Paramount Global has recently revealed the talented individuals who have been selected for the prestigious Paramount Writers Mentoring Program for 2024-2025. This marks the 20th year of the program, and the nine chosen writers are Jamil Akim O’Quinn, Wei Ling Chang, Adrian Colón Jr., Jai Franklin Sarki, Seth Harrington, Natalie Higdon, writing team Dijorn Moss & Trinea Moss, and Nick Spates.
Developing Future Television Stars
Overseen by the Paramount Office of Global Inclusion, the program spans eight months and provides mentorship, career development, and personal access to industry executives. The ultimate objective is to prepare these writers for successful television careers.
For a total of 16 weeks, participants will engage in small workshop-style meetings with showrunners, executive producers, agents, managers, and development and current executives. These sessions will deepen their understanding of the writing and television business. Each writer will also be paired with an executive from the Paramount studio brands for regular meetings, fostering discussions about their work and receiving valuable creative feedback and advice to advance their professional journey.
A Stellar Mentor Lineup
This year, the mentors for the program include Carly Berg, manager of comedy development at CBS, Marissa Brooks, director of drama development at CBS Studios, RaeAnn Bussola, VP of development at Paramount+ Originals, Sam Campos, director of drama development at CBS, Marci Cooperstein, SVP of current at CBS, Devin Crossfield, manager of development at Paramount Television Studios, Kate Gill, SVP of development at Paramount Television Studios, Cameron Johnson, manager of current at Paramount Television Studios, Michael Kaplan, VP of current at CBS, Julie Katchen, VP of current at Paramount Television Studios, Sean Kotzin, VP of comedy development at CBS Studios, Rob Luchow, SVP of drama development at CBS, Amanda Palley, SVP of current at CBS, Kelly Pancho, VP of current at CBS, Pamela Soper, SVP of current at CBS, and Victoria Vargas, director of current at CBS.
According to Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i, executive vice president of diversity and inclusion, west coast at Paramount, “The impact of the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program resonates throughout our organization and the broader industry. With a thriving alumni network and dedicated Paramount leaders, we continue our commitment to nurturing up-and-coming writers, providing them with exposure, access, and invaluable opportunities as they embark on their professional journeys. We have confidence that these nine exceptionally gifted creatives will carry forward the legacy of our past cohorts, who have successfully contributed to the staffing of numerous shows.”
An Impressive Pool of Applicants
The participants for this year’s program were chosen from a pool of over 2,500 applicants. These writers come from diverse creative backgrounds, having worked on projects such as “The Equalizer,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Home Economics,” “Tracker,” “Project Runaway,” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,” among others.
The Paramount Writers Mentoring Program has played a pivotal role in launching the careers of 101 television writers, including Leonard Chang (“Snowfall”), Akela Cooper (“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “M3gan”), Howard Jordan Jr. (“The Neighborhood”), Angela Kang (“The Walking Dead”), April Shih (“Dave”), Aaron Rashaan Thomas (“S.W.A.T.”), Miranda Kwok (“The Cleaning Lady”), Zahir McGhee (“Queens”), and Julie Wong (“Grey’s Anatomy”), to name just a few.
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