CAPE New Writers Fellowship Announces Class Of 2023

Valerie Complex
·7 min read

Surpassing 10 years of developing emerging writers, CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) has selected its latest CAPE New Writers Fellowship class. The new cohort completed the program last spring prior to the WGA strike and the class Of New Writers Completed Program Prior To Start Of WGA Strike.

The Fellowship is a non-studio professional development program that trains emerging writers to succeed in Hollywood. The Fellowship boasts graduates who have been staffed on over 65 shows across all major network, cable, and streaming platforms in addition to those who have signed overall deals.

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Featuring industry writers, producers, agents and executives, the Fellowship was co-founded and is co-chaired by Leo Chu (Showrunner/Executive Producer, Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion) and Steve Tao (Veteran TV Executive and Producer, The CW, ABC, & BAD ROBOT). In addition to being the only program helmed by both a Showrunner and a creative executive, the Fellowship has the added distinction of Leo Chu (along with his writing partner, Eric S. Garcia) being the first Asian Showrunner. Jess Ju, CAPE’s former Director of Programs and Operations, returned to run the program.

“I am extremely proud of the careers we have launched and the community we have built. Many of our previous Fellows are now upper-level TV writers and returning with other seasoned professionals to train and mentor the next generation,” said co-chair Leo Chu. “It’s all about giving back and lifting each other up. I can’t wait to see this talented new class rise in the industry.”

“With the industry-wide cutbacks in diversity programs seen in the last year, the CAPE New Writers Fellowship is more important and relevant than ever,” added co-chair Steve Tao. “The Fellowship not only guides our Fellows by making their original scripts as good as they can be, it also arms them with the tools needed to make it, survive, and thrive in the ever changing entertainment industry. It ensures the next generation of television writers will have diverse backgrounds and points of view necessary to appeal to an ever fragmented viewership. I could not be prouder of the dedication, talent, and professionalism of the 2023 class of CAPE New Writers Fellows.”

The 2023 class, consisting of all television writers, participated in the two months long program of virtual sessions including master classes, panels, workshops, and table reads. They were also paired up with high-level industry mentors to revise their scripts. This year’s Fellowship Speakers included: Naia Cucukov (Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, The Babysitters Club), Eirene Donohue (Writer, Netflix’s A Tourist Guide to Love), Bash Naran (Agent, WME), Caroline Mak (VP, Development, Freeform), Prathi Srinivasan (Writer, PLAN B), Nic Sridej (Writer, THE WINCHESTERS) and more. Monica Macer (formerly the Showrunner of CBS’s MacGyver) also led a mock writers room for the new class of fellows.

The 2023 CAPE New Writers Fellowship participants and mentors are as follows:

Aldous Davidson | Mentored by Alex Tse

Aldous Davidson is a half-Chinese, half-Jewish writer and actor, whose multi-cultural upbringing inspired him to write stories centered around unconventional family dynamics. He has co-written and starred in the Snapchat original series Yo! Merman Raps and has acted opposite Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises. He is a proud CAPE New Writers Fellow and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Film and Television Production.

Armaan Uplekar | Mentored by Kyle Harimoto

Armaan Uplekar is an award-winning writer and filmmaker from South Florida. Born to a Punjabi mother and a Marathi father, Uplekar has long been drawn to telling stories that grapple with racial, cultural and national identity. His narrative and documentary work has screened at international and Oscar-qualifying film festivals worldwide. Uplekar is a graduate of Florida State University’s College of Motion Pictures, a CAPE New Writers fellow and a Gotham alumnus.

Caroline Tsai | Mentored by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong

Caroline Tsai is a Taiwanese-American comedy writer from Indiana who writes female coming-of-age stories and quirky ensemble comedies. After graduating from Harvard, she worked for Janet Yang Productions and APA. She is currently a showrunner’s assistant on Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Her pilot Charade was a semi-finalist for the Script Lab Screenplay Contest. She is represented by Artists First.

Cindy Chu | Mentored by Melinda Hsu Taylor

Cindy Chu is a Taiwanese American writer from Queens. Growing up, she bonded with her non-English speaking mother through horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street, and began writing supernatural genres while centering social conscious topics with Asian American female-led characters. She received her MFA in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School, and is currently a writers’ PA on the Amazon/Sony series, Silk: Spider Society, and repped by 3 Arts Entertainment and RBEL Agency.

Homer Hsieh | Mentored by James Wong
Homer Hsieh is a Taiwanese-American sci-fi writer from San Diego. Born in Texas, Homer moved to Taiwan at a young age where he spent years as an international school student. Inspired to write by his childhood love of anime and video games, he discovered his passion for screen and TV writing while studying Film and Media at UC Irvine. He went on to complete UCLA’s Professional Program and obtain a Screenwriting MFA at Hollins University.

Keiko Sugihara | Mentored by Albert Kim

Keiko Sugihara is a Japanese-Chinese American writer from Chicago, Illinois. Her passion for genre storytelling inspired her to write, direct, and star in her short film, VAMPIRE AMERICAN, before becoming a Writers’ Assistant on Marvel’s HELSTROM. She also worked as a Producers’ Assistant and Writers’ Assistant on HAWAII FIVE-0. In 2022, she won the ‘Ohina Filmmakers Lab Greenlight Award to direct her original short script. Keiko currently works in development with Writer/Executive Producer, Kyle Harimoto.

Samantha Xiao | Mentored by Jason Ning
Similarly to the protagonists of her favorite fantasy yarns, Samantha Xiao was a sheltered kid who reluctantly experienced the call to adventure when her family relocated to the bustling metropolitan world of Shanghai. Initially adrift, she relied on stories to help her understand this journey of discovery and self-discovery, an experience which still informs the genre scripts she writes today. She earned her MFA in Screenwriting from USC and currently works in animation development.

In addition, the 2023 CAPE fellows join a distinguished alumni network including April Shih (Dave) who has an overall deal with FX alongside Julie Wong (Co-Executive Producer, Grey’s Anatomy). Additional alumni include Kevin Lau (House of the Dragon) who has an overall deal with HBO, WGA Award-nominated Mitali Jahagirdar (Just Beyond), Tania Lotia (The Witcher: Blood Origin), Kimberly-Rose Ka’iulani Wolter (NCIS), D. Dona Le (FBI: Most Wanted), Bryson Chun (Doogie Kamealoha), and many others. The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount+ and CAA are 2023’s Fellowship Partners.

“We are excited to announce this cohort and finally share their talent with the world now that the WGA strike has a hard-fought resolution in place,” said Michelle K. Sugihara, Executive Director of CAPE. “These graduates join the illustrious ranks of our alumni who have written on over 65 shows across every major channel and streamer and they are ready to get to work!”

The CAPE New Writers Fellowship is one of CAPE’s  talent development programs alongside the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, the CAPE Animation Directors Accelerator, the CAPE Emerging Executives Committee, and the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge for Women & Non-Binary Filmmakers (with Janet Yang Productions).

For more information on the CAPE New Writers Fellowship and the 2023 Class, visit capeusa.org/cnwf. Submissions for the 2024 CAPE New Writers Fellowship cycle are also now open for submissions

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