press release - CAPE – The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in

For Immediate Release
April 14, 2015
Contact​
:
Hana Kwon ​
[email protected]
323.379.4509
THE THIRD ANNUAL CAPE NEW WRITERS FELLOWSHIP
Nine Fellows Complete An Intensive 11-Session Program Led by Top Industry Leaders
Los Angeles, CA​
– CAPE (The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) completed its third annual CAPE New
Writers Fellowship. The Fellowship furthers CAPE’s mission to champion diversity by educating, connecting, and
empowering Asian American & Pacific Islander artists and leaders in entertainment and media.
On April 7, 2015 at a ceremony held at Ca’Del Sole, North Hollywood, sponsored by NBC Universal, Warner Bros.,
Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Final Draft, and The Writers Guild of America, West, the Fellows were honored
for their completion of the 11-session, 6-week program and received $1,000 cash stipends as well as the latest
version of the Final Draft screenwriting software.
This year’s Fellows were: ​
Tiffany Shaw Ho, Teresa Huang, Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt, Kevin Lau, Eliza Lee, Eugene
Ramos, Marisa Tam, ​
and ​
Julie Wong​
.
The CAPE New Writers Fellowship is designed to nurture emerging film and TV writers through intimate workshops
and writing labs to help them become the voices that create future positive portrayals of Asian American & Pacific
Islanders in film, television, and digital media.
Led by top industry writers, producers, agents and executives, the Fellowship is co-chaired by Steve Tao (television
executive, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot) and Leo Chu (EP/Creator, “Supah Ninjas,” “Afro Samurai”). The sessions also
include writing labs, in which Fellows revise their scripts under the mentorship of high-level industry professionals.
“As incoming Executive Director, I was so impressed with this program and with the caliber of this year’s Fellows,”
said Michelle K. Sugihara, CAPE’s Executive Director. “I’m very proud that Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt staffed on
“Reign” during the Fellowship, and I look forward to many more success stories for all of our Fellows.”
"In three short years, the number of applicants to the CAPE New Writers Fellowship has tripled, and the number of
Fellows getting representation and work has grown,” added CNWF Co-Chair and CAPE Board Member Steve Tao. “As
a non-profit, CAPE's reputation for developing and preparing new writers is unparalleled, and our numbers prove it."
The CAPE New Writers Fellowship is an evolution of the CAPE New Writers Awards, which has identified emerging
Asian American & Pacific Islander talent for the past 14 years. The Fellows were selected from a diverse and record
number of applicants by entertainment industry writers, producers, executives, agents, and managers.
As a reflection of the enormous success of last year’s program, ALL of the 2014 TV Fellows are currently employed on
existing TV shows as staff writers or script coordinators. Success stories include TV staff writers ​
Helen Shang​
(NBC’s
“Hannibal”), ​
Frederick Kim​
(USA’s “Complications”), ​
Thomas Wong​
(FOX’s “Backstrom”), ​
Aaron Ho​
(Disney’s “Austin
& Ally”), ​
Ken Cheng​
(Amazon’s “Betas”), and ​
Leonard Chang​
(FX’s “Justified”); script coordinators ​
Nikhil Jayaram
(NBC’s “Allegiance”) and ​
Christopher Wu​
(Amazon’s “Bosch”); and screenwriter ​
Alice Wu​
(Sony Classics’ SAVING
FACE).
For more information, visit ​
www.capeusa.org
About CAPE
CAPE (The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) was founded in 1991 as an organization to support AAPI’s in
the entertainment industry. Since then, it has grown to become the longest-running, largest, and most influential
non-profit for AAPI’s in the entertainment and media industry. Today, our Board of Directors is comprised of 18
distinguished industry professionals and is supported by an Advisory Council consisting of Ang Lee, John Woo, Dean
Devlin and David Henry Hwang, amongst others. CAPE continues the mission of its Founders to champion diversity by
educating, connecting, and empowering Asian American & Pacific Islander artists and leaders in entertainment and
media.
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