September 22, 2026
National Hispanic Media Coalition Announces Its Annual
Series Scriptwriters Program Cohort
This Latino Heritage Month, Latine voices will be amplified through building community, the legacy of storytelling, and industry opportunities
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) announced its latest cohort of participants exclusively with Variety for its 2026 Series Scriptwriters Program (SSP) cohort.
This year's cohort kicked off their program by hearing words of celebration and encouragement from Barbara Muschietti last night, producer of the blockbuster hits It (2017), It: Chapter Two (2019), The Flash (2023) and the acclaimed HBO Original Series It: Welcome to Derry. Barbara shared with the cohort this evening, “You know, we all live in this country that sometimes distracts us or makes it difficult to really be in touch with who you are, because sometimes it's just easier to blend in. But that's not the essence of who we are. So I think part of being Latino and part of being in this incredible program is to dig deep into who you are…”
Talented Latine writers from all over the country have been selected through a rigorous selection process to begin an eight-week long intensive with industry professionals to guide them and hone their talent. Writers will meet daily to develop an original half-hour or hour-long pilot for television. Writers will meet with expert writers, and hiring talent along their journey, concluding scripts reviewed by development entertainment executives including those from NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company.
For 24 years, the NHMC Series Scriptwriters Program has been a powerful launchpad for Latine storytellers, supporting 200+ writers' understanding of the entertainment industry and providing free tools from end-to-end to fill a much needed gap. One of the key needs many Latino writers seek is community, and the SSP drives this point home from the beginning of the program. NHMC celebrates its success by highlighting the many alumni who have taken their lessons, and uplifted their fellow Latino writers as a result.
NHMC President and CEO Brenda Castillo summed up the overall feeling of the night, “To all of the incredible writers who are joining us, this is a moment for all of them to celebrate becoming a part of a family. NHMC’s message is simple: connect, collaborate, and create, and there is perhaps no better place to embody that message than right here. The true power of writing is to bring people together, to start conversations, and to make us feel something deeply. And that is what this program has been doing for more than two decades.”
Alumni of the program have proceeded to work on some of today’s most prominent shows including AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, CBS’ Matlock, NBC’s Chicago Fire, and Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest, the upcoming reboot of Bewitched.
Partners of the NHMC SSP program include Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo, The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, Golden Globes Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts & Culture, Google, Every Page Foundation, Motion Pictures Association, the California Community Foundation, T-Mobile, the Writers Guild of America West, and Wrapbook.
The cohort of participants for the 2026 Series Scriptwriters Program includes:
For full biographies and headshots of this year’s participants, please click on the following link: [LINK]
For more information about National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Series Scriptwriters Program, visit: https://www.nhmc.org/writers/
