FILAM CREATIVE ANNOUNCES 25 WRITERS SELECTED FOR TV CREATOR LAB
FILAM CREATIVE ANNOUNCES 25 WRITERS SELECTED FOR TV CREATOR LAB
Patriot Pictures sponsors new television writing and development program; Richard Rothschild, Greg Coolidge, and Oren Segal join inaugural cohort for kickoff event
LOS ANGELES — October 7, 2026 — FilAm Creative has announced the 25 writers selected for the TV Creator Lab, a tuition-free, five-month professional development program designed to help emerging television creators develop original scripted series while gaining practical insight from working television executives, producers, showrunners and other industry professionals.
Applicants were required to submit a completed pilot script, series bible and personal statement. Projects could be in any narrative genre and on any subject matter; unscripted and documentary projects were not eligible.
The 25 writers selected for the inaugural cohort are Angel Cielo, Candice Sarangay, Celena Cipriaso, Eileen Cabiling, Ella Espiritu, Eric J. De La Rosa, Eugene Ramos, Faith Christy Soliven, Frances Rubio, Geri Carillo, Hermie Castillo, Jaime Estepa, Jalen Giovanni Jones, Joshua Labata, Joy Regullano, Kim Marcelino, Nicole Wolf, Noël Wiggins, Rebecca Williams Spindler, Roann Enriquez, Rommel Rojas, Stacie Gancayco-Adlao, Teodorico Sajor, Walter Boholst and Yasmine Gomez.
The Lab officially launched Thursday with an in-person kickoff event hosted at Patriot Pictures in Los Angeles. The afternoon brought the cohort together for the first time and featured an industry conversation with Richard Rothschild (SVP of Television at Lionsgate), Greg Coolidge (Showrunner, The Continental: From the World of John Wick), and Oren Segal (Manager), moderated by television director Francis dela Torre (Almost Paradise). The speakers discussed their experiences developing, producing, selling and making television; what executives and producers respond to in writers and material; and the creative and business realities writers encounter as they move projects from an idea and script toward the marketplace.
“FilAm Creative has always been about creating opportunities and helping talented people build sustainable careers in this industry,” said Grace Santos, co-head of the TV Creator Lab. “There are so many talented writers who have already found their voice and put something meaningful on the page. What they often need next is access: access to experienced people who can help them strengthen the material, understand how television actually gets developed and sold, and prepare them for the room when an opportunity comes. We built this Lab to help bridge that gap.”
Santos added, “I'm incredibly grateful to our sponsor Patriot Pictures for believing in what we're building, to speakers Richard, Greg, and Oren for being so generous with our writers at the kickoff event, and to the wonderful lineup of industry professionals who will be sharing their time and experience with our cohort throughout the coming months.”
“Patriot Pictures supports filmmakers to take projects from development through packaging, financing, production and distribution. We know the importance of compelling material and a distinctive creative voice,” said Michael Mendelsohn, CEO of Patriot Pictures. “We're proud to support a program that gives emerging writers a better understanding of how projects actually move into production.”
Patriot Pictures has produced and financed James McAvoy's directorial debut California Schemin', RZA’s Cut Throat City, and Alex Prager's directorial debut DreamQuil starring Elizabeth Banks.
The FilAm Creative TV Creator Lab’s kickoff event gave the writers their first opportunity to gather as a cohort before the workshop portion of the Lab begins. Coffee and ube lattes for the event were sponsored by Tectonic Coffee.
Santos, who developed and co-heads the TV Creator Lab with Showrunner Mark Labella and FilAm Creative COO Angel Quinsay, serves on the FilAm Creative Board of Directors and is executive producer of The Crossing, the organization's 24-part global anthology series with ABS-CBN. Outside of FAC, Santos is a producer and a member of the Television Academy.
The TV Creator Lab combines creative development with exposure to the business of television. Throughout the program, participants will workshop and revise an original pilot and series bible, complete weekly assignments, receive peer feedback and meet with working executives, producers, showrunners and other industry professionals. FilAm Creative's new Lab also reflects one of the organization's goal of increasing opportunities for Filipino creatives while creating an inclusive community open to storytellers across backgrounds.
2026 FILAM CREATIVE TV CREATOR LAB — WRITERS & PROJECTS
Angel Cielo: Hutch Fitness
When a by-the-books Filipino moves to LA to connect with his free-spirited older sister by becoming her boss at a high-end gym, it will take the entire wacky staff to prevent her from killing him and help him adjust to life in LA.
Candice Sarangay: Sarangay
A Filipino archaeologist takes on the ancestral duty of being a Sarangay, a mythological protector, to preserve the natural order of the realms against evil forces that intend to expose magic to the real world to use it as their own personal demon playground.
Celena Cipriaso: Death for Dummies
When a twenty-something Filipina loses her best friend in an odd and baffling death, she seeks the help of a death doula to carry out her dead friend’s insane list of last wishes (which includes being buried with her missing cat’s ashes) despite the strong protests of her friend’s very Filipino Catholic family and community.
Eileen Cabiling: Pamilya ("Family")
In 1984, the Reagan era, a Filipina immigrant doctor plays a white man’s game to buy her family their dream home—a plantation in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy—while dealing with a crumbling marriage, an alcoholic brother turned babysitter, and three rebellious young daughters with their own ideas about the American Dream.
Ella Espiritu: Fanatics
An online friend group of comic book nerds must put their heads together to solve a series of murders.
Eric J. De La Rosa: Anjelah!
A middle-aged Latina quits her corporate job to find her spark, but motherhood, marriage, and her loud, lovable, hood-and-hallelujah familia keep turning her “new chapter” into a nonstop comedy of interruptions.
Eugene Ramos: Sons of Witches
A trio of Asian-American men – all sons of witches – must take over the family business of fighting supernatural evil after their mothers are murdered. Unfortunately, they have no powers … except for Cal, a schizophrenic who may be the first male witch in centuries.
Faith Christy Soliven: Marites
In the late 19th-Century Philippines, Estrella Agtarap works for a secret matchmaking network, The Marites Ladies, who circulate gossip about potential male suitors and disrupt arranged courtship, to give women a better chance at love.
Frances Rubio: Avenir
A financially desperate Filipina caregiver is at her breaking point while tending to her mentally ill mother—until a mysterious job interview with an enigmatic AI tech prodigy offers a glimmer of hope. Convinced that the company’s latest prototype could change her abusive mother, she takes the job, only to find herself entangled in a high-stakes power struggle where morality is blurred and she may be the one being programmed for control.
Geri Carillo: SEAMLESS
A Filipina-American teenager unlocks the genuine power to perform psychic surgery, extracting visceral trauma from her patients, but unknowingly feeding an ancient evil.
Hermie Castillo: Love Team
A heartbroken Filipino American actor unexpectedly finds himself thrown into the chaotic world of Philippine showbiz after a viral karaoke performance forces him into an on-screen "love team" with a down-to-earth, fame-hating nurse.
Jaime Estepa: Below El Dorado
When the threat of the Great Depression looms over Stockton in California's Central Valley, Filipino farmworker Andres must find a way to survive as tensions grow amongst the town’s residents – human and supernatural alike.
Jalen Giovanni Jones: Hushpuppy
Two Black New Orleanian sisters—a militant pyromaniac and a white-passing novelist—struggle to keep their agendas secret when their elusive younger brother vanishes to a Philippine fishing village destroyed forty years prior, leading them to discover uncomfortable truths about their disappearing heritage.
Joshua Labata: How To Crowdfund a Funeral
A head-on collision in a Filipino-American community kills the patriarch of one family and the matriarch of another, throwing two immigrant families into an unwitting rivalry as they attempt to crowdfund their funerals.
Joy Regullano: So You Want To Be Korean
Filipino high school junior, Jocelyn de la Cruz, wants more than anything to fit in with the popular crowd at her north Orange County high school -- which, in her mind, means becoming Korean.
Kim Marcelino: Americanistas
Set in 1900 Manila, after America seizes the Philippines, a cunning Filipina matriarch sacrifices everything she believes in to collaborate with her colonizers while her idealistic daughter risks her life to resist them – each convinced she is saving her family.
Nicole Wolf: Honey Nails
When a Filipina entrepreneur and her Vietnamese best friend open a nail salon in Orange County, they must navigate cutthroat competition, financial chaos, and cultural clashes to keep their American Dream from turning into a polished nightmare.
Noël Wiggins: Oh My Gods!
When the typical out-of-touch a**holes who run our government are also the mythological Greek Gods, a neurotic messenger goddess struggles to rebrand their negative image before the fed up mortals finally decide to vote them out for a new religion.
Rebecca Williams Spindler: Eggrolls & Gravy
A bi-racial barely middle-class family in the eighties raise their teenage daughter and her little sister with the annoying yet heartwarming guidance of Asian and Appalachian grandmothers.
Roann Enriquez: Sampaguita
While Mercy battles leukemia at the hospital, her younger sisters - Mary-Ann, Madelyn, and Mikaela - take turns caring for her rebellious preteen daughter, Sam, as they navigate the challenges of womanhood.
Rommel Rojas: Naughty Maids
After finding his secret lover murdered at a client’s house, the queer owner of a failing sexy maid service teams up with his straight best friend to solve the crime one house full of dark secrets at a time.
Stacie Gancayco-Adlao: Malaya
After a lifetime spent suppressing her own dreams out of a deep sense of utang na loob to her family, Mariqueen Roxas, a recently elected Filipina-American district attorney in San Francisco, experiences her first manic break at 38. The intoxicating, transformative, and very public awakening unlocks every desire she's ever buried while threatening to destroy the life and identity she built for everyone but herself.
Teodorico Sajor: MERDE
A chronically ill dancer accepts a full ride to an elite conservatory seeking a fresh start... but when a fellow student descends into unexplained mania, she teams up with her classmates to uncover the source, unaware that something unseen is feeding on them... A psychic vampire.
Walter Boholst: The Zombetween
When a desperate horror writer tries to kickstart his career with black magic he inadvertently creates alternate dimensions based on his stories which unleash zombies into the world and he has to journey with his team into each story to send them all back.
Yasmine Gomez: Fish Head
A newly separated, out-of-work Filipino American city girl returns to her parents’ home and gambles everything on opening a Filipino bakery, where she must convince the conservative locals that her food is just as American as apple pie.
ABOUT FILAM CREATIVE
FilAm Creative (FAC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has served the community since 2010. FAC educates and advocates for the creative community looking for a collaborative workspace in order to achieve greater representation and career advancement. Through educational programs and community events, we empower people to hone their craft, advance their careers, and step into leadership. While rooted in the Filipino-American experience, FilAm Creative welcomes and encourages participants and industry professionals of all backgrounds. 16 years later, FAC stands strong with year-round programming, including the newer annual four-day event - the FilAm Creative Film Festival (FACFF), which recently completed its 4th edition last week, and the FilAm Creative TV Creator Lab.
LINKS:
Photos from the Kickoff Event at Patriot Pictures: kickoff event photos folder
Headshots of the Writers: writer headshots folder
Lookbook of the Writers’ bios, headshots, loglines: lookbook
MEDIA CONTACT:
Prodigy Public Relations