EXCLUSIVE: The annual NBC TV Writers Program from NBCU Launch has set its Class of 2025-27, who were selected from a pool of 2,100 applicants: Ama Anane, Max Asayesh-Brown, Marissa Díaz, Deanna Esposito, Andrew Xiao Inouye Grace, Taryn Hillin, Jacqueline Jasso, William McGhee, and Kenyetta Raelyn.
NBCU Launch is the umbrella brand that houses the comprehensive inclusion efforts across NBCUniversal’s entertainment TV portfolio. The program was created two decades ago to help develop emerging episodic TV writers whose distinct points of view and lived experiences provide unique perspectives to the writers’ room. It prepares writers to be staffed on scripted series with the long-term goal of developing the next generation of showrunners.
Over eight months, writers will develop an original pilot under the guidance and mentorship of NBCUniversal programming executives. In addition to personal branding sessions, writing workshops, and mock showrunner meetings, writers will also have a chance to simulate various writers’ room scenarios and meet with potential representation.
Guest instructors include: Nkechi Okoro Carrol (Found, All American), Patrick Macmanus (Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy), writing team Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier (Boston Blue), Britt Matt (Harlem), Felicia Pride (Bel-Air), and Rashad Raisani (9-1-1: Nashville). Margolis, Matt, Pride, Raisani, and Sonnier are alumni of the NBC TV Writers Program.
Though staffing is not guaranteed upon completion of the program, 7 writers have written on NBCU shows, including Bryce Cracknell (FBI: Most Wanted), Bixby Elliot (Five-Star Weekend), Helen Fernandez (Happy’s Place), Maia Henkin (Suits: LA), Neda Jebelli (The Miniature Wife), David Loong (The Hunting Party), and Sebastián Rea (Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy).
Learn more about the incoming cohorts below.
Anane’s worldview and writing are deeply informed by growing up in the two wildest places on Earth: Papua New Guinea and Las Vegas. She writes scripts about women navigating the push-pull of ambition, children, and inconvenient love. Her characters are often animated by interracial relationships. She tackles themes inspired by her experience running classrooms in prisons and public schools, running an education-based nonprofit, and running after her kids. Her goal is to be staffed on a female character-driven dramedy or comedy. She was a 2024 Moonshot TV Pilot Accelerator Fellow, a 2024 Semifinalist for the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship, and a 2024 Script Competition Finalist for the Austin Film Festival. She is a graduate of Emerson College and Columbia University. Anane is represented by Rob Golenberg.
A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Asayesh-Brown writes character-driven dramedies, usually with a mystery or crime component. His passion for writing also extends to literary fiction and blogs about housing policy. In his youth, he developed a love for comedy after watching episodes of The King of Queens. After graduating with a BFA in Film & TV Production from NYU in 2018, he quit his job as a line cook in Brooklyn and moved to Los Angeles. After nearly two years at 3 Arts Entertainment, he landed on the TV drama development team at NBCUniversal, where he has been since 2021. In 2023, Asayesh-Brown was named a Humanitas New Voices Fellow. He is represented by M88.
Díaz was a writer on NBC’s Lopez vs Lopez and was selected for the inaugural Latino Film Institute + Warner Bros. OneFifty Directing Fellowship. Inspired by her Eldest Daughter Syndrome, she writes irreverent, female-driven comedies. She was also a writer and producer on Netflix’s Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste, and a producer on HBOMax’s Generation. As a writer, director, and producer, her work has been supported by the Sundance Episodic Lab; the FX Imaginar TV Incubator for Fearless Latinx Creators sponsored by Film Independent and NALIP; and the Women Directing Mentorship presented by Shondaland and SeriesFest. Díaz holds a BFA in Film & TV Production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA from USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program. She is represented by 3 Arts Entertainment.
Esposito found her way to storytelling after nearly becoming a lawyer — a detour that taught her about power, performance, and why the truth sometimes makes the best fiction. After earning a B.S. in Psychology and Criminology from the University of Toronto, she worked as a courtroom reporter before pivoting to writing, earning an MFA in Screenwriting at the American Film Institute. Her industry work credits include writer’s production assistant on two Peacock series, Ted and Apples Never Fall. She has won AFI’s Writer’s Room Ready award, was selected for 2023’s The Black List x WIF Episodic Lab, and is a Women in Film Screenwriting Fellow. Esposito is passionate about storytelling that subverts the male gaze and highlights the identities and experiences of people who have not always seen themselves in characters on-screen. She is represented by Untitled Entertainment.
Growing up in the Midwest with family ties to Hawaii, Grace‘s dramas often explore multi-racial experiences, queer identity, and feature protagonists attempting to unite people with drastically opposed values. His short films have been screened at festivals nationally, and several of his original stage plays were produced at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and Playhouse West. Grace won the Austin Film Festival’s Virtual Pitch competition with his original pilot “Hail to the Chief,” recently completed UCLA’s Program in Producing, and Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s New West Playwrights program. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a B.A. in Communication–Radio, TV & Film. Grace is represented by Viewfinder Management.
Hillin is a screenwriter, journalist, and cancer survivor who went from rural California to the Ivy League. Growing up, she struggled with her identity and sense of belonging until she went to college. While at Yale, she majored in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies with the career aspiration of becoming a spy. After being rejected by the CIA, she pivoted to journalism, covering science, politics, sex, and marijuana, breaking national stories cited in major outlets like the New York Times. Her hobby training in mixed martial arts led her to compete with the National Guard in a reality show. Much of Hillin’s work is inspired by her lived experiences. She now writes action-packed genre shows that often focus on strong women looking for their place in the world, who kick a lot of ass and sometimes hunt monsters or spy for secret organizations. She was selected for Sony Television’s Writers Program, the Universal Features Lab, and Coverfly’s Red List. Hillin is represented by Brett Etre.
Jasso is a writer from the dairy farms of central California. Her work focuses on thought-provoking, ensemble dramas that capture the beautiful mess of family, the weight of expectations, and the fight for identity. Jasso began her career in the marketing department at Universal Pictures, working on popular films like Candyman and the Halloween franchise, before transitioning into a role supporting the company’s comprehensive inclusion efforts. She has previously participated in Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Mentorship Lab. Jasso is represented by Color Creative.
McGhee forged his love of storytelling through long, dark winters of suburban Chicago. He writes genre-blending dramas and dramedies, populating elaborate worlds with dysfunctional ensembles, and explores lost innocence, portraying outsiders who can’t go home again. Upon graduating from Wesleyan University, McGhee began working in Los Angeles as a development assistant in features (Solstice Studios) and animation (Stoopid Buddy Stoodios), and later as a showrunner’s assistant in both drama and comedy rooms run by former writers of hit shows like Succession and Rick & Morty. McGhee is represented by Good Fear Content.
Raelyn is a D.C.-based filmmaker who crafts bold, character-driven dramas —true crime thrillers, soapy historicals, and edgy YA—that explore the collision of capitalism, class, and gender. Her protagonists are fierce outsiders on a mission to challenge the status quo. After graduating from Columbia University, she worked on Wall Street before vigorously pursuing TV writing. Raelyn founded the Writers Mafia Professional Writers’ group and is an alumna of Mara Brock Akil’s Writers’ Colony, the Black List Episodic Lab, The Writers Lab, and the Moonshot Pilot Accelerator. She was also an Austin Film Festival Finalist and the 2019 ScreenCraft Drama feature winner. Raelyn is repped by Epicenter.
