The Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project offers talented military veteran writers an opportunity to explore the art and craft of writing for film and television, with the ultimate goal of completing a feature-length screenplay or TV pilot and preparing the vets for meaningful employment opportunities within the industry. We accomplish this through a yearlong program consisting of an intensive Weekend Retreat that kicks off the program, followed by a weekly “Basic Course” class where participants learn the fundamentals of screenwriting, and then monthly meetings and workshops for the remainder of the time. Throughout the program, veteran participants are paired with film and television writers enrolled in the Writers Guild of America who mentor them along the way, and at the end of the program, the veterans pitch their finished projects to agents, producers, and other industry professionals during an event called “Pitch Night”.
60-80 participants are selected for the program each year from a typical applicant pool of 400-500. Application review takes place over at least four rounds where program staff and qualified volunteers evaluate each application and score them based on a shared rubric. Generally, strong applicants demonstrate a foundational understanding of the craft, a strong work ethic, a collaborative attitude, and a passion/talent for writing. All applicants must be U.S. military veterans.
With their application, participants submit three loglines detailing possible projects that they will work on with their mentor. Upon acceptance into the program and with the guidance of their mentor, they select one logline to flesh out into a feature-length screenplay or television pilot. This selection typically takes place during the Weekend Retreat where the participants and mentors meet for the first time.
Following the Retreat is the Basic Course, where participants learn fundamentals of screenwriting like character and dialogue, script formatting, and industry etiquette over the course of eight to ten weeks. They are taught by the mentors. Our mentors are comprised of WGA-enrolled writers who are veterans, who work on shows centered around military themes, and/or former program alumni who are now professional writers. Some of our mentors include Brian Anthony (Army Wives, The Night Shift), April Fitzsimmons (Chicago Justice, Valor), TJ Brady (Shooter, Narcos, Animal Kingdom), Megan Ferrell-Burke (Manhattan), Nick Jones Jr. (Casual), and Aaron Carew (Taken). Because our group of mentors are professional writers themselves, our participants learn directly from professionals and gain an understanding of screenwriting and the entertainment industry that is unique to this program.
After the Basic Course, writers and mentors meet virtually on a monthly basis to continue developing participants’ projects. Throughout this part of the program, additional guest speakers and lectures may be scheduled that focus on topics like pitching, industry representation, and writing room support staff roles. Past guest speakers include writers, agents, executives, and other entertainment industry professionals. These guest speakers differ from year to year.
This program culminates in Pitch Night, an event where participants meet with agents, managers, and other industry professionals to pitch their finished screenplay or television pilot. Participants use the skills they learned over the course of the program to pitch their work. Many of the industry professionals in attendance request to see more of the participants’ work following Pitch Night; at the 2022 Pitch Night, for example, more than half of the participants received these requests.
Over the Veterans Writing Project’s eleven years, more than four hundred veterans have graduated from the program. Alumni have gone on to have successful screenwriting careers, writing on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Justice, Narcos, Manifest, Army Wives, The Night Shift, Valor, Shooter, Casual, Animal Kingdom, Proven Innocent, Manhattan, Taken, and others. Notable alumni include writers such as Vincent “Rocco” Vargas who starred on Mayans M.C. and wrote an episode after completing this program; Onitra Johnson who rapidly ascended from Writers’ Assistant to Staff Writer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds after her 2021 graduation; and Jalysa Conway (9-1-1: Lone Star) and Rebecca Murga (Swagger) who are currently developing an ROTC television show with Spike Lee for Amazon Studios.
