EXCLUSIVE: The CAPE New Writers Fellowship, a non-studio professional development program for emerging writers in Hollywood, enters its thirteenth year with a new cohort of emerging screenwriters. The 2025 cohorts are AJ Currie, Callie Chiang, Justin Omori, Luke Fujimoto Jensen, Kausar Mohammed, Minoti Vaishnav, and Tia Kaiulani Kanaeholo.
CAPE will also make significant programming enhancements to address the entertainment industry’s transitional period. Said enhancements feature in-person and virtual panels and masterclasses exploring potential writing pathways into animation, features, video games, narrative audio, podcasts, verticals, and more. The program also provided education on technological advancements and considerations impacting the industry. Additionally, CAPE opened applications for the Fellowship to the staff writer level, to support previously staffed writers facing challenges in the lower-level ranks.
“Entertainment in all its forms thrives on fresh voices, and the CAPE New Writers Fellowship opens doors for emerging writers to be heard. Given the dramatic contraction in the industry, we need programs like this more than ever to help new writers navigate the business and get their stories told,” said co-founders and co-chairs Leo Chu (showrunner/EP, Disney’s Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion) and Steve Tao (veteran TV executive and producer previously at The CW, ABC, & Bad Robot).
“TV writing jobs for lower-level writers fell by 46 percent last year, according to the WGA’s recent report on job statistics for the 2023-2024 season,” said Rhian Moore, CAPE’s Head of Programs. “CAPE strives every year to improve our New Writers Fellowship to address the needs of emerging writers, amidst the current state of the industry. Expanding the scope of our program to educate our Fellows about the wide variety of pathways into the industry is part of our ongoing commitment to supporting Asian and Pacific Islander writers in their professional journeys.”
The Class of 2025 and their mentors are listed below.
AJ Currie (Mentored by Monica Macer; showrunner and executive producer, MacGyver)| In conservative ‘90s Pakistan, gay and genderqueer Currie was born “othered” by default, and started world-building as escapism. An immigrant who adores a good fashion moment, Currie writes about outsiders looking for home, balancing humanist contemplation with a sprinkle of theatrical flair. Currie is a Humanitas New Voices Fellow 2024-25, and a MFA graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Callie Chiang (Mentored by Charles Yu; showrunner and executive producer, Interior Chinatown) | Chiang is a third-generation Chinese-Texan screenwriter still in recovery from her public school miseducation. Her stories serve a dual purpose: to entertain while offering profound insights into our society and the complexities of the human experience. Her writing has landed her on Coverfly’s Pitch Week and the 2024 Next List. Chiang is an alum of Mentorship Matters.
Justin Omori (Mentored by Kyle Harimoto; co-executive producer, NCIS: Los Angeles) | Omori is a screenwriter originally from Hawaiʻi and currently based in Los Angeles. Past projects have been featured at the Tribeca Film Festival, Criterion Channel, and Netflix. He was a screenwriting fellow for Film Independent Project Involve in 2022 and the Starz #TakeTheLead Writers’ Intensive in 2024.
Luke Fujimoto Jensen (Mentored by Keto Shimizu; showrunner of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) | Fujimoto is a mixed-race Japanese American TV comedy and hour-long genre writer, born and raised in Fargo, N.D. He graduated from Drake University with a degree in biochemistry before pivoting to his screenwriting dreams. He graduated from the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program and staffed on the Amazon series Dinner with the Parents. He finds the heart beneath the humor in stories about outsiders searching for connection.
Kausar Mohammed (Mentored by Oanh Ly; co-executive producer, Sweet Tooth) | Mohammed is a queer, Muslim, Pakistani writer working across comedy, horror, and everything in between. She wrote and starred in The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night (TIFF premiere, sold to a major studio) and was awarded the Sundance x Islamic Scholarship Fund’s Building Bridges Fellowship and Orchard Project Artist Lab. She also acts in film, TV, and voiceover, with roles in The Flash, Mo, and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.
Minoti Vaishnav (Mentored by Denise Thé; executive producer, Westworld) | Vaishnav’s credits include True Lies (CBS) and The Equalizer (CBS). As a former pop star, she released three albums. Previously, as an unscripted development producer, she produced over a dozen true crime, historical, and paranormal investigation shows. Vaishnav is also a published short fiction author and scripted podcast writer. She has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Oxford University and is an alumna of the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program.
Tia Kaiulani Kanaeholo (Mentored by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong; co-executive producer, Resident Alien) | Kanaeholo is a Native Hawaiian, Japanese and Scottish writer, actor, and producer. She earned her MFA in Writing and Producing for Television at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. Most recently, Kanaeholo was a fellow in the inaugural PEAK (Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti) Writers Fellowship. Her first short film, Ornamental Oriental, is set to premiere in 2025. Kanaeholo writes about complex individuals who fight against societal expectations, as she does every day.
Speakers of the program included Alexander Woo (Showrunner, Three Body Problem), Kiel McNaughton (Showrunner, Tangata Pai), Geetika Lizardi (Writer, Bridgerton), Amy Wang (Writer/Director, Slanted), Sanjay Shah (Showrunner, Everybody Still Hates Chris), Michael Chu (Lead Writer and Senior Designer for Lore and Story, Overwatch), Erlan Nyssanov (Agent, Technology Business Development & Innovations, UTA), Lyndon J. Barrois Sr. (Director, Animator), Liz Fields (Writer/Director, Imperfect Match), Wendy Chuong (VP of TV & Film, Audible), Shuli Tan (Writer, Submitting to My Best Friend’s Dad), Peter McHugh (Partner/Manager, The Gotham Group), Lyra Tan (Agent, Gersh), Quincie Li (Manager, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment), Adam Van Dusen and Sam Fischer (Agents, Paradigm), Nathan Kitada (Senior Creative Executive, Tentpole and Universe Development, Amazon Studios), Talha Asad (VP, Drama Programming, HBO), Liana Oja (Director, Streaming & Animation, Marvel Studios) and many others. In addition, showrunner, director, and writer Dana Ledoux Miller (Moana 2; Thai Cave Rescue) led a mock writers’ room with the program participants.
CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) is a non-profit organization that creates opportunities for Asian and Pacific Islander success in Hollywood. For almost 35 years, it has advanced representation in film and TV by championing people, stories, and culture. Through their programs, such as the CAPE New Writers Fellowship and the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, their consulting and talent referral services, our research and tip sheets, and the CAPE Database, CAPE is breaking barriers to representation from the writers’ room to the boardroom to the living room.
