Inevitable Foundation Announces 2023 Accelerate Fellows

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Inevitable Foundation Announces 2023 Accelerate Fellows

Social Impact

26 October 2023

United States

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Inevitable Foundation, a non-profit that invests in disabled creatives so they can achieve artistic and financial freedom, has announced its 2023 Accelerate Fellows.

Inevitable Foundation's Accelerate Fellowship is supported by an exclusive, multi-year commitment from Netflix's Fund for Creative Equity, and gives mid and upper-level disabled writers the funding, mentorship, connections, and community they need to become industry-leading creators. The year-long program offers $40,000 grants along with business and writing support to help fellows develop and sell their own content. The expanded program includes additional mentorship opportunities with industry experts and creatives, access to health insurance, and expanded educational and community programming, including guidance on IP acquisition.

The organization has selected Jenn Lloyd, Marc Muszynski and Sheridan O'Donnell as its 2023 Accelerate Fellows. All three were previously selected as members of Elevate Collective, Inevitable's professional development program for disabled screenwriters, a decision that reflects the robust pipeline of disabled screenwriters that Inevitable Foundation is building with their interconnected programs. The winners join previously awarded Accelerate Fellows Monica Lucas, David Dineen-Porter, Sam Dunnewold, Anton Ray, Shaina Ghuraya, Greg Machlin, Aoife Baker, Kalen Feeney and Shani Am. Moore.

We couldn't be more excited to welcome Jenn, Marc, and Sheridan to the Accelerate Fellowship, said Inevitable Foundation co-founders Richie Siegel and Marisa Torelli-Pedevska. The Fellowship is laser-focused on investing in disabled creatives to speed up their path towards becoming high-level creators. We are thrilled to welcome the first two legally blind Fellows to the program who hail from a segment of the disability community whose stories are so essential in such a visual artistic medium.

Since launching in 2021, Inevitable Foundation has supported over 75 disabled writers, filmmakers and podcasters via its Accelerate Fellowship, Elevate Collective, Elevate for Podcasters, and Emergency Relief Fund, and facilitated hundreds of thousands of dollars in earnings for disabled screenwriters through its Concierge.

Lloyd, Muszynski and O'Donnell all bring their unique experiences to the program.

A headshot of a white woman in her mid-40s with short blonde hair and a silver lip ring. Photo Credit: Jim Kleckner

Jenn Lloyd (she/her) is a New Jersey-born comedy writer who enjoys writing badass female characters and hard jokes. While working as an NBC Page, she was set up on a bad blind date with her writing partner, Kevin Bonani. Fortunately, while it wasnt love at first sight, it was a comedy match made in heaven. Jenn has over 12 years of experience writing network sitcoms and family comedies, including The War at Home, Shake It Up, KC Undercover, and The Barbarian and The Troll. Jenn and Kevin are repped by Rob Kim and Daniel Perry at Buchwald.

Headshot of a red-haired man in his 30s. He has chestnut eyes and short red facial hair, and he's wearing a dark gray button-up shirt.

Marc Muszynski (he/him) is a writer and comedian who, despite being visually impaired, once convinced someone to let him fly an airplane. He loves barbecue, history podcasts and being the optimist in the escape room. Along with his writing partner, Alexandra Franklin, Marc is currently a producer on an upcoming Showtime series. Previous credits include Dexter: New Blood (Showtime), Abby's (NBC) and Polly Pocket (Netflix). Marc and Alex have also developed original projects with Disney, Sony and Fifth Season, and are repped by Chelsea Connors at Mosaic.

A headshot of an early 30s Korean American man with medium-length curly, brown hair, dark glasses, and a pierced ear stares into camera with a faint smile. Photo credit: Ryan Booth

Sheridan O'Donnell (he/him) is a Texas-born, Korean-American writer and director whose work explores family, identity, and human connection through character-driven stories that seamlessly balances catharsis and humor. His debut feature film Little Brother stars J.K. Simmons, Daniel Diemer, and Philip Ettinger, and took home the Audience Award at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival. He is currently directing a follow-up to the Emmy Award winning documentary feature Rising Phoenix, produced in partnership by Harder Than You Think and P&G Studios. The film is being co-produced by Ventureland (The Deepest Breath), and executive produced by Jim LeBrecht (Crip Camp), and seeks to ignite a global conversation surrounding disability. He is represented by CAA, Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, and Whalar Talent.

Inevitable Foundation is also excited to report on the progress of its existing Accelerate fellows.

Kalen Feeney ( 21 Fellow) was most recently staffed on Ava DuVernay's romantic drama series at STARZ, which Lauren Ridloff is set to star in and executive produce. Shani Am. Moore ( 21 Fellow) is continuing her work on Yield, a show created by Kyle Baugher, showrun by Dave Erickson, and produced by Taylor Sheridan, now that the WGA strike has concluded. The show is poised to premiere on Showtime/Paramount +, and features a semi-blind main character. Shaina Ghuraya ( 21 Fellow) also continued her work as an animation writer on Season 6 of Polly Pocket for WildBrain following the work stoppage.

About Inevitable Foundation Inevitable Foundation is a non-profit that invests in disabled writers and filmmakers so they can achieve artistic and financial freedom and use film and television to destigmatize disability and mental health globally.

Disabled people make up 20%+ of the population but represent less than 1% of writer

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