Talent

Alan Morgan hails from a small town just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. From a young age he was surrounded by storytelling, whether in church with his grandfather or nose-deep in a graphic novel. Inspired by the world around him, Alan began to channel his curiosity into creative writing. It wasn't until his mother allowed "TV hours" that Alan realized his stories could reach beyond his notebooks. After graduating college, Alan was accepted into the DGA'S Assistant Director Training Program, working his way from trainee to A.D. and crewing on so many crime procedurals, he's confident that he could get away with murder (though he prefers to write about them).

Tired of the harsh New York winters and 20 hour set days, Alan decided to give up the A.D. "blood money" and finally pursue his life-long dream of writing for television. After landing a job at CBS in Current Programming, he made the move to Los Angeles. When Alan isn't writing, you can find him cooking an elaborate meal for his girlfriend and his dog, Beyonce, jotting something down in one of his many notebooks, or getting his autodidact on and learning a new skill.

Charli Engelhorn struggled to understand her place in the world as a mixed-race girl growing up in Ames, Iowa. She turned to books, television, and movies to escape and satisfy her curiosity about life and eventually started writing her own stories. At the University of Kansas, she made the super-practical decision to drop journalism for creative writing, but any anxiety about this vanished when her first play was chosen as a semi-finalist for the Kennedy Center College Theater Festival and produced

Charli's drive to define her identity led her to set off on a journey of discovery after college that would comprise five states and about thirty jobs. After landing in Los Angeles, she tried her hand at screenwriting, and when her first pilot advanced in several competitions, she enrolled in an MFA program to hone her craft. Charli's travels gave her a deep understanding of the human condition, which she uses to inform stories about characters on their own journeys of discovery. When not writing, Charli can be found playing volleyball, walking her dog Jacopo, reading, and dancing in her kitchen, unless Jayhawk basketball is on...then all bets are off. Following the Workshop, Charli was staffed on The Cleaning Lady (FOX).

Los Angeles native Devon Balsamo-Gillis is the second of four daughters born to an Oscar-losing monster-making dad and a therapist mom, so she was doomed from the start. With her father's not-questionable-at-all guidance, Devon developed a deep and twisted love for all things dark, deviant, and rebellious. But Devon is a Virgo and always craved structure, so at 7 years old, her parents enrolled her in Martial Arts and she went on to become the first girl to earn her Black Belt at her Karate dojo.

After graduating from her all-girls Catholic high school, Devon attended four universities in three years, only to find the world of academia did not suit her. She graduated early from UCLA and began searching for a career path that would fulfill her creative and practical sides. After a spectacular failure as a wedding planner, Devon decided to go back to a childhood passion - writing - and has since worked as support staff on several shows. Devon also co-hosts On Their Behalf: A True Crime Podcast, focusing on cases that were left out of the media spotlight due to the victim's race, sexuality, or religion. A fan of street parking and strip malls, Devon currently lives in The Valley and is pursuing her lifelong dream of becoming a pig owner.

Evan Iwata grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where his Japanese American father and extremely Midwestern mother provided him with a nurturing yet culturally confusing East-meets-Midwest upbringing. Inspired by his father's photography career, Evan took an early interest in filmmaking, and at the age of 16 he was hired to create a documentary about Oshkosh's little-known hip-hop scene. Emboldened by this bizarre yet inspiring experience, he moved to Los Angeles the following year to attend the USC School of Cinematic Arts. While finishing college, Evan attempted to break into the entertainment industry through a series of odd jobs and internships and eventually found his way too a job in a writers' room. He has since worked in various support staff roles on CSI: Cyber, Pure Genius, The Fix and Emergence, and was the Writers' Assistant on Starz's Outlander. Following the Workshop, Evan was staffed on Subject To Change (HBO Max).

Born and raised in Detroit (pre-Whole Foods), Joya McCrory is the product of a highly religious mom and a once-famous boxer dad, which means although she's never been trick-or-treating, she also has never had to deal with bullies. Joya graduated from the University of Michigan with an English degree, a Hopwood Fiction Award and four years of culture shock from dealing with being one of the few Black students on campus. Joya studied screenwriting at UCLA and was a mentee in Lena Waithe's Hillman Grad Mentorship Program. When not attending concerts, hanging at breweries or going down various rabbit holes on the internet, Joya writes sneakily heartfelt stories, full of pop culture and random millennial humor about identity, self-discovery and bringing people together. Following the Workshop, Joya was staffed on Abbott Elementary (ABC).

Paul Ditty was born in Bemidji, Minnesota, home to the famous Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues. While lacking his namesake's lumberjack prowess, Paul compensated in other ways, including a short-lived stint at the age of nine as his trailer park's own Nancy Drew. When Bemidji's lack of missing persons and jewel thieves caused his detective agency to fold, Paul discovered a love for telling stories of his own.

After graduating with an English degree from the University of Minnesota, Paul moved to Los Angeles to pursue TV writing. His first writing break, however, came in the form of a book when his satire of children's detective books was published. For years, Paul was the Susan Lucci of TV writing programs and competitions, where he was a finalist in several until finally winning his equivalent of a Daytime Emmy: a prized spot in the Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop. Currently, Paul lives in Long Beach with his husband along with their cat, dog and drought-tolerant yard.

At six feet tall and one hundred pounds, Rose Surnow looked like a Jewish praying mantis in high school. With no chance of blending in, Rose was forced into comedy as a way to win friends and influence people. Extremely gregarious since day one, it was a surprise to no one when Rose became a stand-up comedian in her 20's. After years of making drunk strangers laugh, Rose realized she was more passionate about writing comedy than performing it. She transitioned into writing humor pieces for magazines including VICE, GQ, New York Magazine and more. Once she was making her full-time living off being a writer, she finally had the confidence to move to LA and pursue her lifelong dream of writing for television.

Rose got her MFA in Screenwriting from USC and was selected to participate in such prestigious writing fellowships as the Sundance Episodic Lab, the Screenwriter's Colony in Nantucket, and the Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop. Rose writes grounded, emotional comedies and dramedies about messy women trying to get their shit together. Go figure. Following the Workshop, Rose was staffed on Pivoting (FOX).

Ryan is a combat veteran, Navy lieutenant, foster dad, LGBTQ+ activist, and recovering unscripted executive. Growing up in a military family, Ryan found refuge in creative outlets. He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and his MFA from the UCLA Film School. His UCLA thesis film premiered at Sundance in 2012. After grad school, Ryan became a producer and executive in unscripted and digital content, ultimately serving as an SVP at two major production companies.

Ryan is also a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, having served all over the world, aboard aircraft carriers at sea, and on a lengthy combat deployment in Afghanistan. His wartime experience in Afghanistan was transformative, inspiring much of what he writes today. He's won or placed in several competitions including Launch Pad, Screencraft, Harvardwood and the Most Staffable Writers List. Ryan and his husband, Rudy, are the founders of the LGBTQ+ Voices Scholarship at UCLA and are currently foster parents of a very active toddler. Following the Workshop, Ryan was staffed on Manifest (Netflix).

Sam Elhindi grew up in the quaint river town of Winona, Minnesota, the son of a Muslim Sudanese immigrant father and white Catholic mother. His upbringing was a cross between The Mighty Ducks and Coming to America. After getting his degree in Film/TV from the University of Wisconsin, he continued his "education" by studying improv and sketch. To pay the bills, he worked countless jobs in the industry and elsewhere, such as coaching youth soccer, delivering sandwiches via bicycle, and lending his awful Irish accent to a local pub commercial. Following the Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop, he was staffed on Head of the Class (HBO Max).

Florida born, Solange Morales was raised by Peruvian-Chinese parents who gifted her with a non-traditional upbringing in the streets of Miami Beach's Art Deco district while sending her on vacation to Lima, Peru - then a hot-bed of guerilla warfare. It was this constant negotiation of her identity that cultivated her empathy and set her on a journey of writing stories about underdogs, imperfect characters and hip-hop. After quitting her job with a Ponzi schemer, Solange finally made the leap to LA to work as an assistant to the writer and producers of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic. She then worked as an Associate Producer on a Tupac and Iron Mike documentary for ESPN before landing in the halls of Columbia University's MFA film program, where her thesis short film, Mal de Ojo, was acquired by HBO. Solange was the Writers' Assistant and wrote the penultimate episode for Season 2 of Hulu's Wu-Tang: An American Saga. She is an alumna of NHMC'S TV Writers Program and currently writes on a hip-hop themed mobile game app for the lead rapper of Cypress Hill. Following the Workshop, Solange was staffed on Legacies (CW).