Scripted Series Lab Mentors 2026
Announcing our 2026 Scripted Series Lab mentors! These talented and generous showrunners are working one-on-one with our cohort to help each of them refine their own pilot scripts. This is an integral and invaluable part of our program as it helps writers polish their personal projects, deepen industry connections, and hone their craft.
The Mentors & Mentees
Sonja Bennett and Brenna Kwon
Sonja Benentt is supporting Brenna Kwon through the next revision of her gritty dystopian teen drama pilot.
Sonja made her writing debut with the feature film Preggoland (directed by Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney). For television, Sonja has written on several shows including Kim’s Convenience for CBC (Leo Award win for Best Screenwriting in a Comedy), Letterkenny for Crave/Hulu (nominated for a WGC Award for Best Screenwriting in a Comedy; three-time Leo Award winner for Best Screenwriting in a Comedy), Ghost Wars, Hudson and Rex, The Murders, and Family Law for Global/CW (nominated for a WGC Award for Best Screenwriting in a Drama; three-time nominee and one-time Leo Award winner for Best Screenwriting in a Drama). She is currently a Co-Executive Producer and writer on Private Eyes: West Coast and Season Three of FOX’s Murder in a Small Town.
Rachel Langer and James Howells
James Howells’ coming of age dramedy thriller enjoys the attention of Rachel Langer as James gives his pilot another round of polish.
Rachel Langer is a screenwriter for dramatic television. She recently served as writer and executive producer on the critically acclaimed hit drama Transplant for CTV/NBC. Additional credits include the hit CBC/Netflix series North of North (Netflix), The Order (Netflix), Ghost Wars (SYFY), The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco and This Life (CBC). Rachel writes and produces independent short films, is an avid gamer and a published essayist.
Michael MacLennan and Lucia Frangione
As a fellow playwright, Michael MacLennan was a natural fit as a mentor for Lucia Frangione as she works on her hour-long action packed dramatic series.
Vancouver-born Michael MacLennan has been nominated seven times for the Writers Guild of Canada Canadian Screenwriting Award, and received the WGC’s 2018 Showrunner of the Year Award. A producer of nearly 300 episodes, his credits include Co-Executive Producer of Queer As Folk, creator and EP of Godiva’s, Co-EP on Flashpoint, Bitten, and Freeform’s hit series The Fosters. He co-created and show-ran Bomb Girls, twice nominated for Best Series by the Canadian Screen Awards and honoured as Outstanding Dramatic Series by the US Gracie Awards. He has written multiple pilot scripts for CBS and ABC and served as Executive Producer and Showrunner of Omnifilm Entertainment’s BritBox/ITV series The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco. Most recently, he created for Netflix Tiny Pretty Things, which was their number-one series worldwide for fourteen days.
Will Pascoe and Jongyoon (Greg) Choi
We think Will’s going to enjoy mentoring as Greg dives back into his series of sibling drama infused with underworld crime elements.
Will Pascoe was recently Co-Executive Producer of Peacock and NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime. Previous to that, he was the EP and Showrunner for the third season of Netflix’s hit series, Absentia. Other credits include Hulu’s Shut Eye, NBC’s Chicago Med, and Starz’s Da Vincini’s Demons. While working as writer and co-producer on Bell/BBC America’s Orphan Black, his episode “Variations Under Domestication” earned Will a Writers’ Guild Award and nominations for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and a Hugo Award. A graduate of the Writer’s Guild of America’s prestigious Showrunner Training Program, Will has developed television series for Fox, Sony, Playtone and Universal Studios and is currently developing his spy thriller series, Entangled, with the producers of Apple TV’s Pluribus.
Naren Shankar and Richard Young
Naren Shankar should feel right at home mentoring Richard Young, as Richard continues to work on his drama apocalyptic exploration of weaponized fantasy.
A former engineer with a PhD in Applied Physics & Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, Naren Shankar began his career as a writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation. As EP/Co-Showrunner of the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, he received multiple Emmy nominations for Best Series, and a WGA Award nomination for CSI’s two-hour event “Grave Danger” directed by Quentin Tarantino. Naren was EP/Showrunner of the acclaimed science fiction series The Expanse, and is currently an EP on God of War, an adaption of the Sony Playstation game franchise for Amazon. His credits include For All Mankind, Farscape, and The Outer Limits.
Damon Vignale and Ryan Bright
We’re sure Damon Vignale’s mentorship will be much appreciated by Ryan Bright as he continues to work on his dramedy about a high achiever who suffers an embarrassing and public send down back to his hometown roots.
Damon Vignale is known for his work on the hit crime-drama series Motive, the Emmy nominated 19-2, and the critically acclaimed series Blackstone. He was creator-showrunner of The Murders for City TV. His crime documentary The Exhibition received numerous accolades including a 2014 International Emmy Award and Canadian Screen Award. Most recently, Damon was a co-executive producer and writer on the CBC series Allegiance.