The Writers Guild of America East welcomed 25 new graduates from its Showrunner Academy Monday. The program prepares emerging writers, writer-producers and creators to become the next leaders in the television industry.
This year’s cohort of next-gen showrunners received training from “ER” and “The West Wing” showrunner John Wells, “Power” universe EP Courtney Kemp,” 30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” co-creator Robert Carlock and “The Walking Dead” showrunner Glen Mazzara, among others.
Graduates trained on a wide variety of topics, ranging from work-life balance and managing on-and-off set dynamics to practical skills like hiring writers and budgeting.
The WGAE noted that the 2025 graduating class reflects the Guild’s commitment to creating a more inclusive television industry, with over half of the class identifying as women and nearly half identifying as people of color.
Notable alumni from the program include Kemp, Kenya Barris, Lena Waithe, Adele Lim and Peter Gould, among others.
Meet the all 25 graduates of the class of 2025 here:
Adrian Dukes began his career submitting his comedic and dramatic shorts to festivals across the nation. He has since written for numerous multi-cam sitcoms on Bounce TV and TV One. He was also an executive story editor on season one of BET’s breakout drama “The Quad,” where he gained meaningful experience on set. Outside of scripted television, he has written and produced red carpet specials and post-shows for the BET Awards and Soul Train Awards, Love & Hip Hop Reunion specials, gospel music competition Sunday Best and Black Women Own the Conversation. He most recently recently worked on Season 1 of Amazon’s upcoming series, “Motorheads.” For the past four seasons, Dukes wrote for the CW’s hit show “All American,” where he currently serves as co-executive producer in its eighth and final season.
Alison Davis is a magazine journalist by trade, who has been working at New York magazine since 2013 as a features writer. Her work has also appeared in GQ, California Sunday, the New York Times, Elle, British Vogue, Travel and Leisure and The Economist, among others. In 2020, Davis worked in writer’s room for Cord Jefferson’s Apple TV Show, an untitled hour-long drama about journalism and Gawker. Since then, Davis has been balancing her career as a magazine writer with a new career as a TV writer, writing for AMC’s “Invitation to a Bonfire,” FX’s “Fleischman Is in Trouble” and Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies,” for which she served as a supervising producer. Most recently, Davis was a Co-EP on a Netflix show “Sub,” an hour-long drama that sadly did not move into production.
Ariel Schrag is a screenwriter, novelist, and cartoonist from Berkeley, California. She is the author of the novel “Adam” and the graphic memoirs “Awkward,” “Definition,” “Potential,” “Likewise” and “Part of It.” Schrag adapted Adam into a feature film produced by James Schamus and directed by Rhys Ernst, which premiered at Sundance in 2019. Schrag has written for television and been a WGAE member since 2005. Her credits include “The L Word,” “How to Make It in America,” “Vinyl” and “Dare Me.” She is currently co-writing along with writer-director Charlotte Wells the pilot “A Family Matter,” based on the novel by Claire Lynch for Universal International Studios and Thousand Voices.
Brendan Kyle Cochrane is a filmmaker based in New York and the founder of the production company Digital Seven. Cochrane began his film career as a production assistant on “A Bronx Tale,” followed by work on Carlito’s “Way” and the television series “New York Undercover.” As a director and producer, he has created content for brands including Nike, NFL, Maybelline, and Lincoln Motors, and directed music videos for artists such as 50 Cent, Ludacris, and Teyana Taylor. His film and television credits include the feature “Equal Standard, the indie film “25 Seconds” and the upcoming series “Ghost Cars.” He also created the original pilot for “The Grind,” currently available on Amazon.
Chloe Radcliffe was recently named one of Just For Laugh’s 2025 New Faces. Chloe can be seen in Bradley Cooper’s upcoming film, “Is This Thing On?” The stand-up sold out her full-month run of her one-woman show “Cheat” at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She is currently developing her hour for TV. She also hosts an interview series called “In Tandem with Chloe Radcliffe,” where she and another comedian ride a tandem bike (slowly!). Chloe starred in Steven Soderbergh’s “Command Z” and was nominated for a 2024 WGA award for her writing on the same series. She was a staff writer on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” has a comedy feature in development with Sony.
Jorge Aguirre is a two-time Emmy nominated TV writer and author. He created, co-developed and co-produced Disney Junior’s “Goldie & Bear.” He serves as the Head Writer and Co-Executive producer of the PBS Kids/Fred Rogers Production show “Alma’s Way.” He’s written preschool shows for Disney Jr., Nick, Jr., PBS, Amazon, and Netflix. He wrote the kids graphic novel series “The Chronicles Of Claudette,” “Call Me Iggy” and “Monster Locker.” Aguirre calls the great state of New Jersey home.
Kirsten Guenther’s theatrical footprint extends to renowned venues such as Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, The Old Globe, The Pasadena Playhouse, The McCarter Theater, The Paper Mill Playhouse, The Royal Theatre Bath, and most recently, The Other Palace in London. Professional accolades include a Richard Rodgers Award, Rockefeller Grant, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, a Lark Residency, Johnny Mercer Writers Fellowship, and a Lincoln Center Honorarium. She is currently writing an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling novel, “The Summer of ’69” as well as a reboot of “Gidget” with 3000 Pictures, and Temple Hill. She recently sold an hour-long romantic comedy series to Netflix (Co-EP / Creator). Kirsten has written many stage musicals including the book and lyrics for “Little Miss Fix-it” (as seen on NBC), Paramount’s “Roman Holiday,” (The Royal Theatre Bath) and “Mrs. Sharp” starring Jane Krakowski (Richard Rodgers Award). Additionally, she penned a stage adaptation of “The Greatest Showman” with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
Jennifer Vanderbes is a novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter. Her books have received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Public Library. As a screenwriter, Vanderbes was named a 2022 Athena List Winner for a feature script she wrote for Paramount and was also honored in 2022 by the New York Foundation for the Arts. In addition to developing television projects with HBO, Fox, Lifetime and Bravo, Jennifer is currently in her fourth season writing for NBC’s “Law & Order,” where she serves as a producer.
Jenny Turner Hall, Peabody Award Winner, is expanding her career into television and film after her work in the podcasting space (Mars Patel, Marvel’s Wastelanders: Wolverine). She has created two original series with Executive Producer Jack Burditt and written a feature film for Broadway director Justin Martin. With Burditt and her co-writer Rhett Miller, Jenny is currently showrunner for a scripted project in development at ABC “Big Wheel.”
Madeleine George is a playwright and screenwriter whose plays include “The Sore Loser” (optioned for Broadway, 2026), “Hurricane Diane” (Obie Award), “The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence” (Pulitzer Prize finalist), “Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England” and “Precious Little.” Her honors include the Hermitage Major Theater Award, the Princess Grace Award, and a Whiting Award. Madeleine’s audio adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s cult-classic comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” was released by Audible Originals in 2023, starring Jane Lynch, Carrie Brownstein, and Roberta Colindrez. She wrote on FX’s limited series “Dying for Sex” and was a writer/producer on four seasons of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”
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Mamoudou N’Diaye is a comedian, screenwriter, director, DJ, and educator. He’s been a correspondent for digital media companies, a creative consultant for various social justice nonprofits, and a recipient of two Sundance fellowships. N’Diaye has written for Hulu, NBC/Universal, Lionsgate, Apple TV+, Netflix, and ABC across various formats, with the aspiration to create untethered and free content. N’Diaye is currently staffed on the upcoming NBC comedy “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” rewriting his comedy heist feature, “Freelancers” and pitching other pilots and features. He’s an adjunct at NYU in the Department of Dramatic Writing.
Marcus Gardley is an acclaimed TV writer, playwright and screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for the reimagining of “The Color Purple” (2023), which won 11 NAACP Awards. He won the 2022 WGA award for Best Adapted TV Longform Series for “Maid” at Netflix. He is the recipient of the 2019 Doris Duke Artist Award, the 2019 Obie Award winner for his play “The House Will Not Stand” and a finalist for the 2016 and 2015 Kennedy Prize. In TV, he has written for several series, including Boots Riley’s “I’m a Virgo,” three seasons of the “The Chi”, “Foundation” and “Mindhunter” (Netflix).
Marissa Lestrade most recently staffed at producer level on Roland Emmerich’s epic “Those About to Die” for Peacock and wrote Episode 8 of the series. Marissa was also the only other writer on JP Delaney’s HBO Max/BBC1 series “The Girl Before,” starring David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. She wrote on Netflix’s London-set spy thriller “Treason.” Previously, Marissa wrote on “The Swarm,” an eight-episode environmental thriller. She penned an episode of Chris Dunlop’s “White Stork” for Netflix and participated in the writers’ room for season two of Endor and FOX’s “Deep State.” Marissa currently has an original series in development with Gaumont TV, an original series in development with Double Dutch, an original in development with Joi Productions.
Marshall Heyman is a television writer and journalist. He has written for shows on Bravo, AMC and Netflix. For nearly seven years, he wrote a daily social column for the Wall Street Journal. Prior to that, he worked at The New Yorker, W and Women’s Wear Daily. He has been a lifestyle and celebrity journalist for over 20 years, contributing to such publications as the New York Times, Vogue, Town and Country and many others. He co-created, with director Tommy Kail, a stage adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s book “Tiny Beautiful Things.”
Miranda Rose Hall is a playwright and screenwriter based in Brooklyn, NY. Her TV credits include staffing on “American Rust” and “Alaska Daily” for ABC. She is currently developing her play “Work of Devotion,” originally a Lincoln Center commission, into a half-hour comedy with A24 and David Bernad’s Middle Child Productions. She is also developing an original series with 5th Season and Beau Willimon’s Westward. Previously, she developed her play the “Kind Ones,” originally produced at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, as an hour-long procedural with FX and Emmy Rossum’s Composition 8.
Monet Hurst-Mendoza is an NYC-based playwright from Los Angeles, CA. Her plays have been developed with The Alley Theater, Rising Circle Theater Collective, Astoria Performing Arts Center, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Flea, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Westport Country Playhouse, and Long Wharf Theatre, among others. Monet was a writer/producer for seasons 21-24 of “Law & Order: SVU.” Episodes she co-wrote garnered multiple Imagen Awards nominations (and three wins), honoring positive portrayals of Latinos in media, as well as a nomination for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Teleplay.
Natalia Naman Temesgen is a playwright, TV writer/producer, and Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Columbus State University. Her plays have been produced in Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City. She has written TV episodes for “Dear White People” on Netflix, “Julia” on HBO Max and “Reasonable Doubt” on Hulu. She received the American Playwriting Foundation’s 2019 Relentless Award honorable mention for “Lawnpeople,” a political drama dealing with immigration, identity, and motherhood.
Olen Steinhauer, originally a novelist, wrote the feature adaptation for my novel “All The Old Knives” before creating the TV show “Berlin Station,” for which Steinhauer was co-showrunner for the first season. Steinhauer co-wrote the feature “Inheritance” with director Neil Burger, which came out in 2025. Steinhauer spent most of the last three years writing some features with his production partners and developing a TV show with Sister productions in London, in collaboration with SKY. Steinhauer is presently developing three other shows.
Patricia Ione Lloyd was most recently a supervising producer on “Evil” at CBS. Before that, she was a co-producer on Lena Waithe’s BET series “Twenties.” Her play “Eve’s Song” premiered at The Public Theater in NY. She was a Sundance resident playwright at their theater lab in Morocco, and a New York Theater Workshop fellow. Ione was a resident playwright at the University of Mumbai, Brown University and the International Theatre and Literacy Project in Tanzania. Ione is passionate about character driven work that is entertaining and brings people together despite differences.
Poppy Damon is an Australian-British screenwriter and journalist based in NYC. Her TV pilot “The Vultures” was recently optioned by Two Brothers Pictures and her TV Series “Numb” by A & E Studios. Her short film THIEF is her directorial debut and is currently under consideration at a number of major festivals. Her thriller feaure “Let’s Go Get Your F**king Dog Back” is in development with Joi Productions in the UK. Formerly the executive producer of The Times and The Sunday Times’s daily news podcast, Poppy has reported from El Salvador, Costa Rica and the USA. Whilst at the BBC Poppy worked as a producer and reporter for Radio 4 news programs. Her two most recent podcast series for Audible were about a real 1920s crime that inspired Agatha Christie and the true story behind The Great Gatsby.
Rhett Miller is a revered and award-winning singer-songwriter known for his more than three decades fronting the popular rock band Old 97’s. In addition to his songwriting, Miller has branched out to write fiction and nonfiction. He has authored short stories, essays and articles that have been featured in Rolling Stone, Bookforum, Sports Illustrated, McSweeny’s, The Atlantic and Salon. He has also published two children’s books via Little Brown Young Readers. Miller has appeared in films, most recently “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special,” in which he performs a song he cowrote with director James Gunn.
Rinne B. Groff got her staff-writing start on the 2nd season of Showtime’s “Weeds.” She was story-editor for Apple TV’s “Charming Sally” and served as co-producer for AMC’s “Good Night and Good Luck.” Some of her plays and musicals, including” Your Lie in April” (West End premier), “The Woman’s Party” (2021 New York Times Critic’s Pick), “The Red Beads,” “The Ruby Sunrise” (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nominations), “Saved” (Lucille Lortel nomination) and “The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem.” Rinne is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Obie Award grant, the Whiting Writers Award, and two NYSCA Individual Artist grants.
Roy Wood Jr. is a comedian, an Emmy-nominated documentary producer (THE NEUTRAL GROUND), and WGA nominated writer (COMMAND Z). Roy’s fourth stand-up special, LONELY FLOWERS, premiered on Hulu in January 2025 and he is currently the host of CNN’s HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, an American adaptation of a long-running UK comedy series, which premiered in 2024 and returns for a third season in Fall 2025. Wood Jr. will soon appear alongside Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill in the upcoming comedy OUTCOME and will next be seen in the Sundance film LOVE, BROOKLYN. He currently has a sitcom in development with FOX about the National Guard. Roy served for 8 years as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning THE DAILY SHOW (2015-2023). In 2023, Wood Jr. guest hosted THE DAILY SHOW and headlined the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to its highest ratings since 2017. Wood Jr. co-starred alongside Jon Hamm in Paramount Pictures’ long-awaited Fletch remake, CONFESS, FLETCH (2022), and has guest appearances in ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, BETTER CALL SAUL, and LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER.
Seth Savoy is a Cajun filmmaker and screenwriter Seth Savoy is catapulting himself into the entertainment industry, quickly becoming known for his flashy filmmaking style with heavy hitting A-list talent. Savoy made his feature film debut with the upcoming crime drama ECHO BOOMERS (Saban Films/Paramount). The film stars two-time Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon (KNIVES OUT) and Alex Pettyfer (I AM NUMBER FOUR), follows indebted college graduate Lance Zutterland (Patrick Schwarzenegger) who is pulled into an underground operation in Chicago in which his peers fight the system by stealing from the rich. Led by Mel Donnelly (Shannon), the group leave behind a trail of destruction before Lance realizes he is in over his head with no way out. Set in 2013, Savoy was inspired to pen the script after local headlines of similar break-ins in the Chicago area surfaced. He eventually took the script to Sundance Film Festival in 2015, where he won an independent pitch competition and captured the industry’s attention. ECHO BOOMERS released in select theaters, on-demand, and digital on November 13, 2020 which Richard Roeper calling Savoy a fresh directing voice with real talent infusing kinetic flash into everything he touches. His Series, The Merc, is in development at the BBC starting in Feb. of 2025.
Sonejuhi Sinha is a filmmaker working in both TV and film. She’s currently developing an original TV series at Universal with Sam Esmail and Two & Two producing. She also developed her feature STRAY DOLLS as a TV series, with Nicky Weinstock producing and Sarita Choudhury starring and set it up at HBOmax. Sonejuhi’s debut feature STRAY DOLLS, a crime thriller / drama starring Cynthia Nixon, Rob Aramayo, Olivia Dejonge and Geetanjali Thapa, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2019, winning a Special Jury Mention for Lead Performance and TFI’S IWC award. Before that, Sonejuhi’s narrative short film, LOVE COMES LATER, played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Sonejuhi began her career as a film editor, where she worked alongside acclaimed directors such as Harmony Korine, Spike Jonze and Bassam Tariq. She edited two award-winning feature-length documentaries, THESE BIRDS WALK and HOMEGOINGS, that played at several festivals, including SXSW, Full Frame and True/False, and garnered several international awards. Sonejuhi is a 2025 Sundance Fellow and one of Indiewire’s 25 Rising Filmmakers to Know.
