The Next List |
In partnership with Coverfly and our active network of thousands of industry professionals, The Tracking Board is in an unparalleled position to identify industry trends, showcase the strongest up-and-coming writers across film and television and act as a neutral centerpiece in the marketplace to package projects with producers and support representatives. The third annual The Next List celebrates the writer, their team, and their accomplishments of the previous year as they continue to lay the foundation for an impactful career. Compiled by nominations from managers, agents, and executives, carefully curated by our team, we are thrilled to present 35 selections of emerging writers and filmmakers of varying backgrounds, formats, genres, and styles.
Placement
Representation Status
Official Selections
Official Selection
Glendale, CA
Megan's scripts have received accolades in the Nicholl, PAGE Award, Script Pipeline and Austin Film Festival competitions. She writes action/drama and action/comedy with a side of sci-fi featuring stories of families dealing with mental illness. With an action feature optioned in 2024, she now has one feature, a podcast, a TV series, and a short in ...
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TV Script  · Comedy  · 47 Pages
Two unlikely millennial friends try to navigate life, career goals, and dating while hiding their homelessness from their employers.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, California
Nicole Lipp is an award winning director and writer. She co-founded a production company, AYF Media, where she produces, directs, writes, and edits narrative films, music videos, and branded content. Nicole is a "Founding Daddy" at Not Your Daddy's Films; a social impact organization committed to empowering and educating women and nonbinary filmmake...
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TV Script  · Thriller  · 62 Pages
A super rich (and super sociopathic) man kidnaps a group of women and forces them to play a twisted and deadly real-life version of a reality TV dating show.
Official Selection
Los Angeles, CA
Katerina is an award-winning writer/director based in Los Angeles. She earned an MFA in Film & TV Production from USC and was the Director of Productions at XR Stage, an immersive film studio. Katerina is a 2024 Next List screenwriter, 2025 Russo Brothers Filmmaking grant winner, 2025 Moonshot Feature accelerator fellow, 2024 ScreenCraft Screenw...
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Feature  · Drama  · 115 Pages
A promising teenage boxer struggles for freedom in the grip of her brilliant but unhinged coach.
Official Selection
Los Angeles, CA
Hailing from New York (okay, Long Island), Diana got her start producing chefs and drag queens on reality TV. Yes, she’s been yelled at over pantyhose. She served as the Writers’ Assistant on TELL ME LIES, co-writing an episode on season three , and the Writers’ Assistant on CRUEL SUMMER, co-writing an episode on season two. Diana’s writing focuses ...
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Diana has a clear understanding of her voice, and it shows on the page. She subverts expectations by taking tropes and popular genres and making them her own, immersing the audience in morally gray areas. With her extensive experience and solid portfolio of pilots, she is ready for staffing opportunities and is available for representation.
Geoffroy's Recommendation
Coverfly Director of Development
TV Script  · Thriller  · 52 Pages
An insecure, jaded fashion assistant (with a savage inner monologue) is surprisingly chosen to work alongside her famous Editor-in-Chief, but the brutal realization of why leads her to make a killer choice.
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Official Selection
Colton Childs is a queer writer and cancer survivor who has often been mistaken for a Bed Bath & Beyond employee. He originally hails from a cattle ranch in South Texas and is a graduate of the drama program at Pace University in New York City. His pilot and feature scripts have placed in competitions such as Austin Film Festival, Launch Pad Feature...
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Feature  · Drama  · 110 Pages
Despite their forty-year age gap, and the cancer treatment confining them to their small Texas town, two gay men embark on a road trip to San Francisco to grant themselves the Make-A-Wish they're too old to receive.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, Ca
Madison Vanderberg is currently out with a horror comedy feature that Akiva Goldsman's Weed Road is producing. Previously, she wrote a reboot of the cult comedy "Last American Virgin" for Millennium Films and has worked with producers like Jim Whitaker, Baobab Animation, and Invisible Narratives. Madison had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it stint as a som...
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Feature  · Comedy  · 100 Pages
All hell breaks loose when a famous but notoriously troubled actor announces on a talk show that in less than an hour he’ll turn into a werewolf… all on live TV. It's "Network" meets "Bodies Bodies Bodies."
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Official Selection
Nashville, TN
Briana was born and raised in Tullahoma, TN — a town inexplicably found on state maps. (It just got a Publix!) She is the oldest of seven children and a first-generation academic with degrees in cognitive linguistics, Japanese language, and speech-language pathology. In 2019, she became a fellow with the TN Playwrights Studio and has been writing s...
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Feature  · Sci-fi  · 101 Pages
In a bedazzled, 90s retro-tinged dystopian society, a low-level bureaucrat makes a mistake on the job and gets forcibly enrolled in a life-threatening medical trial that makes her question her loyalties.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, California
Since Ivan Mooh Mooh immigrated to America from Cameroon, West Africa at eight, he’s been familiar with violence: whether in his domestic abuse riddled household, or in the United States Marine Corps he joined at seventeen. Ivan writes about power: his stories being centered on familial and military dramas, with the occasional war epic in between...
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Ivan, a former Marine turned USC MFA screenwriter, explores complex power dynamics through masterful storytelling. His psychological thriller "Insanity in Islamabad" earned him a coveted spot on the 2024 Tracking Board's Next List, showcasing his ability to transform challenging personal experiences into compelling narratives that subvert audience expectations. His military background and academic training combine to create stories that are both authentic and cinematically sophisticated, demonstrating a unique voice that resonates in today's market. He is available for representation.
Geoffroy's Recommendation
Coverfly Director of Development
Feature  · Action  · 127 Pages
Damson Worthington is an Infantry officer in the Marine Corps. When a USMC officer gets killed in Zshaboombi, Africa: Damson and his unit deploy there to hunt those responsible.
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Official Selection
Cheadle, Cheshire, GB
Fell into investigative journalism through screenwriting. Previously helped produce the BAFTA-winning FOUR LIONS (2010), the Emmy/BAFTA-winning doc, LEAVING NEVERLAND (2019), as well as THE DAY SHALL COME (2019) and IN THE SHADOW OF 9/11 (2021). I also work as a researcher for documentaries and dramas such as HBO's SUCCESSION (2015), Netflix's T...
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TV Script  · Thriller  · 64 Pages
In the insular community of traitors and fugitives hiding out in Cuba, an American spy is reunited with his estranged daughter, whose fugitive boyfriend wants to defect.
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Official Selection
  • Verified WGA Member
Los Angeles, CA
Danielle is an actual valley girl and former theatre kid/band geek/ballerina whose writing has been described as "joyful but deadly serious." She most recently had two episodes of Krapopolis (FOX) air in April and October respectively. Previously she worked on The Simpsons (FOX), where her episode was nominated for a WGA Award in Animation. Daniell...
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A self-proclaimed theatre kid/band geek/ballerina, Danielle writes joke-heavy female-focused scripts that weave in elements of fantasy and surrealism. While she cut her teeth in the world of animation writing on Krapopolis and The Simpsons, her comedy work transcends formats and genres by infusing real-life inspired elements of tragedy to tell stories that make you laugh and rethink the human condition at the same time. She is available for representation and ready to staff.
Geoffroy's Recommendation
Coverfly Director of Development
TV Script  · Animated  · 27 Pages
When workaholic Jenny is dumped by her best friend and fired in the same week, she goes home, spiraling, and learns all the inanimate objects in her apartment are alive and have a lot to say about her life. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend meets Beauty And The Beast.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, California
Growing up in Washington, D.C., you could find Naki playing soccer against the daughter of the President of the United States or draining her mom's printer ink to "publish" books. Wearing a back brace throughout grade school gave her a straight spine and a passion for creating underdog protagonists in her stories. Naki writes hard-funny family a...
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Drama writer turned sketch comedy writer, Naki tackles heavy, personal topics such as death, classism, and human rights, all while wrapping them in a warm blanket that provides a light, digestible, and relatable escape from from life's harsh realities. She began her career in sketch comedy and late-night television, drawing inspiration from sitcoms like That’s So Raven. With aspirations of showrunning, Naki has gained experience at The Tonight Show, Comedy Central, Paramount, and the Hillman Grad Program. She’s also fresh off a sold-out staged reading of her multi-cam pilot, Charm City Bastards, starring Jackée Harry (227, Sister, Sister) and Angel Laketa Moore (A Black Lady Sketch Show, Churchy). Now, Naki is eager to take the next step in her career, seeking representation and staffing opportunities. You can watch the staged reading here: https://youtu.be/AWMfE4qUJqU?si=zBJcfzdfhDEAMXV7
Delenn's Recommendation
Coverfly Development Coordinator
TV Script  · Comedy  · 31 Pages
After an unplanned pregnancy from a one-night stand, a Black and Christian Stanford alumna and a Pakistani Muslim rapper navigate their clashing religions, personalities, and overbearing families to co-parent peacefully—or risk losing each other, breaking up their families, and raising one more fucked up human.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, CA
As a recovering student athlete (Equestrian) (yes, she is a horse girl), and now a writer/actor based in Los Angeles, Matilda finds herself sharing stories filled with a little bit of magic and a whole lot of heartbreak. Matilda hopes to give voice to women who have maybe been told to quiet down one too many times -- and maybe in the process, make...
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Feature  · Drama  · 118 Pages
A young horse trader finds herself entangled in the world a of secluded West Texas Cattle Ranch, navigating the desires of its inhabitants, both human and animal, while trying to honor her own secret motivations for being there in the first place...
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Official Selection
  • Verified WGA Member
Pasadena, California
Moving from Cuba to Montego Bay Jamaica to end up in L.A. sure set the stage for Alix's wild imagination. What began as writing Reddit front page horror for No Sleep, to scripts winning at Austin Film Festival, Flicker Rhodes Island, and Final Draft's Big Break, turned into selling scripts to Lifetime and being in preproduction on her first feature...
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Alix's is one of the rare writers and creators who can effortlessly navigate between formats, leveraging her strong point of view and unique voice in the horror/thriller space to craft marketable concepts and memorable characters. A produced WGA writer, she has a ton of momentum and recently took dozens of meetings with executives and producers as one of the winners of the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Competition. She has projects in various stages of development and pre-production and she is ready to hit the ground running, selling specs and working on OWAs. She is available for representation.
Geoffroy's Recommendation
Coverfly Director of Development
TV Script  · Thriller  · 58 Pages
A single mom morgue-tech uncovers a pharmaceutical drug smuggling ring using John Doe cadavers for transport. She joins the ring, expanding operations into an underground human organ exchange empire.
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Official Selection
Queens, NY
Gilani Sumida-Moiseff (she/her) is a screenwriter from Honolulu, Hawaii. She began her career as a Location Department production assistant on the O’ahu, Hawaii sets of Kong: Skull Island. She then continued her career in episodic television and feature films on shows like Hawaii 5-0, Snatched, God Friended Me, FBI: Most Wanted, Only Murders in the...
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TV Script  · Horror  · 60 Pages
A high school theater star taps into the darkest corners of her psyche to protect herself from the wrath of a sadistic, ultra-wealthy classmate and as a result, her possession ignites a chain of uncanny events that unravel her family and world, revealing an unsettling origin story. A psychological horror thriller, set in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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Official Selection
Pasadena, CA
Krystal Dinsberg is a Black Native comedy writer with scripts showcasing how a "mess" becomes a message. Her stories of diverse ensembles explore relatable experiences in adulting with a modern spin on the heartfelt classic sitcom. With an imagination sparking from an early age due to many travels in an Air Force family and an early love for comedy...
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Krystal Dinsberg is a Black Native comedy TV writer who, inspired from her upbringing as a child of Air Force officers, writes scripts exploring reinvention, identity, and relationship dynamics. With a passion for unity and racial equality, Krystal tells lighthearted stories of diverse ensembles. Leaving behind a career as an HR Business Consultant to pursue writing full-time, Krystal’s credits now include shows for Lionsgate TV, Hallmark, as well as Associate Producer on THE VOICE Seasons 19 & 20 (NBC), Writers’ Assistant for the iconic reboot of THE GAME Season 1 (Paramount +), and currently as the Writers' Assistant for an upcoming Season 2 rom-com television project (Amazon). All of these accomplishments compounded with a current position in the 2022 Women in Film Mentorship program, Krystal is primed for staffing & representation.
Namrata's Recommendation
Coverfly Writer Development Team
TV Script  · Comedy  · 32 Pages
An arrogant viral social media star loses his “15 minutes of fame” and attempts to maintain a façade with his unsuspecting roommates who trust him with the fate of their careers.
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Official Selection
Liana Tsang Cohen is a writer from New York City. She currently lives in LA, where she is the Showrunner's Assistant on Apple TV+'s SHRINKING, starring Harrison Ford and Jason Segel, and BAD MONKEY, starring Vince Vaughn. Her pilot, SEAKILL, was selected as a winner in the 2024 WeScreenplay Pilot Lab. Her fiction and nonfiction has appeared in Appal...
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Liana is a talented TV writer with a gift for crafting immersive stories. Her journey began at Princeton, writing for a late-night comedy show, where she fell in love with seeing her words performed. This passion led her through roles at a publishing company and a literary management firm, giving her a deep understanding of the industry. Now, as a showrunner’s assistant to Bill Lawrence, she’s honing her craft even further. Liana excels at creating rich, often aspirational worlds, like the unique setting of her project SEAKILL. Coming from a biracial family of Chinese immigrants and Jewish Midwesterners, she’s especially drawn to characters who navigate the tension between different worlds, whether cultural, professional, or personal. She has a knack for making every detail feel authentic and lived-in while keeping her characters grounded and complex. As a former city kid with a deep love for nature and the urgent questions surrounding its future she’s also drawn to environmental themes and strong female characters who defy societal norms. With a distinctive voice and a keen eye for nuance, Liana is a writer who brings depth and authenticity to every project. She’d be a fantastic addition to any writers' room!
Neha's Recommendation
Coverfly Story Analyst
TV Script  · Drama  · 56 Pages
When an ambitious deep sea diver returns to her hometown in Alaska for a mysterious mission, local politics, a love triangle, and environmental disaster lead her past to resurface in more ways than one.
This is a small town drama with an intriguing atmosphere elevated by the underlying mysteries of the sea and the scuba divers who unearth them. The complex character dynamics and the question of what may be lurking below the surface will keep viewers hooked.
Aleksandra's Recommendation
Coverfly Story Analyst
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Official Selection
New York, NY
Chas is a NY-based filmmaker with a strong propensity for stylish visuals and dark ironic humor. After attending two of the best art schools known to mankind and spending years as an advertising creative director and designer while also writing specs and shooting his own unique shorts, Chas is now fully pivoting to writing and directing features due...
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Feature  · Thriller  · 125 Pages
After impulsively killing a delinquent armed robber during a late-night stick up, a hapless downtown LA corner store owner must now contend with the perp’s murderous ex-con father and a crooked LAPD Lieutenant in order to keep both his life and life-savings from ending up in their greedy paws.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, CA
Sara Kimura is a Japanese Mexi-Rican comedy writer who escaped a religious cult only to join an even more unhinged cult - the TV industry. Naturally, Sara now writes offbeat coming-of-age comedies about fish-out-of-water characters at odds with their environments. As a pseudo-mom to teen siblings, Sara also gravitates toward stories about chaotic fa...
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Sara is a TV writer with an exceptionally diverse background and a captivating life story, making her an excellent addition to any writers' room. With experience in multiple shows and two prestigious fellowships, she is poised to become the industry's next writer to watch. Her voice resonates strongly on the page, and her brand is unmistakable: she can dissect any situation and cleverly subvert expectations to convey powerful messages through comedy. She is currently available for representation, but it won't be long before Hollywood takes notice of her talent.
Geoffroy's Recommendation
Coverfly Director of Development
TV Script  · Drama  · 35 Pages
A naive church intern realizes the only way to fulfill her dream of being a minister at her cult-y, misogynistic church is to sacrifice her morals and seduce her nemesis, the lead minister’s son.
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Official Selection
New York, NY
Callie Chiang is a third generation Chinese-Texan screenwriter whose journey of self discovery led her on a mission to tell the hidden, forgotten stories she found to the world. Her writing serves a dual purpose: to entertain while offering profound insights into our society and the complexities of the human experience. Her writing has landed he...
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Current Writers' Assistant on a Shondaland/Netflix limited series and recent Mentorship Matters alumn, Callie Chiang, comes with an impressive resume - having previous experiences as a Writer's Assistant for Amazon, HBO, Netflix, and First Look Media respectively, as well as a Script Coordinator credit on Law & Order: Organized Crime. As a multiracial woman born to one of the only Chinese-American men in her small Texas town, Callie has never fit into a mold. She aims to tell stories that inspire and educate audiences, helping those who don't fit the mold feel a bit more understood while drawing attention to the inherent connection we all share with one another, no matter how seemingly different we are. Callie is looking for representation and her first staffing position.
Delenn's Recommendation
Coverfly Development Coordinator
TV Script  · Animated  · 30 Pages
In the near future when climate change-induced conflict brings the planet on the brink of another World War, America prepares to launch its most deadly weapon: superhuman soldiers bred from Imperial Japan's Unit 731.
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Official Selection
Los Angeles, CA
Allison Mick is a comedy writer turned horror-comedy writer from the Great Lakes. Allison's writing elevates genre storytelling through an intersectional lens, while retaining what makes genre fun. She draws from her upbringing and personal experiences to address super serious topics like mixed-race identity and gender, as well as fun stuff like fo...
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Short Story  · Horror  · 11 Pages
A coming of age story about a professional lab rat and owner of an immortal cell line used for biomedical research (like Henrietta Lacks, but with equity) and how it consumes the planet.
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