The AFI Conservatory Writers’ Room Ready Awards recognizes outstanding original television pilot scripts written by AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Fellows. The program supports the next generation of television writers by pairing graduating Fellows from the film school with industry mentors, providing an opportunity for the winners to work directly with established artists.
AFI WRITERS' ROOM READY
“It was a huge honor for me to get to be a Writers’ Room Ready mentee when I graduated in 2017 – and it was even more lovely to get to come back as a mentor.”
–Sheila Wilson (AFI Class of 2017)
If you have any questions about the program or would like to learn more about the Writers’ Room Ready participants or projects, please use the contact info below or email Alumni@AFI.edu.
Here’s the complete list of winners and mentors for each edition of the program:
Arden Earnest mentored by Coco Francini
Script: “Cosa Nostra” | ONE-HOUR – CRIME DRAMA
In 1903 New Orleans, the loyalties of three teenage Sicilian-American sisters will be tested when the unruly middle child Serafina joins the city’s mafia. Inspired by my Sicilian, gun-toting great-grandmother who was in the mob. Stage 32 TV Drama Screenwriting Contest 2024 Finalist
Contact: AEarnest@Alumni.AFI.edu
Eric Shabla mentored by Regina Corrado
Script: “Jump” | ONE-HOUR – DRAMA
After her wealthy father’s business goes belly-up, an obsessive equestrian champion loses everything. Forced to start over, she must reckon with her splintering family, an escalating addiction and the shame of working as a lowly stable hand in the cutthroat world she used to dominate.
Contact: EShabla@Alumni.AFI.edu
Greer Sinclair mentored by Matthew Weiner
Script: “Jack and Julie” | ONE-HOUR – DRAMA ROMANCE
After a chance meeting at a downtown L.A. jazz club, a young, rebellious singer falls in love with an out-of-work actor—only she’s iconic torch singer Julie London and he’s television legend Jack Webb. The tempestuous relationship inspires London’s record-breaking debut album and Webb’s hit police show DRAGNET.
Contact: GSinclair@Alumni.AFI.edu
Matthew Syrett –mentor to be announced soon-
Script: “Beached” | HALF-HOUR – DRAMEDY
After her banishment from Madison Avenue, a relentless ad executive reinvents herself in the overly quiet seaside suburbs of Atlantic City by launching a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) pyramid scheme.
Contact: MSyrett@Alumni.AFI.edu
Lauren Thomas mentored by Liz Hannah*
Script: ECHOES | ONE-HOUR – THRILLER
Seeking redemption, a recovering addict breaks parole to find her missing goddaughter in their isolated hometown. Once back, she must reconcile with the people she has harmed to uncover a horrific truth.
Contact: LThomas@Alumni.AFI.edu
Lucy Mastrullo mentored by Susannah Grant*
Script: “On Air”| ONE-HOUR WORKPLACE DRAMA
In the 1970s, a group of avant-garde artists contend with their drug addictions, ambitions, and egos as they work together against crushing deadlines and controlling censors to keep their groundbreaking educational kid’s show on air.
Contact: LMastrullo@Alumni.AFI.edu
Connor Savage mentored by Mike Flanagan
Script: “Blood Moon Shine”| ONE-HOUR DRAMA/HORROR
In a Tennessee coal-mining town, one year into the Great Depression, a timid, newly widowed salesman must work with his ferocious 11-year-old daughter to sell 500 bottles of illegal moonshine, in order to restart the town’s economy. With gangsters and police on their tail, the salesman and his daughter must find help in the most unlikely, and terrifying, of places… an ancient and hungry vampire living in their mine.
Contact: CSavage@Alumni.AFI.edu
Nicky Schmid mentored by David Shore
Script: “Spill” | ONE-HOUR POLITICAL DRAMA
The corrupt cover-up of an oil spill on the North Pacific Coast forces a disgraced reporter to choose between his family and his career as the pursuit of the truth takes him, and the team of politicians and activists he puts together, into uncharted and immoral waters.
Contact: NSchmid@Alumni.AFI.edu
Reuben Tietz Bernardo mentored by Rafe Judkins
Script: “Gift of Starlight” | ONE-HOUR SCI-FI/FANTASY DRAMA
On the desolate desert planet of Vrukilla, a Queen – believed to be cursed from birth – murders the King. Pursued by Death himself: she must flee her kingdom amidst political unrest and uncover dark truths that extend beyond time and space, past and present. Inspired by ancient South American and African mythology.
Contact: RTietz@Alumni.AFI.edu
April Peng mentored by Angela Kang
Script: “Yes, And?” | HALF-HOUR COMEDY
Tyra Wang, depressed paralegal by day, improv tyrant by night, leads her amateur Asian-American improv group of middle-aged losers into the cutthroat world of Heehee Fest, an elite improv competition, in order to prove to the world–and her parents–that Asians have a place in comedy.
Contact: APeng@Alumni.AFI.edu
Deanna Esposito mentored by Danielle Iman
Script: “Dissent”
Jared Hoffman mentored by Matt Stone & Trey Parker
Script: “Mad Messiah”
Elly Howard mentored by Diablo Cody
Script: “Black Sheep”
Colin Petersdorf mentored by Bill Lawrence
Script: “The College A Cappella Sad Boy Confidence Show”
Rachel Pontbriand mentored by Ashley Lyle
Script: “Fear & Trembling”
Max Hersh mentored by Vidhya Iyer*
Script: “Butterfly”
Adam Rottler mentored by Nora Nolan
Script: “See You Next Tuesday”
Marley Schneier mentored by Amy Pocha and Seth Cohen
Script: “Messiah”
Anna Vecellio mentored by Dailyn Rodriguez
Script: “Lost Prophet”
Mariana Zavala mentored by Munis Rashid*
Script: “Eastshore”
Suhana Chander mentored by Lindsay Golder*
Script: “Jaani”
Gianmarco Maximilian Giacomelli mentored by Eli Jorné*
Script: “Two Kings”
Christina Kelly Holmes mentored by Christina Strain*
Script: “For Women Only”
Lia Wang mentored by Andy Siara*
Script: “Model Minority”
Yancey Wang mentored by Randy McKinnon*
Script: “South Sea”
Haley Bartels mentored by Andy Siara*
Script: “Barbary“
Kenda Greenwood Moran mentored by LaToya Morgan*
Script: “Tammany”
Christina Licud mentored by Christina Strain*
Script: “24K”
Alessandro Pederzoli mentored by Sheila Wilson*
Script: “Narcobruja”
Sofia Drumond-Moore mentored by Norberto Barba*
Script: “RELIQUARY”
Cari Daly mentored by Lizzy Weiss*
Script: “BANSHEES”
Marco Evaristo Arizpe mentored by Many Coto*
Script: “BRUJO”
Jessi Shuttleworth mentored by Alyson Feltes*
Script: “SCABLAND”
Sara Swingley mentored by Jacqueline Hoyt*
Script: “SLEDGE”
Kevin Kennelly mentored by Michael Zam*
Script: “Saint Francis”
Krystal Javier mentored by Emmy Grinwis*
Script: “Haukea”
Jess Kohs mentored by Maggie Friedman*
Script: “Countess”
Sheila Wilson mentored by Nastaran Dibai*
Script: “No Quarter for Wild Beasts”
Randy McKinnon mentored by Chad Feehan*
Script: “Savages”
D.M. Brent mentored by Michael Dinner*
Script: “Offender”
Victor Nascimento mentored by Bradley Buecker*
Script: “The Leading Men”
Munis Rashid mentored by Quinton Peeples*
Script: “Poppy”
Rose Schimm mentored by Shana Stein*
Script: “Fringe Benefit”
Eileen Shim mentored by John Shiban*
Script: “Darklings”
Brennan Peters mentored by Raelle Tucker*
“The Empress”
Tegan Shohet mentored by Mikkel Bondesen*
Script: ”Paperhanger”
Andy Siara mentored by Alex Herschlag*
“Life After Punk”
Christina Strain mentored by Norberto Barba*
Script: “The Fox Sister”
*Mentors who are also AFI Conservatory Alumni
“Raelle has been invaluable to my career ever since [Writers’ Room Ready] – introducing me to my agent and staffing me, and we’ve worked together on several other projects since then. She’s also a really excellent friend and mentor in the industry.”
–Brennan Elizabeth Peters (AFI Class of 2015)
