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New information about this year’s Disney ABC Writing Fellowship was revealed last night at the Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills. ScreenPlayLab hosted the event with speaker Frank Gonzalez, Director of Talent Development for Disney. The basics remain the same: every year they pick 4 aspring feature film writers and 10 television writers, contract them for $50,000 and put them through 12 months of workshops, mentoring and working on an ABC/Disney owned show. 

The big news last night was the announcement of this year’s deadline: July 31, 2008. Finalists will be chosen in November and they will start in February 2009. Out of the 2007 Fellowship, all 10 of the 10 television writers went on to get staff gigs on shows (something that isn’t guaranteed.)

Along with a spec of a current show (no "Friends" or "Mary Tyler Moore") for the tv program, you will also have to write a Letter of Intent. Frank emphasized that this letter goes a long way in getting you into the program. In 500 words or less, they are looking for why the program is right for you and what you bring to the table. For the latter part, they want to see you sell yourself by being clear about your writing voice and how you can contribute in the collective experience that is being a staff tv writer.

In fact, they have found that writers’ ability to sell themselves to be lacking in most applicants and part of getting in is not only doing a one on one interview, but attending a mixer party where your ability to mingle, be friendly and personable are part of your overall score. And if you get into the program, improv classes and pitching classes await you.

All the details for applying can be found at abctalentdevelopment.com. If you need to contact the program directly, you can either leave voice mail at 818-560-6894 or send an email to abc.fellowship@abc.com. They mentioned that email gets responded to faster than voice mail, but eventually they get back to every one who contacts them.