October Colony
We are thrilled to announce the selection of Miida Chu, Andre Muir, Missy Hernandez, and Joel Sinensky as the four exceptional screenwriters for Almanack Screenwriters' October Colony 2024. Each of these talented writers brings a unique voice and perspective to the table, and we are eager to support their creative journeys.
The October Colony is our flagship program, designed to provide a focused, collaborative environment for writers to develop their projects. This year’s cohort has demonstrated exceptional storytelling abilities, and their personal applications resonated with us as well. After all, we are not in the business of supporting a singular project; that is a producer’s job. We are interested in investing in the whole writer - the human being who is passionate about the world and the endless stories within it.
For the month of October, tucked away in a farmhouse on Almanack Pond Road, these four writers will go deep in whatever way that means for them. They will have peer conversations, mentor sessions, and lots of time and space to imagine the possibilities.
We look forward to witnessing the evolution of their projects and sharing their progress with the wider Almanack community. Congratulations to Miida, Andre, Missy, and Joel—your journey with us begins now. Stay tuned for updates from the October Colony 2024.
MIIDA CHU
Miida Chu is a writer-director of trans experience in parallel universes. Her work often uses imaginative thought experiments to challenge assumptions about body and soul. Her short film EUREKA won the prestigious Golden Reel Award at the 38th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, qualifying the film for the 2023 Academy Award. She was a recipient of the The Disruptors TV writing fellowship. She was a finalist for the SeriesFest Women Directing Mentorship with Shondaland. She was a finalist for the Warner Brothers 100 Short Film Initiative. Her feature script SOUND OF MY DREAMS was a semifinalist for the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship and a quarterfinalist for the Academy Nicholl Fellowships. Miida holds a BA with high honors in philosophy from New York University and an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute. She was accepted to UCLA’s PhD program in philosophy, but she's glad she didn’t fall into that parallel universe.
MISSY HERNANDEZ
Missy Hernandez is an award-winning independent filmmaker and screenwriter whose scripts center Latiné experiences in the US and Caribbean. Her work is intersectional, feminist, often political, and unapologetically fantastical as serves the genre or her whims. Her feature script, I DON'T DREAM IN SPANISH ANYMORE, was the winner of the 2024 Nantucket Film Festival's Tony Cox Screenplay Competition and a winner of the 2024 Athena List. Her projects have received support from Cine Qua Non Labs, the Chicago Independent Producers Lab, the Jerome Foundation, and IFP/The Gotham, and the NALIP Media Market.
Missy was a Writer and Co-Producer of AMERICAN THIEF (2020 - Film Movement), and an Associate Producer for the first season of the HBO/A24 series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS (2018). Hernandez co-wrote and produced THE LAST ELECTION AND OTHER LOVE STORIES (2021), a documentary shot entirely on Election Day 2020. Missy graduated from Columbia University in New York with a BA in Cinema Studies and an MFA in Screenwriting. She is an assistant professor at the School of Film and Television at Columbia College Chicago.
ANDRE MUIR
Writer and director Andre Muir is the son of Jamaican immigrants, born in Chicago, and now living in Brooklyn, NY. Andre Muir creates spiritual stories that explore the importance of language as it pertains to culture and its use for communication (or lack thereof) throughout his work. He often relies on a naturalistic, absurdist approach to speak to deeper truths, utilizing drawn-out moments and uninterrupted shots to bring tension to his scenes.
His award-winning short films 4 Corners is a film that examines gun violence in his hometown and Patois, a film about the Afro-Diaspora immigrant experience and the myth of black girlhood, have won Jury Awards, Audience Awards, the Chicago award, and have been selected at numerous film festivals including the CIFF, PAFF, NYFF, SXSW, LAFF among many others.
Andre Muir has won and been nominated for numerous awards including Ciclope, Webby Award, Ad Age, Cannes Lions, AICP Awards, 1.4 Awards, and Booooooom TV’s Best Short of the Year, to name a few. Andre was also part of the SHOOT New Directors Showcase and shots Black Directors Showcase. Most recently, Andre was selected as Sundance Screenwriters Intensive fellows and a Chicago International’s inaugural CIX Lab Fellown and he received the the inaugural Catalyst award at New Media Venture’s Changemaker’s showcase in honor of the Michael Latt Legacy Fund.
JOEL SINENSKY
Joel is a writer, actor, and artist based in Los Angeles. He was the recipient of a Humanitas "New Voices" Grant, a top-10 finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship, and has sold and developed an original pilot with Wiip Productions. He has spent more than a decade in Hollywood and has worked on numerous high-profile projects, including ROADIES for Showtime, DAISY JONES & THE SIX for Amazon, and the upcoming WICKED films for Universal Pictures. His visual art has been exhibited and sold all over Los Angeles, and his plays have been produced in LA, Chicago, NYC, and at the Williamstown Theater Festival. He is a company member with The Dorris Place Players, an LA-based ensemble that performs theater in backyards. He is repped by CAA and Artists First.
