Looking to submit to a writing program or fellowship this year? This panel will explore strategies on how to approach the application process, how to prepare yourself for the interview, and how to craft a successful personal pitch.
Panelists include:
Aadip Desai - Alum of 2019 Walt Disney Television Writing Program
Claudia Forestieri - Alum of 2017 HBO Writing Fellowship, NBC’s Writers on the Verge, NALIP’s Latino Writers Lab, Disney/ABC Writing Program
Jorge Rivera - Alum of 2016 Fox Writers Intensive
Pamela Garcia Rooney - Alum of 2018/19 NBC Writers on the Verge and 2018 NHMC Writing Program
Jeff Sayers - Alum of 2013 Nickelodeon Writing Program
Christina Walker – Alum of 2016 Disney/ABC Writing Program
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About the Panelists
Aadip Desai is an Indian American television writer and Air Force brat. He is currently a Staff Writer on the ABC comedy series THE GOLDBERGS which is a show mostly about yelling. Aadip was in the American Film Institute’s MFA in Screenwriting program but dropped out to join the 2019 Walt Disney Television Writing Program because it paid. He studied improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings, as well as a vestigial BA in Economics from the University of Puget Sound. Aadip was the longtime co-host and producer of the On The Page screenwriting podcast and runs the 14,000+ member LA TV Writers Facebook Group. He is tolerated by his wife, two daughters, and two geriatric Maltese. He plays the drums, like for real. End transmission.
Claudia Forestieri is a bilingual, biracial TV writer of Dominican-Italian descent who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Miami. (Can you say ¿internacional?) Her storytelling career began in the world of news where she served as a reporter and producer for Telemundo stations in Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles, so she’s well-versed in packing up and moving. Thanks to the knowledge and contacts accumulated through the NALIP Latino Writing Lab, NBC’s Writers on the Verge, HBO Access and the Disney ABC writing program—yep, she’s done them all—she landed her first staff writing job on Freeform’s “Good Trouble” in 2018. She spent 2019 working as an Executive Story Editor and later Co-Producer on all three seasons of Netflix’s upcoming “Selena The Series”—a bio drama about the late Queen of Tejano music. The pilot she developed in the HBO Access program—UNUMUNDO 45—premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and is now streaming on HBOGO and HBONow, so borrow someone’s login and watch it when you can. In 2020, Claudia hopes the universe will continue sending work her way and is keeping busy developing a pilot inspired by her Miami immigrant childhood—GORDITA CHRONICLES.
Pamela García Rooney is a Mexican-American screenwriter born and raised on the US-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. She earned a master’s degree in counseling after receiving a BA in English with a minor in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin where she focused on writing poetry and fiction.
Pamela trained as an actor and playwright for four years at Playhouse West in Los Angeles. She is a fellow of the 2018/19 NBC Writers on the Verge program and the 2018 NHMC writing program. In addition to being on the 2018 Young & Hungry List, her feature script Me & Tammy Faye at the Betty Ford Clinic is on The Black List 2018, the 2019 Bitch List and the inaugural 2019 GLAAD List, a catalog of the most promising unmade LGBTQ-inclusive film scripts.
Pamela is represented by Kailey Marsh at Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Previously a high school English teacher, she now writes full-time and lives in LA with her husband and two daughters. She was previously staffed on the highly anticipated Netflix limited series Selena and, most recently, the upcoming mid-season family drama on NBC, Council of Dads.
Jorge Rivera was a fellow of the 2016 Fox Writers Intensive. He grew up in Jersey City, N.J. as a first-born Puerto Rican flanked by cops, criminals and Catholicism (and a sprinkle of Santeria) which instilled in him a passion for crime storytelling and a love of genre. He currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Latino Writers Committee, and a mentor with the WGA Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project.
Jeff Sayers is currently a staff writer on the Emmy Award winning series THE LOUD HOUSE. Prior to his work on The Loud House, Jeff penned episodes as a staff writer for the animated series WONDER PARK, as well as the live action sitcom EVERY WITCH WAY. He also co-developed and wrote for the half hour drama, I AM FRANKIE. Outside of television, he recently sold and completed the script for THAT MOMENT WHEN… a coming of age feature, as well as the treatment for music documentary SOUND IT OUT featuring George Michael, Tove Lo and other LGBTQ artists. He began his full-time career as a writer in 2013 after being selected to participate in the Nickelodeon Writing Program. Before moving to Los Angeles, Jeff was an attorney, plying his legal trade in Newark, New Jersey’s Superior Court, where he assisted in a variety of criminal law matters.
About the Moderator
Born on a Naval base in Japan and raised in the military town of Virginia Beach, Christina Walker always knew her life would take her to incredible places. After living abroad for three years in Naples, Italy, she returned seeing the world through a different set of eyes. She earned her first bachelor’s degree from Henderson State University, where she majored in Mass Media and minored in Writing. From there she worked in television news production for each of the major affiliates in several states across the U.S.. Yearning to return to her true passion, writing, she studied Film with a concentration in Screenwriting and earned a second bachelor’s degree from Columbia College Chicago. Her final class, a television immersion semester in L.A., planted the seed for a switch from features to television.
After working for several different studios in post production she became a 2014 Finalist for the Disney/ABC Writing Program. She continued to build on this success by working in post production on The Killing, Stitchers and the pilot Guilt and as the writers’ assistant on Powers. Prior to joining the 2016 Disney/ABC Writing Program, Christina was the writers’ production assistant on NCIS: Los Angeles where she received guidance and direction from the writers as well as series Creator/Executive Producer Shane Brennan.
While in the Disney/ABC Program Christina was staffed on the Shondaland show Still Star-Crossed, which gave her the unique opportunity of writing in NYC for the show, and traveling to Spain to cross-board/produce two episodes of the series. Since the program Christina was staffed on CBS’s Salvation, and recently wrapped on Netflix’s upcoming series October Faction.