Rideback, CBS TV Studios, Thinking Hat Partner on Second Year of Campfire Writers’ Room

Joe Otterson
·3 min read

CBS Television Studios and production companies Rideback and Thinking Hat are again partnering on the Rideback/Thinking Hat Campfire writer’s room.

Three new creators have been selected for the second year of the room. They are writer Jeff Buhler, multi-hyphenate Gbenga Akinnagbe, and writer Katrina O’Gilvie. Working alongside them will be three experienced showrunner/executive producers: Anna Fricke, Rina Mimoun, and Corinne Brinkerhoff. Fricke, Mimoun and Brinkerhoff are under overall deals at the Studio.

“Our vision for Campfire is to support exciting creative voices using the power of collaboration, in particular by introducing the writers room dynamic from day one,” said Rideback CEO Dan Lin. “We’re excited to have Jeff, Gbenga and Katrina as our creators this year and support their remarkable new ideas.”

The program is designed to attract experienced feature film writers and other creative voices to broadcast television development for the first time. In its inaugural 2019-2020 year, Campfire successfully sold two projects to CBS Television Network – “Drift” from Chris Salmanpour and “The Eshmun Protocol” from Jason Keller.

Lin and Thinking Hat founder Craig Turk, along with Rideback’s executive vice president of television Lindsey Liberatore, started Campfire as a way to introduce new voices to broadcast TV while helping to provide the tools, resources and collaboration in order to nurture them every step of the way.

“This is a process we wish we’d had when we were starting out,” said Turk, who runs the program. “By providing a solid foundation for success with the support of experienced, world-class executive producers, these very talented writers will be free to explore every aspect of their creativity.”

Buhler created and was the showrunner of the 10-episode George R.R. Martin limited series “Nightflyers” for Netflix and SyFy. Most recently, Buhler wrote “Pet Sematary” for Paramount Pictures, wrote and executive produced”The Prodigy” for MGM/Orion, wrote “Jacob’s Ladder” for LD Entertainment and wrote the story for “The Grudge” for Lionsgate. Buhler previously wrote “Midnight Meat Train: starring Bradley Cooper. He is repped by Gotham Group and Morris Yorn.

Akinnagbe is perhaps best known for his role Chris Partlow in HBO’s “The Wire.” He was most recently seen making his Broadway debut in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” adapted by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Scott Rudin. He is currently slated to shoot the FX drama series “The Old Man.” His other TV roles include “The Deuce” and films like “Detroit” and “The Sun Is Also a Star.” He is repped by APA, Untitled Entertainment, and Andre Des Rochers.

O’Gilvie’s previous credits include the TV movie “Behind the Movement,” the true crime film “Sins of the Father,” and the rom com “Don’t Waste Your Pretty.” She is currently a story editor on the upcoming Apple series “Swagger.” She is repped by The Rookery and Kaplan Stahler Agency.

“The search for new and diverse creative voices poses a significant challenge,” said Bryan Seabury, CBS Television Studios’ executive vice president of drama development. “With so much competition for top talent, it’s imperative that studios like ours help nurture and mentor writers entering television. Partnering with Craig and Dan has allowed us access to a host of up and coming creators with limitless potential. It’s a huge win for us.”

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