.
Kill Your Darlings (Half-Hour, Sci-Fi Comedy) Los Angeles,
2142. An unconventional bounty hunter with a peculiar
knack for finding people is pulled into a mystery
involving a femme fatale with mommy issues, an underground
AI trafficking ring and a profound appreciation of ’80s
music.
Oracle (One-Hour, Supernatural) A restless college student
eagerly accepts her destiny when she discovers she’s the
reincarnation of The Oracle, a powerful druid destined to
bring balance to the supernatural and mortal realms.
58
I fell in love with writing in the kitchen of my Inglewood
home at the age of six. My mother would press my hair and
I’d cry my eyes out at her tugging and occasional burning
of my scalp. To stop my whining, she passed me a sheet
of paper and a pencil and said, “Write me a story.” So I
wrote a story about a bunny. Then I drew pictures. Then
I asked for more paper. Then everything slipped away, the
kitchen, my hair, and my pain. Since that moment, I’ve
never stopped writing stories.
My goal in storytelling is to offer bold material worth
conversation and project empowering messages. At six,
I used writing to escape my pain, I now use it to help
others escape theirs. For me writing is a passion, but
most importantly, it is a tool...to help, to inform, and
to heal.
Sidelined (Half-Hour, Comedy) A Black recent college grad
finds the world of rent, racism, and relationships even
more complicated when she opts to be her White coworker’s
side-chick.
Just Jerry’d (Feature, Comedy) Following their elopement,
a young couple’s flame may fizzle when an unwelcome guest
ends up in their honeymoon suite.
Fenced (One-Hour, Drama) After losing her license, a
psychiatrist follows her fiancé from the city to his
dream job in the suburbs, where she begins playing “black
market” therapist to her bizarre neighbors.
Avery (One-Hour, Drama) A mysterious woman sneaks through
Avery’s castle gates and unearths damning secrets of the
monarchy’s past pushing a successful kingdom to the verge
of collapse.
Mrs. Lavinski (Short Film, Drama) A mentally ill widow
unable to recover from a tragic loss endures therapy with
an unrelenting psychiatrist who is determined to uncover
the truth.
60
During the long winters of his youth in central Maine,
Patrick found the best cure for the frosty weather
was a fire, a blanket, and a great story. His love of
storytelling fully blossomed during a visit to the local
bookstore, where he happened upon local celebrity Stephen
King signing books for a clutch of eager fans. From young
to old, each fan had a look of complete joy on their
face. This was one of their own, a local boy who’d done
good. Who’d used his words to build a brighter future
for himself.
In that moment, Patrick’s future crystallized before him –
he would become a writer, a screenwriter, fusing his love
of literature and film in a way that would allow him
to tell his own stories. Stories infused with the absurd
combination of humor and horror that Patrick felt was
lacking from many works. He would bring fun and adventure
to those who needed it – perhaps even to a boy, on a cold
evening in central Maine, tucked beneath a blanket in
front of a fire.
Famiglia (One-Hour, Drama) The daughter of a slain mafia
Don in 1970’s New York City suspects that her father was
killed by a member of the Family.
Apocalypse, Inc. (Feature, Horror Comedy) First days suck.
Especially when your new job is on lockdown following a
zombie virus outbreak.
Foxhole (Feature, Horror) Two soldiers in WWII era France
spend the night in a foxhole, hunted by something in the
darkness.
Last Stop Video Shop (One-Hour, Drama) A shy teenager
gets a job at a cursed video shop and all Hell breaks
loose. Literally.
Scion (One-Hour, Drama) A Galactic Federation Cadet is
thrust into the front lines of a second interstellar civil
war – twenty years after losing her parents to the first
interstellar war.
Lumber Johns (Half-Hour, Comedy) Two rednecks from Maine
move to New York City and become gigolos in an absurd
attempt to save the family business.
62
She’s a retro-styled girl writing for the postmodern world.
Ashley Marie survived a North Florida Catholic school
for 12 repressive years. She spent the majority of her
youth inside the library, obsessively exploring the dark,
deviant, and blasphemous side of history, philosophy,
and literature. Her final act of rebellion against her
uniformed youth was reading The Satanic Bible in the high
school cafeteria. Once graduated, Ashley Marie was finally
able to be herself: She started dressing in 1950s
style like her idol, Audrey Hepburn; she was able to
write without fear of parental retribution. She was even
employed as a ghost tour guide for a while. Some compare
her writing to Ryan Murphy’s: dark, sometimes vulgar, and
ironic, and always includes a diverse roster of outsiders.
Because you write what you know, right?
The Devil and Saint Jayne (One-Hour, Period Drama) Based
on true events. During the 1960s Satanic Panic, has-been
sex symbol Jayne Mansfield befriends Anton Lavey, and is
baptized into his Church of Satan in hopes of revitalizing
her fame.
Infamous (Half-Hour, Teen Drama) After his return from gay
conversion camp, a high school singer rebels against his
evangelical father by joining his boyfriend’s indie band
to help him win a record label on a reality TV show.
Leave it to Cleaver (One-Hour, Dark Comedy) A 1950’s
government experiment backfires, turning the white men of
a small Mississippi town into mindless zombies, forcing
the marginalized community of housewives and African
Americans to band together to survive the Apocalypse.
Best Original Teleplay Austin Revolution Film Festival
Mother Founders (Half-Hour, Animated Comedy) Tired of
male incompetence, the wives of the Founding Fathers
take the Revolutionary War into their own hands,
solidifying themselves as the secret architects of
“American her-story.”
Top 50 in PlayStation Emerging Filmmakers Program (2017)
Feminist Boyfriend (Half-Hour, Comedy) A feminist social
media influencer is “shook” when her boyfriend goes viral
as a feminist icon, causing her to realize he is a better
feminist than she.
Sizzle Reel: feministboyfriend.com
(2015)
64
Liz has never been able to completely scratch the itch to
travel. She’ll choose driving over flying because her arms
get too tired and more miles on the odometer means more
opportunities to see some cool shit. Growing up on Cape
Cod, Liz spent the bustling summers baking on the beach
and hustling to prepare for the barren wasteland winters,
where the only thing to do is drive around the rotary as
many times as possible before the cops pull you over. It
was these dead winters that inspired Liz to craft unique
characters and stories to escape the impending boredom.
Stories about the world beneath our couch cushions, or a
digital paradise with a sinister underbelly, even a one-
eyed outlaw cat in the Wild West.
Day Players (Half-Hour, Comedy) A ragtag video production
team aims to become the best crew-for-hire in Boston, no
thanks to their arrogant, absurd, and/or apathetic work
ethic.
Omega (One-Hour, Sci-Fi) Beta testers for a new, ground-
breaking virtual-reality social media paradise come
together as they discover something sinister in the code.
One Eyed Suze (15-Minute, Animated Western) When One Eyed
Suze, leader of the notorious Loco Litter, is betrayed and
left for dead, she’s forced to work with the mice on the
right side of the law, seeking redemption and revenge for
her bloody past.
Couch Potato (15-Minute, Animated Comedy) A sedentary
young woman, feeling trapped by her inability to come out
to her grandmother, is sucked into a magical world inside
her couch and must find her way out.
66
Eric J.W. Tate’s mind has always had a habit of wandering.
Growing up in another humdrum sun-stung California suburb,
Eric would escape to the vibrant and absurd worlds of
Wonderland, Hogwarts, and Earth-2. He carried around
copies of their respective novels until they fell apart,
clinging tightly to every ounce of their magic.
Now that he’s older, Eric lets his feet do the wandering.
Growing into a persistent, ambitious distance runner, he
has completed ten marathons around the country through
mountains, forests, and Area 51. Instead of books, it’s
his shoes he holds onto until they fall apart. They’ve
carried him through his own set of fantastical life
experiences that ground the stories he creates.
Despite his wandering ways, Eric’s writing has found its
place, where the life he leads and the lives he reads
converge: worlds of optimistic magical realism that take
you to places new yet familiar.
Quantum Mechanics (Half-Hour, Sci-Fi Comedy) When the
multiverse collapses, timelines collide and a young man,
unhappy with the way his life has turned out, now must
hold onto his sanity and his universe, while living
with two drastically different versions of himself from
parallel worlds.
The Agenda (One-Hour, Action Comedy) When a terrorist
organization, hacks a gay dating app and outs millions of
men, a worrywart father and an impulsive thrill seeker put
their budding romance on hold to join a secret spy agency
tasked with preventing future attacks.
Altohero (Half-Hour, Musical Comedy) At a high school where
humans and magical creatures co-exist, a teenage Empath,
who sees other people’s emotions as song-and-dance numbers,
uses his powers to climb the social ladder.
Jack Magic (Half-Hour, Fantasy Comedy) When a young witch
dies and donates her organs, she unknowingly releases a
catastrophic curse. Now it’s up to her slacker ex-boyfriend
and younger brother to track down her organ recipients and
prevent a magical apocalypse from tearing the world apart.
Couch Potato (15-Minute, Animated Comedy) A sedentary
young woman, trapped by her inability to come out
to her grandmother, is sucked into a magical realm
inside her couch.
68
When I tell people I’m from BEAUTIFUL Elizabeth, Colorado
(Pop. 1,394), the stock reply is, “I bet you know how to
roll a fucking joint.” Less often, they’ll say “I bet you
know how to swing a fucking golf club,” or, “I’ve been to
the rodeo in Elizabeth!”
While I’m proud of my joint rolling skills, the second and
third retorts lead to more animated responses. I played
college golf and spent six years as a PGA Professional
post-graduation. To the chagrin of my father, a rancher
who finds trophy buckles frivolous, and never misses
an opportunity to remind me that with his horsemanship
skills, spurs just aren’t necessary, I’d trade all of my
golf accomplishments for one scored ride on a damn bull.
I’ve always idolized rodeo cowboys.
Beyond that I live to ski, and to languish over each
precious word in my teleplays that focus on human drama,
and feature sport.
Buckin’ Stock (One-Hour, Drama) After a bull bred on his
ranch stomps a high school student to death, the patriarch
of a doomed rodeo empire fights to keep his spread, even
as that fight destroys the tenuous bonds that hold his
family together.
Shoulder Season (One-Hour, Drama) After the death of a
shared mentor, two golf professionals, one a wellborn
opiate addict whose undistinguished tenure on the PGA
Tour ended with a drug related expulsion, one a straight
laced career club pro, who escaped the slums of West
Omaha by way of The First Tee, fight to take the reins at
their home course, a world class facility in northeastern
Colorado’s rural Sandhill region.
Chow Day (Feature, Romantic Comedy) After a career ending
injury, a women’s downhill Olympic medalist struggling to
cover the exorbitant expenses associated with living in
a ski town embarks on a brutal journey of self-discovery
while she tests out a career as a sex worker.
Hooked (One-Hour, Drama) A legendary college basketball
player returns to Manila as a fugitive from justice, and
joins the family business, a fishing empire, where he
learns that his beloved father is a ruthless slaver.
Loyola Marymount University
School of Film and Television
Founded in 1911, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is
a premier Catholic university rooted in the Jesuit and
Marymount traditions. Movie industry moguls helped
establish Loyola Marymount University’s current campus on
the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964,
LMU was formally teaching film and television curriculum,
and in 2001, the School of Film and Television (SFTV) was
established as its own entity.
The School of Film and Television offers two intensive
three-year graduate screenwriting programs, conferring
Masters of Fine Arts degrees in Writing for the Screen and
Writing and Producing for Television. Admission to these
programs is selective, enrolling up to eighteen students
per year in each track. Each program provides time, space
and professional mentoring enabling candidates to discover
and develop their individual voices, while also preparing
them to navigate the inherent realities of the rapidly
changing entertainment industry.
NOTABLE LMU SCREENWRITING ALUMNI
Melissa Blake (One Mississippi, Sleepy Hollow, Ghost Whisperer)
Gloria Calderón Kellett (One Day at a Time, How I Met Your Mother)
Brian Helgeland (Legend, 42, Mystic River, L.A. Confidential)
Sarah Nicole Jones (Legends of Tomorrow, Longmire, Waco)
Emily Spivey (Modern Family, Masterminds, Saturday Night Live)
James Wong (The X-Files, Scream Queens, American Horror Story)
Learn more: sftv.lmu.edu
