Harvardwood Reveals Writers Competition Winners For Feature And TV Categories; Additional Award Given For Most Staffable TV Writers

Harvardwood announced its Writers Competition winners and award for Most Staffable TV Writers. Now in its 18th year, the renowned competition has experienced exciting growth in submissions to the Feature category.

Notably, last year’s feature winner has returned to win once more with a new project. The TV category is headlined by writers from the Harvardwood Writers Program, which has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic and has expanded its global participation. The writers will be mentored by leading TV and film professionals, read by top producers, and considered for representation at established agencies and management companies.

“We are proud to elevate these talented writers and to build on our track record as a source of and resource to diverse and compelling artists of all experience levels,” says Harvardwood founder Mia Riverton Alpert.

The winners of the Harvardwood Writers Competition in each category are:

FEATURE Category Winner:
Fisher of Men by Anthony Zonfrelli
A self-sabotaging addict navigates an internal transformation, confronting religion, love, sex, and past trauma while settling her drug debt with a merciless loan shark.

TV Category Winner:
King Of The B’s by David Aguilar-Rodríguez & Jamie Holt Aguilar-Rodríguez
In the 1950s Golden Age of Hollywood, ROGER CORMAN––a genius Stanford-educated engineer––is hell-bent on making a name for himself in showbiz. But when the mainstream studios reject him, Roger decides if he can’t make it IN Hollywood, he’ll have to make it AROUND Hollywood… by getting down and dirty in the world of B-movies.

Harvardwood’s Most Staffable Writers: David Aguilar-Rodríguez & Jamie Holt Aguilar-Rodríguez (King Of The B’s). David and Jamie were awarded the additional honor of “Most Staffable Writers” because their TV pilot was incubated in the Harvardwood Writers Program.

These writers were selected by a panel of industry professionals in a blind judging process. Each writer will receive one-on-one mentorship as well as a cash prize.

This year’s mentors include:
Naomi Funabashi (President of Film & Television at Hillman Grad—Beauty & the Beast, The Chi, Wonder) and Chris Salvaterra (Senior Vice President of Original Programming at HBO—American Pie, Gone, The Visitor)

In recent years, participants in the Harvardwood Writers Program and Competition have seen success with pilot sales to ABC, the CW, Disney+, Jim Henson Company, Netflix, Showtime, Sony, Syfy, and TV Land, in addition to blind script deals at ABC Studios and Warner Bros. with Harvardwood writers have been staffed on over two dozen shows to include: Almost Paradise (WGN), American Dad (Fox), Animaniacs (Hulu), Awkwafina is Nora from Queens (Comedy Central), Billions (Showtime), and Bridgerton (Netflix). Participants have secured representation at 3 Arts, Apostle, Benderspink, Brant Rose Agency, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, CAA, Circle of Confusion, Echo Lake, Gersh, ICM, Madhouse Entertainment, Management 360, Mosaic, Original Artists, UTA, WME, and others.

To contact this year’s awardees, and for more information about the Harvardwood Writers Competition and the Harvardwood Writers Program, please contact Laura Yumi Snell, Programs Director, at admin@harvardwood.org.