EXCLUSIVE: Incapacity Belongs, a nationwide disability-led nonprofit recognized for creating systemic change in how society views and values individuals with disabilities, has revealed the most recent cohort for its TV Writing Intensive.
This 12 months, 5 disabled writers will collect from June 20 to 27 for every week {of professional} improvement, neighborhood constructing, and direct entry to leisure business leaders. Incapacity Belongs additionally plans to carry a second in-person intensive centered on unscripted content material later this 12 months.
The 2025 TV Writing Intensive Fellows are:
Christopher James, San Diego, CA
Kimberly Manky, Toronto, ON
Rebekah Mueller, Los Angeles, CA
Stephen Nolly, Los Angeles, CA
Diana Romero, Los Angeles, CA
4 of the 5 Fellows are alumni of the Incapacity Belongs Leisure Lab, now in its sixth 12 months.
“I participated within the Incapacity Belongs ™ Leisure Lab in 2020 simply after changing into a wheelchair consumer, and it was the primary time I actually felt included in a inventive house,” Diana Romero, who beforehand served as a writers’ assistant for the TV collection Good Bother and 4400, stated in an announcement to Deadline. “Being surrounded by different disabled artists and allies was life-affirming—it gave me each neighborhood and braveness. One of many Lab audio system even grew to become my solo present writing instructor, and now I’m performing Me, Myself and Different on the Fringe pageant circuit. I’m so excited to proceed growing my voice via the TV Writing Intensive. This neighborhood helped me discover route in my new profession as a author after years as a movie producer—and has additionally supported me as an advocate. I’ve had the dignity of being invited to talk on their panels to share my experiences as a disabled inventive, which has been each humbling and empowering.”
Among the many alternatives out there in the course of the TV Writing Intensive, fellows will take part in interactive periods with writers, showrunners, and executives from main studios, networks, and manufacturing firms. From roundtable discussions to sensible workshops, the Intensive presents alternatives for fellows to each be taught from and community with skilled professionals of their subject.
Final 12 months, the TV Writing Intensive was divided into separate tracks for drama and comedy. Nevertheless, this 12 months, Incapacity Belongs has determined to mix the cohorts to foster “richer collaboration, cross-genre progress, and stronger peer help.”
For even better networking alternatives, the 2025 cohort can even be capable of work together with 10 alumni from earlier program iterations: Michael Busza, Katherine Craft, David Dineen-Porter, Liz Galalis, Jeremy Hsing, Teresa Jusino, Melissa Kong, Monica Cecilia Lucas, Sandrene Mathews, and Ava Xiao-Lin Rigelhaupt.
The Incapacity Belongs Leisure Lab and associated pipeline programming have constructed a robust neighborhood of 228 alumni who’re altering the channel within the leisure business. Alumni have gone on to seek out jobs at main studios — together with Netflix, Disney, and Sony Photos Leisure — premiere work at SXSW and be a part of applications on the Sundance Institute, amongst different wins.
