The writers participating in the one-year programme will receive professional training that will prepare them to work on DGE shows.
Disney General Entertainment has selected 12 up-and-coming creatives for its 32nd annual Writing Programme 2022.
The one-year initiative offers young writers the chance at staff writing assignments on a DGE series. Participants are also provided with mentorship, professional development opportunities and access to DGE’s network of executives, producers, showrunners and alumni.
The programme will also provide participants with salary and benefits, and writers who are staffed on a DGE scripted series will be compensated at WGA scale, according to Disney.
Tim McNeal, Senior Vice President of Disney’s CTDI team, said: “The Creative Talent Development & Inclusion team is proud to launch this extremely talented group of writers into the next phase of their career. The flagship Writing Programme is one of the critical ways CTDI connects creative talent to opportunities across Disney and continues to fuel our company’s staffing pipeline specifically for emerging, diverse TV writers. We look forward to seeing this cohort shape the next generation of producers and showrunners.”
The drama participants include Amanda Mercedes (writers’ assistant on 13 Reasons Why), Ariana Quiñónez (writers’ assistant on Roswell, New Mexico), Carlton Gillespie (sports and live events producer), JD Shields (podcast and interactive games writer) and Jeff Qiu (writers’ assistant on Locke & Key). The participants working in the comedy genre include Austin S. Harris (current programming assistant at ABC), Kelly Eisenbrand (development intern/freelance journalist), Kris Crenwelge (staff writer on Spirit Rangers/standup and improv comedian), Mithra Alavi (development coordinator/writer/filmmaker), Randall Valdez-Castillo (writers’ assistant on Mythic Quest), Steph Garcia (writers’ assistant on The Catch/unscripted programming consulting producer) and Mattie Bayne (writers’ assistant on Never Have I Ever).
The DGE Writing Programme is managed and run by a senior manager of DGE creative talent development and inclusion Liz Kelly.
