Industry Writing Programs Dashboard Dashboard

The following is provided for informational purposes only. A program's inclusion on this list does not, in and of itself, indicate endorsement by the Guild. The Guild counsels its members to analyze carefully the details of each program and not to participate in programs that require payment. Queries about individual programs can be addressed to Inclusion and Equity.

WRITING PROGRAMS

CAPE New Writers Fellowship: The CAPE New Writers Fellowship (CNWF) discovers and nurtures emerging Asian and Pacific Islander writers launching their careers in television and other entertainment mediums. With one of the highest success rates in the industry, CAPE New Writers Fellowship graduates have staffed on over 70 shows across all major network, cable, and streaming platforms in addition to signing overall deals. Founded and co-chaired by Emmy Award-winning writer, creator and showrunner Leo Chu and veteran film and TV executive Steve Tao, the CAPE New Writers Fellowship is one of few writing programs in Hollywood created by a creative and an executive. This immersive program equips each writer with the practical and business knowledge they need to succeed as a professional in the entertainment industry. The Fellowship includes a series of intimate panels, workshops, and discussions with top television and film writers, producers, agents, managers, and executives. The Fellowship also features a writing lab where each fellow is matched with a high-level industry mentor to help them revise their original script into professional level writing samples. The Fellowship typically runs each year in the spring.

Disney│ABC Writing Program: Established in 1990, the annual Disney Entertainment Television (DET) writing program is widely recognized as one of the entertainment industry’s most successful of its type. The goal of the program is to staff emerging and diverse television writers on DET scripted series. Program writers are contract employees of Disney for one year (or until they staff on a show), and receive mentorship, professional development, and unprecedented access to the company and its creative executives, producers, showrunners, and program alumni. In 2020, the Eunetta T. Boone Comedy Writers Scholarship was created to provide a dedicated writer within the program with special staffing consideration on a Disney branded television series. In 2024, the FX John Singleton Scholarship was created, providing one writer special staffing consideration on an FX Networks series. It has kickstarted the careers of many established and award-winning writers, producers and showrunners, including Saladin Patterson, Raamla Mohammed, Peter Saji, Zahir McGhee, Dailyn Rodriguez, Luvh Rakhe, Sierra Ornelas, and Claudia Forestieri, among many others. The program has had a nearly 100 percent staffing rate each year. It also has a long history of being the only staffing/writing initiative in the entertainment industry to employ its writers contractually as full-time employees prior to staffing.

Film Independent Project Involve: For 30 years and counting, Project Involve has been Film Independent's most vital and impactful program. We're proud to be a leader in the ongoing mission to build a more inclusive and equitable industry by supporting emerging filmmakers from communities underrepresented in film and entertainment. This robust program provides invaluable hands-on filmmaking experience from project inception to completion. Participants are paired with mentors at the top of their respective fields, and receive personalized guidance to help move their projects and careers forward. Each year, 30 filmmakers from diverse backgrounds are given the opportunity to hone skills, form creative partnerships, create short films and gain industry access needed to succeed as working artists.

Film Independent Screenwriting or Episodic Lab: The Screenwriting Lab is a two-week workshop held in the first quarter of the year, designed to provide individualized story and career development for emerging screenwriters with a fiction feature screenplay.Each Screenwriting Fellow will be paired with a Creative Advisor, with whom they’ll work one-on-one and in group sessions to further develop their project over the course of the program. The Screenwriting Lab also helps to further the careers of its Fellows by introducing them to film industry veterans who can offer guidance on both the craft and business of screenwriting. A variety of guest speakers may screen and discuss their own films and offer career insights, and a final pitch event offers further opportunity for individualized feedback and discussion with industry executives.

FOX Entertainment Writers Incubator: The FOX Writers Incubator is a highly selective initiative designed to nurture and provide training to four (4) writers of all genres (comedy, drama, animation, etc) who have diverse voices, backgrounds and life experiences. Writers will have a chance to work intensively on their scripts with the support of established writers, executives, directors and producers. The initiative offers trained writers a rigorous three-month workshop focused on rewriting their material, honing writing skills, and exploring the business of media and entertainment. Upon successful completion of the FOX Writers Incubator, writers will receive priority in staffing meetings on FOX television shows.

Inevitable Foundation Accelerate Fellowship: The Accelerate Fellowship is a six-month rewriting sprint that gives disabled film and television writers $40,000 in funding and bespoke mentorship to develop a spec script to market. Through writers’ groups, one-on-one mentorship, guidance from the Inevitable Foundation staff, and access to leading film and television writers, the program offers disabled writers everything they need to get their script ready to take to market. This year’s program will also encourage nuanced disability representation in the projects themselves.

NAMA TV Writers Lab, Feature Film Writers Lab or Showrunner Program: The Native American Media Alliance (NAMA) is a new initiative designed to advocate for Native American representation in the entertainment industry. The Native American TV Writers Lab is five-week program designed to familiarize participants with the format, characters and storyline structure of television. A total of 8 writers are accepted. The Feature Film Writers Lab is an annual program for talented and aspiring screenwriters. Over the course of 10 weeks chosen fellows develop a new screenplay, meet with partner studios and receive feedback on their scripts from literary professionals. The Showrunner program is a multi-month intensive designed to address the lack of Native American executive producers in television.

NBCUniversal Launch TV Writers Program: The NBC TV Writers Program is our premier program for emerging episodic television writers with the goal of creating the next generation of showrunners and content creators. The program, which replaces the long-standing Writers on the Verge, develops writers whose distinct points of view and lived experiences provide unique perspectives to the writers’ room. During the eight-month program, writers develop an original pilot to which they retain all rights. They are paired with NBCUniversal programming executives from the NBCU Television and Streaming portfolio and Universal Studio Group who mentor them, as they write their original pilot and polish samples for staffing consideration. Writers also attend weekly evening workshops to enhance their creative and professional skills, including branding, pitching, and interviewing, as well as expand on their knowledge of the ever-changing television landscape. Additionally, they have opportunities to learn from and build relationships with industry professionals, including network and studio executives, showrunners, agents, and managers. At the conclusion of the program, participating writers will be considered for available staff writer positions on NBCU Television and Streaming as well as Universal Studio Group series. Applicants are encouraged to review the FAQs carefully as they are designed to guide you in creating a strong submission.

The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity: The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity is a dedicated effort to help build new pathways for underrepresented communities within entertainment. Through the fund, Netflix will support external organizations committed to creating a more equitable environment in the TV and film industries, as well as bespoke Netflix programs that help us to identify, train and provide potential job opportunities for up-and-coming talent globally.

NHMC's Series Scriptwriters Program: Ten diverse Latinx writers nationwide are selected for an eight-week intense writers lab. At the end of the program, these writers will have either a half-hour or hourlong original series pilot, which they will pitch to Industry leaders, beginning with our partners at ABC & NBC. Over the eight-week duration writers work with a professional writing mentor, meet and speak with professional industry writers, and build a community of Latinx writers. The program is officially conducted virtually.

Nickelodeon Writing Program: Founded in the year 2000, the Nickelodeon Writing Program is a full-time, paid, yearlong development Program for television comedy writers with unique voices and fresh perspectives. Join us at the studio in Burbank for classes and workshops to sharpen your skills, executive mentorship and networking to build your professional relationships, and the opportunity to work in the iconic live-action and animation writers’ rooms at Nick. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dedicate yourself to the craft of writing and build your career from the ground up. The Nick Writing Program is not a writing contest. It’s a launching pad for emerging creatives. If you bring the unique voice and innovative ideas for kids’ and family content, we’ll help you launch a career with all the tools you’ll need to succeed in the industry for years to come.

Paramount Writers Mentoring Program: Paramount’s Writers Mentoring Program offers an eight-month opportunity for writers. It focuses on building relationships, improving writing skills, and developing essential industry abilities. Participants in the program will work with executive mentors from Paramount Global to create a new writing sample. Weekly workshop-style meetings will be held for 16 weeks, featuring showrunners and industry professionals such as agents, managers, and executives. Mentees will also have the opportunity to engage in a half-day mock writers room experience in a supportive setting. 

Sony Pictures Diverse Writers Program: Sony Pictures Television Diverse Writers Program selects sixteen participants for a six-week professional development program in which they will have discussions with creative executives, producers, seasoned writers and showrunners with the aim of honing their skills in writing scripted television. In addition to having the opportunity to network with industry professionals, each writer will be assigned a mentor from SPT’s robust pool of producers and writers. At the conclusion of the training portion of the program, participants will meet with SPT showrunners and producers and be considered for potential staffing opportunities on US productions. SPT will also select up to four writers with whom to develop pilot scripts for both comedies and dramas. This initiative is part of SPT’s commitment to providing opportunities to talented artists of diverse backgrounds. 

Starz Take The Lead Writers’ Initiative: The STARZ #TakeTheLead Writers’ Intensive creates an opportunity for writers to develop a spec script alongside key mentors, executives, and writers.

Sundance Institute Episodic Program: The Sundance Institute Episodic Lab is a six-day program that offers writers the opportunity to workshop a pilot script, while developing their writing. Working with accomplished showrunners, Fellows will participate in one-on-one story meetings, craft workshops, and simulated writers’ rooms. Together, these meetings provide an elevated creative strategy for artists to advance their projects.

Sundance Institute Feature Film Program: The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (FFP) has championed leading independent filmmakers of the past 40 years whose distinctive films have engaged audiences worldwide. Embracing each artist’s unique vision, the program encourages a rigorous, in-depth creative process while focusing on original and deeply resonant storytelling. The Institute’s guiding values of risk-taking, community, and freedom of expression have broadened the FFP to include American and international artists in a more meaningful and vibrant dialogue across cultural, political, and geographic boundaries. For years, the program has provided year-round support to the next generation of filmmakers from development through distribution, becoming a global model for supporting artists everywhere.

Sundance Institute Indigenous Program: The Sundance Institute Indigenous Program champions and provides deep support of Indigenous-created stories on a global scale. From labs and fellowships to screenings and gatherings around the world, the program’s offerings are designed in response to the specific needs of Native and Indigenous storytellers. Through our work, we emulate our core values of decolonizing the screen and uplifting the voices of Indigenous artists, recognizing that telling their stories comes with great responsibility and obligation towards Indigenous peoples, communities and their sovereignty.

Warner Bros. Discovery Access Writers Program: The Warner Bros. Discovery Access Writers Program provides a pathway for writers who face inherent barriers entering the episodic television writing space. Such barriers can be due to, but not limited to, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, veteran’s status, socio-economic status, or any other unintended barriers. Selected writers will undergo an extensive creative and business curriculum before being put up for staffing opportunities across WBD. WBD strives to provide equal opportunity to all. 

Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program: Founded in partnership with TV writers and producers Tanya Saracho (Vida), Mike Royce (One Day at a Time), and Liz Hsiao Lan Alper (Day of the Dead), the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program is a first-of-its-kind initiative to support the full inclusion and employment of underrepresented groups in the television industry. Each 12-week course incorporates a variety of lessons tailored to the positions of a writers' assistant or script coordinator. Instructors have developed a comprehensive syllabus to cover the ins and outs of these positions. By the end of the semester, participants will have working knowledge to integrate into a writers' room and crucial connections to access these opportunities.