Prelude’s 2026 fellows: Top left to right, Nadira Amaris, Kimberly Divad, Alyssa Furtado, Izzy Garfinkel, T Green, Vanessa Gutierrez, Noura Jabir, Sarah Ngô, Sage Okolo and Haley Wang. Photo Credit: G L Askew II, Courtesy of Prelude/Tender Pictures. A new class of fellows has been anointed at Prelude.
Tender Pictures has selected the second round of “early career storytellers” for the fellowship program, which was founded and is led by Tender Pictures’ Abbi Jacobson and Mieka Tennant. Launched last year, Prelude is designed to focus on “talent discovery and equity, supporting emerging writers, directors, and producers with little to no industry experience,” per the production company.
The new class includes Nadira Amaris, Kimberly Divad, Alyssa Furtado, Izzy Garfinkel, T Green, Vanessa Gutierrez, Noura Jabir, Sarah Ngô, Sage Okolo and Haley Wang. The roster, comprised entirely of female-identifying and non-binary storytellers, was picked by a selection committee of industry leaders through a competitive, multi-stage review process.
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The group will have seven mentors, including Hacks director Jess Brunetto, Aggregate Films’ Emma Ho, The Sex Lives of College Girls writer-producer Ali Liebegott, BoJack Horseman writer Mehar Sethi, Broad City writer-producer Jessica Watson, writer-producer-actor Paul Welsh, Sundance’s Kim Yutani, and returning mentors A League of Their Own writer Michelle Badillo, Orange is the New Black writer Brian Chamberlayne, and A League of Their Own writer-producer Desta Tedros Reff.
It’s an eight month fellowship that delivers in person programming, mentorship and exposure to both the artistic and business aspects of the film and television business. The over arching premise is that it’s “rooted in play” and experimentation as a way to deliver the spark needed for the creative process. There are 10 fellows selected for the cohort as Prelude is “intentionally designed for depth over scale.” The inaugural class got face time with more than 30 industry experts, no doubt boosted by Jacobson’s Rolodex, including Amy Poehler, Natasha Rothwell and Hacks’ Jen Statsky, and staffers from A24, UTA and Amazon.
“When we first set out to build Prelude, we identified a gap for early-career storytellers in the program space. After a successful first year, we’re proud to be expanding our networks and continuing to build pathways for people from LGBTQIA+ and diverse communities to build confidence and start their careers,” said Jacobson. “The industry is facing significant challenges right now, and this program exists to make sure that pressure doesn’t push important voices to the margins. With the support of companies, industry experts, and creatives who genuinely care about access and opportunity, we’re giving people the space, tools, and backing they need to pursue their careers — and, just as importantly, the belief that they belong in these rooms.”
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