Meet the Writers

NLMC/NHMC Television Writers Program: Class of 2012

Ariella Blejer
Ariella Blejer has always loved TV.  When she was growing up, she was so obsessed with TV that her father built a box to lock up the plug, so that Ariella would do her homework instead of watching TV after school.  She recently graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in film and television production, focusing in writing and directing.  In her first life as a prospective scientist, Ariella received a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University and a Master of Science in virology from the University of Pennsylvania.  She also worked on one of the first HIV vaccine trials at the NIH.  Ariella lives in LA, where she dreams of writing for television and one day repaying her student loans.

 

 

 

Jonathan Ceniceroz    

Jonathan comes to television writing from an established career in the theater. A graduate of UCLA and Brown University, he spent his formative years crafting outrageous episodic tales for his friends and classmates in suburban Los Angeles. After college, he worked as an assistant to film producers John Davis and Joel Silver before heading to New York as a playwright where he was awarded significant fellowships and development opportunities encouraging his craft. Returning to Los Angeles, Jonathan was delighted to garner a slot in the 2012 NHMC Writers Program with his Breaking Bad script and looks forward to applying his theatrical talent in TV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amaya Cervino 
Raised across the globe, Amaya was surprised to learn that Don Johnson wasn’t actually Spanish.  She attributes her eclectic taste to the classic TV tales that kept her company as a child, from ‘Miami Vice’ and ‘Dallas’ to ‘Friends’ and ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’.  After attending Cambridge University, she earned an MFA from USC, where her thesis was awarded a Student Drama Emmy.  She has worked as a story producer for Univision, History Channel, TLC and National Geographic programming.  Amaya is happiest backpacking and gathering material she hopes to bring to the small screen one day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Carlos Cisco
Having been forced to move between Hawaii and New Mexico every two years (because both of his divorced parents just loved him so damn much), Carlos Cisco had to learn to quickly reacquaint himself with old, or simply make new friends wherever he landed.  Television aided in this as it was a common language no matter to locale.  Working his way through higher education, he’s had every job from dishwasher to legislative analyst.  After graduating with an MFA in Writing for the Stage and Screen he moved to Los Angeles and started working in development.  His writing has placed well on the contest and festival circuit, his ‘Justified’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ specs both placing in Slamdance ’11 the latter landing in the top three comedies at Champion Screenwriting.  Not one to be limited by medium, he also writes the occasional play.  One of which, ‘The Last Days’, will be premiering Off-Off Broadway in Spring of 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daireen Galeano
Daireen Galeano is a drama writer and native Los Angelino.  She studied at l’Université d’Avignon and then graduated with a BA in French from Cal Lutheran University.  She worked in TV distribution at several major studios, before hitting the road, participating on a scientific expedition, collecting data on dying coral reefs.  Later, she embarked on a career in TV production, documenting everything from homeless children to gang rehabilitation.  Her experiences fueled her love of television with her passion for writing.  Daireen’s writing credits include Scriptapalooza Quarter Finalist 2012, Warner Bros. Top 5% 2011 and Feel Good Film Festival Screenplay Finalist 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Kogge

 Michael Kogge's years of teaching in the Los Angeles public schools changed the stories he wanted to tell.  The diversity of his classroom and the lives he helped nurture in turn nurtured and shaped his own writing.  He aims to reflect this diversity in the scripts he writes.  His TV pilot ‘Hunt’, about a San Antonio bondsman and Salvadoran police officer, recently placed in the top ten of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards out of 5,000 submitted scripts.  He has written for Lucasfilm, Blizzard, Studio 407, and Topps, has a comic book series being published in 2013, and has placed in the Nicholls Screenwriting Fellowships.  His goal is to create work that combines history, adventure, and culture to reflect the interests and dynamics of a diverse America.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Jeffrey Nieves

 Jeffrey Nieves began his writing career in the world of New York’s Advertising and Branding, where he helped companies name themselves and their products.  While searching for one word to define the story of an entire organization is a rewarding task, Jeffrey longed to tell bigger stories.  This led him to the wonderful world of writing for television.  He believes TV is currently in a Golden Age, and he is inspired by shows like ‘Lost’, ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Mad Men’.

 

Michael Perri

  Mike Perri is a dramatic writer who was born Emmanuel Pedro, until his adoptive parents changed his name when he was ten.  Growing up in Chicago’s foster care system, he wrote plays and asked (okay forced) the other kids to act them out.  After college, he traveled the world as a Social Engineer, getting paid to impersonate hackers with an aim to take down cyber criminals.  Following the death of his adoptive parents, Mike found himself again on his own.  So, he quit his job and moved out West to write full time.   Recently, he’s had the good fortune to work with some notable producers who have championed his work to major networks, including Fox, Disney, and MTV.   As a nice Catholic boy, his dream was always to marry a sweet Jewish girl and join the enormous family she puts up with.  This year Mike’s dream came true and he looks forward to raising his children to be guilt-free ‘Cashews’ one day.   He is repped by Jason Hong of Arlook Group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joey Reynoso
Joey Jesse Reynoso received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley where he wrote an award winning comedy TV show called ‘Take Ten R.I.T.A’.  While working as a counselor at a drug and alcohol facility, Joey was inspired to pursue his writing career and received a Master of Arts degree in Television/Radio/Film from Syracuse University.  Having been a fan of television since the age of five, he is now focused on writing hour-long dramas about his experiences working with addicts, the homeless and ex-convicts who are marginalized as the ‘others’ in our society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tina Thompson
As a teenager, Tina Thompson won $50 in a writing contest, technically making her a professional writer.  Unaware that she could make more money from writing, she turned to work with at-risk youth and disabled adults.  Later, the writing bug bit again.  Tina was given the opportunity to write sketches for The Second City comedy theater troupe.  She also has had a feature script reach the finals of the Feel Good Film Festival, four plays produced, and has written and directed three short films.  In 2011, she earned a spot in the Nickelodeon Writing Program, where she wrote four TV specs, two pilots and 15 comedy sketches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mentor: Geoff Harris
Since leaving NBC, where he worked as a development executive for 12 years, Geoff Harris has been working with the National Hispanic Media Coalition teaching TV writing workshops, sponsored by ABC and NBC.  Many of the writers he has taught have gone on to staff positions on current TV shows, including ‘NCIS,’ ‘Happy Endings’ and ‘Grimm’.  He also works as a freelance writer for TV and film.  He began his writing career on the staff of the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner daily newspaper, formerly the flagship of the Hearst newspaper empire.