Breaking Walls - Announcing 2021 Episodic Writers

This is an exciting year for our Episodic Lab. We are breaking the wall between our 30-minute Comedy program and our 60-minute Drama program to create a dynamic and contemporary experience for four talented creators.

After all, episodic storytelling is now more inventive than the traditional labels we’ve used. We see half hour shows like Atlanta, Fleabag, and Barry that pack as much human drama as any hour long show; shows like Succession or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend blend comedy and musical elements into their one hour formats; and all writers’ rooms are comprised of people who bring different skill sets and sensibilities. And so we are thrilled to announce the four writers we have selected for our Episodic Lab this year, a wonderful mix of inspired creatives.

Alan R. Baxter is a Chinese-American writer whose grandparents entered the country illegally by boat. He grew up in a mixed-race family in the desert town of Valencia, California. Inspired by his grandparents’ stories, he discovered a love for writing and attended Chapman University earning a BFA in Film/TV Production. His work at a local bank provided great fodder for his scripts such as catching a drug dealer laundering money and uncovering a financial advisor sending illicit wires. Eventually, he left banking to be a stay-at-home dad and care for his young daughter with special needs. Despite its challenges, they absolutely love their time together. Alan was selected as a TV fellow in Variety's High Scribe Writing Lab, Middlebury Script Lab and Screenwriters Colony Episodic Lab. His mentors include Showrunner, Hawk Ostby (The Expanse) and Co-Executive Producer, Laurence Andries (Blue Bloods). In addition, Alan became a finalist in NBC's Writers on the Verge program. His 60 minute drama/thriller GLACIER POINT is set in the remote town of Whittier, Alaska, inside a 14-story "mini-city" where a big-city detective must find the killer of a Chinese student murdered on its grounds.

ayla xuan chi sullivan is a Black and Vietnamese, non binary, interdisciplinary arts practitioner from Denver, Colorado. They are an actor, a playwright, a director, a poet, an educator, and a co founder of Shift 23 Media. They create and question the nature of performance through their desire to dismantle and disengage with the white supremacist commitment to the Hierarchy of Humanity. Sullivan’s genre crossing work is often referred to as “love poems addressed to people in our community we are conditioned to forget”: Black, Indigenous, Asian, Queer and Trans People of Color, those experiencing homelessness, immigrants, and anyone who is (or has been) caged. In New York, they are currently developing The Gift Quest, a year spanning theatre for one performance series for the Incarcerated, and their solo musical show lockdown cockdown, based on how they survived six active shooter situations. Their real passion is speaking to the most people possible, which is why they want to dedicate themselves to the world of television. So far, they are the creator and star of You, Me, and the FAFSA (currently being taught in television courses at Emerson College) and the short film D.A.M.E.  Their project, VENERATION, a 30 minute dark comedy, starts as one Vietnamese woman’s revenge thriller but spirals into a sister/brother dyad serial killer adventure about a family of consequential assassins out to kill Vietnam War Veterans.

Kate Torgovnick May is a television writer who’s continually fascinated by people and the strange things that make them tick. All of her work is grounded in in-depth research and a desire to understand people’s passions and motivations. Kate built her career as a journalist, writing about female cab drivers and professional roadies for Jane Magazine, bike polo players and Jewish tattoo evangelists for The New York Times and South Korean animators and female politicians of the 1920s for The Atlantic. Her narrative non-fiction book, CHEER!:Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders, was published by Simon & Schuster. The CW network transformed the book into the hit series HELLCATS, executive produced by Tom Welling and Kevin Murphy. Kate served as Consulting Producer. After seven years at TED Talks, writing special video series (like the Webby award-winning Small Thing, Big Idea), Kate moved to Los Angeles to pursue television writing full-time. She just finished her run as a Staff Writer on NCIS , the most popular show in the world, for which she wrote two episodes during Season 17. In her one hour drama, SUGAR, Kate explores a fictional startup company with a grand vision to take “sugar dating” mainstream.

Marcus Raye Pérez is a proud Tejano hailing from a small town in South Texas called Bishop - total population: less than 3,500. After a lengthy high school & collegiate career in the world of speech & debate, Marcus moved to NYC to study at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. After one semester, he dropped out and continued auditioning professionally. In 2015, he was accepted into the Mason Gross School Of The Arts MFA in Acting program. Through this conservatory Marcus was able to study at the Shakespeare’s Globe in London and perform as the famous fat knight, Falstaff, in a production of Henry IV on The Globe stage. Since graduating, Marcus has continued to pursue a professional career as an actor in commercial, television and film. Most recently, Marcus guest-starred on the season 4 premiere of HBO’s ‘High Maintenance.’ Marcus began writing during the pandemic after an introductory course taught by Screenwriters Colony alum Kat Craft. He hopes to utilize his knowledge as an actor to create character driven stories that hope to diversify the meaning of what it means to be Latino in today’s world. His 30 minute comedy, THE FAMILIA, follows half-white Caroline as her picture-perfect life is thrown for a loop when her three estranged and wildly different Latino cousins find themselves living with her in their late grandparent’s house.

We’re looking forward to the creative synergies of this talented group at Almanack Farm on Nantucket in June!

Li Zhao