NHMC Announces Writers Selected to 2015 NHMC Television Writers Program

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) congratulates the writers selected to the 2015 class of the NHMC Television Writers Program. The NHMC Television Writers Program is an intensive scriptwriters workshop that prepares Latinos for writing jobs at the major television networks. Ten participants were selected from among more than 300 applicants from throughout the nation. The writers are: Leslie Castañuela Barnes, Yelyna De Leon, Christopher Encell, Eugene Garcia-Cross, Alex Perez, Jorge Ramirez-Martinez, Liz Rivera, Janine Salinas Schoenberg, Matt C. Sanchez and Evette Vargas. To learn more about the writers click here. The five-week, total immersion workshop is designed to hone participants' scriptwriting skills and prepare them to best package and present their work to television network and show executives. Mentored and guided by former NBC vice president of script development Geoff Harris, the participants will complete at least one script that will be read by network executives. Writers whose scripts show promise will be interviewed and mentored by network executives, with the goal of placing them on a show. Each participant receives a weekly stipend. Flight, housing, and meals are also provided. The workshop is held in Studio City, California. Launched in 2003, the NHMC Television Writers Program was created to expand the amount of Latinos working behind the camera, as a way to increase fair and accurate portrayals of Latinos on television. During the 2013-14 television season, Latinos composed only 2.8% of writers staffed on TV shows, despite the fact that the Latinos make up 17% of the U.S. population, according to the 2015 Writers Guild of America-West TV Staffing Brief. Since its inception, the program has graduated more than 100 writers -- 25% of whom have been staffed on shows in networks such as ABC/Disney, NBC, CBS, FOX, Nickelodeon, CW, BET, LATV, VH1 and NUVOtv. The 2015 NHMC Television Writers Program is sponsored by Disney/ABC Television Group and Comcast/NBCUniversal. For more information, visit www.nhmc.org/writersprogram.]]>