Introducing Diverso’s Black Writers in Focus 2021 Fellows
Editors’ Note: Due to unforeseen personal circumstances, BWIF Fellow Allison Oddman has requested to withdraw from the program since the posting of this article.
Diverso has partnered with Rideback and The Writers Guild Foundation to create Black Writers in Focus (BWIF): the first-ever paid summer fellowship program for Black student screenwriters.
Black Writers in Focus first emerged from the momentum of 2020’s summer of racial uprisings as a systematic initiative to help Black student writers break into the entertainment industry. In addition, BWIF serves as a long-lasting incubator for Black talent. Program directors Mallom Liggon and Matt Zhang—undergraduate students from Loyola Marymount University and Vanderbilt University, respectively—first created the program in Fall 2020 as a response to Hollywood’s seemingly impenetrable barriers to entry for students of Black communities.
Liggon and Zhang spearheaded fundraising efforts for $90,000 from sponsors such as WarnerMedia, Oprah Winfrey’s OWN, Madison Wells Media, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Miranda Family Fund, Issa Rae’s Hoorae, Lagralane, and Couper Samuelson at Blumhouse. Alongside the rest of the BWIF team--including undergraduate students Reyana Patterson and Giancarlo Renteria of the University of Michigan and Loyola Marymount University, respectively--they also hosted an HBCU Virtual Speaker Series as a means of promoting BWIF and connecting Black students across the country with industry leaders such as Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther), and Kemp Powers (Soul), among others.
BWIF received submissions from Black students across 164 different universities. Scripts were vetted by a committee of all-Black professional script readers led by Patterson. On April 18, Diverso announced the selection of their four BWIF Fellows—Allison Oddman, Brandon A. Buffong, Ivan Rome, and Xavier Rogers. These four outstanding individuals qualified as the top 0.9% of applicants.
Over summer 2021, these four writers will spend 10 weeks attending workshops with industry leaders, shadowing in writer’s rooms, and fine-tuning a writing sample with a personalized mentor. Most importantly, in an industry notorious for its unpaid internships and low entry-level wages, these students will be paid to develop their craft. Panelists thus far include the likes of Meg Lefauve (Inside Out), Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), and Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead), among others.
Diverso’s flagship initiative The Minority Report has successfully found staffing and/or representation for all of its past BIPOC student Fellows. With the invaluable partnership of Rideback and the Writers Guild Foundation, Diverso aims to replicate this success for its four BWIF Fellows, equipping them with the knowledge and relationships necessary for a prolific, lifelong career in TV and film.
Hailing from four unique institutions across the nation, the BWIF Fellows will meld their voices and perspectives into a rich cohort of 2021 summer writers. Find more information on them below:
Ivan Rome - OFF THE PORCH
School: Columbia University
Logline: Three friends must learn how to navigate the streets after an unexpected series of events connects them to an unsolved murder.
Ivan Rome is currently an MFA candidate at Columbia University, concentrating in screenwriting/directing. Though living in New York, his southern roots still permeate every page his pen touches. A Columbus, Georgia native, he is a storyteller passionate about writing narratives that illuminate the nuanced and multifaceted nature of black culture. He desires to tell stories that give voice to underrepresented and marginalized communities, using his platform as a path to bring more representation to the screen. Ivan enjoys good music, good people, good food, and believes that in order to write about life, you cannot be afraid to live it.
Allison Oddman - MAWNIN SOON COME
School: Stanford University
Logline: Obeah practitioners mobilize in their South Florida town to achieve justice in a society that incessantly denies it.
Allison Oddman is a playwright and filmmaker trained in Black Studies at Stanford University. They are also an incoming M.F.A. Candidate in Screenwriting at AFI Conservatory. Hailing from a proud Jamaican household and vibrant South Florida community, Allison is dedicated to serving underrepresented narratives in film and amplifying the voices of those pushed to the margins within representational systems. Their main objective in all creative pursuits is to catalyze action towards equity. Their work has designated them a two-time finalist for the Sundance Episodic Lab and a finalist for Sundance Institute’s 2021 Development Track.
Brandon A. Buffong - SNOW WHITE & THE 7 BULLETS
School: SUNY Purchase
Logline: A gloss over of the classic tale, Snow White, but with a western twist as the gun-slinging heroine goes on a journey to exact her revenge on the seven outlaws who wronged her and their coldhearted matriarch.
Brandon A. Buffong is a screenwriter native to the Bronx, NYC, and has been telling stories since he was old enough to speak. Currently attending SUNY Purchase to earn his BFA in screenwriting, he’s spent most of his life studying writing in a creative context on his own, as no public school he attended provided such opportunities. It wasn’t until his college enrollment that Brandon realized screenwriting provided him with the tools needed to bring his stories to life. His passion is to craft living breathing worlds that allow readers and viewers to escape. Brandon is a simple man, wanting only to tell a good story, but holds the end goal of helping those with drive and passion who don’t have the same opportunities as those in more privileged positions. The Diverso program is his very first step towards that goal, and he is honored to be given that opportunity.
Xavier Rogers - COUNTERTENOR
School: Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema
Logline: After a young, troubled Black opera singer suffers a catastrophic meltdown at the most renowned school of classical music on earth, he must choose whether to kill his dream in the hopes of healing, or risk his life to reclaim his voice.
Xavier Rogers is a screenwriter and playwright based out of Brooklyn, NY. A native son of Montclair, NJ, he specializes in topical, sociopolitical and culturally illuminating television dramas for cable and streaming- the news is his muse. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Screenwriting at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College (CUNY). Previously, he has been a finalist in the Walt Disney Television Writing Program, WeScreenplay: Diverse Voices and placed in the Top 10 of The Orchard Project Episodic Laboratory. Recent screenplay film credits include: HEIRLOOMS (2020), A STIGMATISM (2021). While completing his BA, he received the Drew University Dramatic Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting for his debut stage production, APPLES. Xavier's catalogue aims to mediate a dialogue between the intersectional Black American experience and wherever it is most rejected, least expected and not reflected. He is honored to join Diverso’s inaugural BWiF program.
