Universal - Global Talent Development & Inclusion

ON THIS DAY... June 19, 1865, those still enslaved in the U.S learned that they were free. Juneteenth has a long history of significance to the Black community since 1865 when the Union Army arrived on the shores of Galveston, Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.

Universal along with Monkeypaw Productions are hosting a panel about discovering talent and stories from untapped spaces at the 2024 American Black Film Festival in Miami. Come grab a free boxed lunch and be in with a chance to win a pair of Universal Studios Hollywood tickets!

THIS IS NOT A STUNT... Learn how the Universal Below-the-Line Traineeship is making a difference around the world as ’The Fall Guy’ becomes the latest film to host this unique career opportunity. Seven trainees across Casting, Set Dec, Costume, Props, Production Office, Video Assist and VFX were upskilled and mentored to join the next generation of local crew. This couldn’t have been done without partners Screen New South Wales who helped source Sydney’s’ incredible emerging below-the-line talent. Check out the video to learn more. https://bit.ly/3KutL92 . . . #ScreenNewSouthWales #ScreenNSW #Traineeship #Movies #Film #UniversalPictures

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN… We want you to learn more about our incredible Universal Animation Writers Program participants! Today we get to meet Anna Dannecker. Anna Dannecker was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. The youngest of four siblings, Anna found a way to stand out by cracking jokes and performing bits. She began telling stories by drawing comics, and acting out scenes at the dinner table. As she grew older, she embraced other forms of storytelling including stand-up, improv, and playwriting. She received her BFA in Comedic Arts from Emerson College, where she found her passion for screenwriting. Anna’s stories center around oddballs and underdogs because she feels it is important for everyone to embrace all parts of themselves, even those that others may find strange and unrelatable. She also writes stories for those with similar backgrounds as her own: Latina, Queer, Midwestern. Anna draws inspiration from all aspects of her life: from her family, to the places she has lived (Milwaukee, Boston, Los Angeles) to her years of playing sports, and her career. She has held a variety of roles including: podcast editor, assistant coordinator for the 2022 NALIP Media Summit, and production assistant at Wild Canary Animation for Disney Junior’s Ariel. She is beyond grateful to be part of the 2023-2024 Universal Animation Writers Program and is excited to share her unique point of view, ideas, and jokes through her work. We hope you have enjoyed meeting these incredible writers just as much as we have!

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN… We want you to learn more about our incredible Universal Animation Writers Program participants! Today we get to meet Neshun Etheridge. Despite their military upbringing Neshun spent most of their childhood in Killeen Texas. Never really entering the big city, she spent most of her childhood anxiously pacing around major cities. Growing up an hour away from Austin and attending undergrad an hour away from Houston at Prairie View A&M University. Where they spent their undergrad directing the university’s news station and competing in speech and debate tournaments. It wasn't until graduate school that Neshun realized her countless childhood nights of watching Toonami and early mornings watching 4Kids dubs of anime with her brother could pay off. They fell in love with writing vibrant characters fighting for friendship. Neshun Moved to the big city of Los Angeles in 2022 after getting an M.F.A in screenwriting from Florida State University and winning the top writing prize in their cohort. Neshun now writes stories that make people feel brave with strong interpersonal connections. They write across genres with a continuous thread of a lot of heart and a lot of snark. Stay tuned for more!

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN… We want you to learn more about our incredible Universal Animation Writers Program participants! Today we get to meet Peter Forbes. Peter Forbes grew up homeschooled in the desert of Colorado, where his love of Jurassic Park came to life when his family discovered dinosaur bones on their land. This—and an obsession with Middle-earth, Narnia, and Studio Ghibli—inspires him to tell stories of wonder, longing, and finding one’s voice, tossed together with generous helpings of humor and derring-do. As a kid, he began writing stories under his blankets by flashlight when he was “sleeping.” Despite such a promising start, it took a decade-and-a-half before he eventually enrolled at Columbia University to earn an MFA in film in 2021. While there, he won Columbia’s most prestigious screenwriting prize for his coming-of-age sci-fi/fantasy feature script, Dream Kingdom, as well as its largest film grant for his thesis short, The Wood Thrush, which played at the New York International Children’s Film Festival. He also earned a second MFA in writing for children and young adults at Hamline University in 2022, where he won the top award for excellence in critical writing. A neurodivergent writer, Peter is a former mentee of 1IN4 Coalition’s disabled writers program and fellow of RespectAbility's entertainment lab. He's frequently been a guest speaker on panels and in classrooms to talk about his creative journey, writing, and filmmaking. More importantly, he’s married to an amazing gal and is stepdad to some cool kids and two orange cats. (And he still writes under the blankets.) Stay tuned for more!

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN… We want you to learn more about our incredible Universal Animation Writers Program participants! Today we get to meet Cam Gavinski. Cam Gavinski is a Thai-American comedian, writer, actor, director, musician, animator from Dallas, Texas. Cam’s work explores mental health, existential dread, and poop jokes. Cam studied Animation at the University of Southern California and graduated in 2018, where his animated thesis short, FRANK made the Student BAFTA shortlist. Cam's solo comedy musical show, BONHEUR, debuted at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023 to rave reviews. The Guardian called Cam’s latest show “Ingeniously Theatrical.” Someone online called it “An onslaught of immature, unfunny ‘jokes’ so far from ingenius [sic] it’s laughable.” Heyooo sounds like they laughed! In October of 2023, Cam independently released his first special, How to Make Everything About You Forever and Always, a solo comedy musical about depression, heartbreak, and Bobby Moynihan. Cam has appeared on Euphoria (HBO), has animated several shorts for Comedy Central and The Jim Jefferies Show, and interned on Nathan for You. Cam has written, directed, and starred in multiple viral videos, sketches, and songs that have amassed over 20 Million Views and he has over 130k+ Followers across social media platforms. Stay tuned for more!

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN… We want you to learn more about our incredible Universal Animation Writers Program participants! Today we get to meet Rukshan Thenuwara. After his family moved across the globe, Rukshan spent his formative years under the sun-crisped palm trees of the San Fernando Valley, where he spent hours watching everything from Hey Arnold! to the Wild Thornberrys. Spending so much time in front of the television gave him two things: a great case of nearsightedness and a vivid imagination. While he credits this as the start of his journey as a storyteller, his path took more than a few twists and turns. After graduating from University of California, Irvine, he worked in the fast-paced world of Big Pharma where he ensured drugs were formulated under global safety guidelines. Throwing those guidelines out the window, he leaped into writing promos for network television at ABC and Warner Bros. He has an undying love for “punny” jokes and fish out of water stories which he infuses into his writing. He now crafts tales to inspire young audiences and pens half hour comedies about plucky characters breaking generational curses. Stay tuned for more!

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN… We want you to learn more about our incredible Universal Animation Writers Program participants! Today we get to meet Samantha Xiao. Growing up in a peaceful neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, Samantha enjoyed a free-spirited childhood at an unconventional progressive school with no homework or tests, but plenty of tree-climbing and camping trips. In this sheltered environment, she developed her love of stories through the books, comics, and movies that allowed her to escape to fantastical worlds. Then her life’s inciting incident arrived when her family suddenly moved to China and she found herself attending an international school in Shanghai. An epic journey of discovery and self-discovery would ensue…eventually. Overwhelmed and struggling to adjust to her new life, Samantha turned to stories again—this time as a way to process the more complicated world she now inhabited. This experience stayed with her even after she returned to California and still informs her storytelling today. After graduating from the University of Chicago, Samantha received an MFA in Writing for Screen and Television from USC. She has worked in animation development and was a part of the CAPE New Writers Fellowship Class of 2023. Now at the Universal Animation Writers Program, she writes genre scripts and builds sprawling imaginary worlds that guide the audience to examine the real world around them. Stay tuned for more!

THEY’VE ARRIVED…Universal is excited to announce the six amazing writers taking part in the Universal Animation Writers Program. Please join us in welcoming Anna Dannecker, Neshun Etheridge, Peter Forbes, Cam Gavinski, Rukshan Thenuwara and Samantha Xiao! Stay tuned as we share more about each of these incredible writers!