THE PROGRAM
Led by Amy Nuñez and Gracie Flores, the Writers’ Incubator offers five BIPOC filmmakers the opportunity to bring their ideas to life, providing them with the resources and mentorship needed to develop and produce their original short films/TV pilot. This 10-week intensive program immerses emerging filmmakers in the indie filmmaking process, from writers' workshops to pitch deck creation and crowdfunding strategy. By empowering them to actively nurture their creative drive, the program aims to break down barriers to entry in the film industry, encouraging filmmakers to boldly carve their own path.
Get to know our Cycle One cohort below!
MEET THE
COHORT
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Emily Li
PROJECT TITLE: WHEN WAIPO VISITS
Emily Li is an LA-based writer/director, raised in Northern California and Hangzhou, China. She is passionate about exploring complex family dynamics through drama and comedy. Emily also co-founded Arteur Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering AAPI creatives.
Marian Fragoso
PROJECT TITLE: CANCIONES PARA INTROVERTIDES
Marian Fragoso Basauri is a Writer/Director from Tijuana, Mexico, based in New York City, USA. As a real lover and constant dreamer, they use film as a way to imagine people in their communities as well-rounded individuals who can live beyond the lens of an oppressive system. Often opting for slice-of-life films, they choose to celebrate tenderness over trauma while still dealing with themes of loneliness, home, gender, and family. Marian is currently finishing a film festival run for their film Fruits and Veggies that Help Your Projections, a fiction short inspired by their experiences with fatphobia in the household.
Aissata Bah
PROJECT TITLE: BOOK CLUB
Aissata is an aspiring dramedy writer that gravitates towards ordinary worlds with brave and imperfect characters that dare marginalized people to be their most messy selves. She is seeking friends, the meaning of life, love, and kinship, and TV writers’ room roles.
Grace Fang
PROJECT TITLE: THE VIRGIN AGENDA
Grace is a Master’s student in Applied Psychology at USC and a UCLA alum. She was formerly a Producer, Director, and Actor in the LCC Theatre Company at UCLA. She hopes to use her storytelling as a means for fostering empathy and bringing underrepresented perspectives to the big screen! She loves all things horror, coming of age, and animation. When she’s not watching films and updating her Letterboxd, she’s going to anime conventions with her friends or collecting Knick-Knacks!
Nicole Klein
PROJECT TITLE: LA MORDIDA
Nicole Alejandra Klein is a Texas-born, New York City-based multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her work explores the intersection of religion, the occult, internet subcultures, and girlhood, weaving surrealism, fantasy, darkness, and beauty into compelling visual narratives. Drawing from the folktales and fairytales of her childhood, Nicole develops intricate visual languages influenced by Mexican Catholicism, Americana, digital spaces, and gothic horror.
Blending analog and digital processes, Nicole’s practice embraces traditional mythology, transforming it into contemporary meditations on identity, nostalgia, and the surreal.
PROGRAM LED BY
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Amy Nuñez
Amy is a Peruvian-American writer and cinematographer based in Los Angeles. She’s always been a creative at heart—whether she’s behind a camera, journaling her thoughts, or just admiring the little details of the world around her. She earned her B.S. in Business Marketing and B.A. in Theater, Film, and Digital Production from UC Riverside, where she won the award for Best Cinematography. Now, she works at the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), an organization whose mission is to discover, promote, and inspire diverse creatives. There she assists on signature programs like the Diverse Women in Media Forum, the NALIP Media Summit, and the STARZ Writers’ Intensive. Witnessing and taking part in the organization's mission, she is guided to do the same in her creative work.
Through her stories and her art of creating ethereal visuals, she hopes to defy narratives, build representation on and off screen, and shed light on stories of healing, love, and family complexities. More than anything, she loves connecting with people—whether that’s through her work or simply creating a space where creatives can learn, grow, and make cool things together.
Gracie Flores
Gracie is a Mexican-American writer, director, and cinematographer from Los Angeles and currently based in New York. Writing and directing her own films since high school, she has self-taught herself the ins and outs of indie filmmaking—from producing, to marketing, to editing. Marketing her no-budget short-films on TikTok, she gained massive followings and support from people all over the world. Altogether, her films hold over 1.5 million views on Youtube.
She earned her B.A. in Film & Media Studies from Columbia University and has worked on a number of student shorts as a Director of Photography.
Her love for quiet, contemplative cinema from directors such as Krzysztof Kieślowski and Céline Sciamma deeply inspires her work, which tends to deal with stories about queerness, love, and family relationships.
Currently, Gracie is working on writing her very first feature film.