Disney|ABC Welcomes Writers to the 2018 Writing Program

Entering its 29th year, Disney|ABC Television has selected 10 writers for their 2018 Writers Program. The 10 individuals, up from eight, mark a number the writing program hasn't seen since 2008.

This year's participants of comedy writers who recently started include Wall Street analyst Adán Peña (Nazareth, Texas), Issa Rae Productions' online content creator Ritza Emmanuelle Bloom (Gainesville, Florida), former wedding videographer Krystal Javier (Honolulu, Hawaii), educator and journalist David Radcliff (Omaha, Nebraska), post-production supervisor Jimmy Mosqueda (Los Angeles, California) and showrunner's assistant Octavia Bray (Hanover Park, Illinois). For drama, there is graphic novelist Pornsak Pichetshote (New York, New York), computer repair consultant William Garroutte (Greeley, Colorado), Emmy®-winning news segment producer Claudia Forestieri (Miami, Florida) and professional poker player Brian Shin (Ann Arbor, Michigan).

This past season the 2017 Program Writers collectively secured six script assignments. Thanks to the support of executive producers Michael Seitzman from Freeform's "Cleopatra" and ABC's "Quantico," Eric Friedman from Disney Channel's "Bizaardvark," Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller of ABC's upcoming "Take Two, " Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan of ABC's "Modern Family," David Shore of ABC's "The Good Doctor" and Paul Mather of Freeform's "Alone Together," who have exercised options for 2017 Program Writers Sabir Pirzada, Gisselle Legere, Jess Poter, Carlos Tower, Ali Hinds, Cailan Rose and Lloyd Gilyard Jr. to continue staff writer services on their respective series this season.

"Cleopatra" and "Quantico" executive producer, Michael Seitzman, said, "I'd heard how great the Disney|ABC Writing Program is for its participants, but the truth is that diversity is just good for the show. New voices, different voices, fresh points of view - that's what we want. We've selected two very talented writers from the program this year and added them successfully to our writers' rooms and both have turned out to be great assets to our staff. The Disney|ABC Writing Program helps these talented writers get their foot in a door, it helps further the vital mission of the Creative Talent Development & Inclusion Team, and it makes for a better show for us."

"The Creative Talent Development & Inclusion team is working hard each day with the support of our executives and producers to continue connecting talent with opportunities, and we are all very excited for this year's group of writers," said Tim McNeal, vice president, Creative Talent Development & Inclusion. "We are extremely proud of our programs and initiatives and how we continue to identify star talent, ranging from producers to showrunners and talent that is creating and selling their own content."

About Disney|ABC Television

Disney|ABC Television is comprised of The Walt Disney Company's global entertainment and news television properties, owned television stations group, and radio business. This includes ABC Studios, a global leader in the development, production and distribution of entertainment content across broadcast, cable and on-demand platforms; the ABC Owned Television Stations Group; and The ABC Television Network, which provides entertainment and news programming to viewers via more than 200 affiliated stations across the U.S. It also includes Disney Channels Worldwide, a portfolio of 120 kid-driven, family-inclusive entertainment channels, including Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Disney Cinemagic, Hungama, and Radio Disney brands, as well as cable network Freeform, which targets millennials. Disney|ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution and Disney Media Distribution round out the portfolio. Disney|ABC Television also has equity interests in A+E Networks and Hulu.

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