Selected Projects Announced
SeriesFest is proud to announce the projects whose writers will be participating in our TV Writing Workshop in Belize this November!
We selected 4 projects for our workshop, including 2 writing teams and 2 individual writers. All 6 writers will join the SeriesFest team—along with our mentors and panelists—for what promises to be an unforgettable and career-changing experience in the inspiring country of Belize.
These writers inspired us with their talent for storytelling and their enthusiasm for feedback from our community. Each project will receive a dedicated, structured workshop with the other writers and professionals on our retreat. We’re excited to be a part of the development of their projects and usher them into the SeriesFest family of creatives.
Learn more about the opportunity here.
“Painkillers”
“The Show Must Go On”
“GFF: Ghost Friends Forever”
“Earle’s”
About the writers
Tijuana Ricks
Co-Creator/Writer, “Painkillers”
Tijuana Ricks grew up in small-town Louisiana, graduated from Wash U in St. Louis then earned an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama. She began directing and creating her own content in 2016 when she realized she had only worked with one black female director in her entire career. Since then, she has written, produced, and directed multiple award-winning short films and web series in both the comedy and drama genres.
Tijuana was a semi-finalist for the SeriesFest Shondaland Women Directing Fellowship, selected for the Black Directors Advancement Initiative with AWD, a recipient of the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Directing Mentorship, and is a 2023 WIF Directing Fellow.
Her work has been shown at multiple Oscar-qualifying festivals and won awards at the DC Web Fest (Gold Award Winner), Flickfair (Audience Award Drama), Die Seriale (Best Director & Best Drama Series Nom), Portland Comedy Film Festival (Best Director Finalist), and ShockFest (Best Comedy).
Tijuana is currently in pre-production to direct her first feature in 2025.
Anthony Pirro
Co-Creator/Writer, “Painkillers”
I was born and raised in Huntington, New York. After graduating with honors with a degree in biology and psychology from Loyola University Maryland, I moved to Hopkins Village in Belize to open and operate a scuba diving shop. I returned home to work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on the Human Genome Project. I received a teaching fellowship in the New York City public school system, later becoming an assistant principal and principal.
Under my leadership, I transformed two struggling schools into schools in good standing. I have two master’s degrees – one in education and a second in leadership. I also co-founded an educational consulting company, Ember to Spark in 2020.
Six weeks before the beginning of the pandemic, my wife and I sold our apartment, left New York City, and moved to Los Angeles. Then the world shut down. During quarantine, I collaborated on a variety of projects, including an official selection for SeriesFest 2021 Pitch-a-thon Painkillers, the online web series, The Corps, and garnered several laurels for my animated feature, Pigeons of Paradise. I am currently attending UCLA’s screenwriting program. I also run long distances for fun.
Phylicia Pearl Mpsai
Producer, Writer, “The Show Must Go On”
Hailing from Silver Spring, MD, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi is the daughter of Congolese immigrants and being the 3rd out of 4 girls, struggled with middle child syndrome. So she broke out of her family’s expectations and found the arts, inspired by her love of making people laugh and her desire to be just like Raven Symoné.
Phylicia is known for her breakout role as “Young Celie” in the recent The Color Purple musical adaptation, for which she has received several ensemble nominations like the Screen Actor’s Guild for Best Ensemble and ultimately won the NAACP Image Award for Best Breakout Performance.
She attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD and would go on to study musical theatre at Elon University in Elon, NC. While at university, though she was only cast in 1 out of 24 MainStage shows, she held to the belief that her hard work, tenacity, perseverance, and commitment to being herself would lead her to greatness. And that paid off when, the week before graduating, she was cast in the national tour of The Lion King. She would perform in both their touring and Broadway companies. She is also a screenwriter and wrote for the musical television show Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.
A big fan of things like Cinderella, the musical Wicked, and the Harry Potter series, this proud Ravenclaw/Slytherin Phylicia believes that magic is real, it just lives inside each of us and that is what she hopes to impart to people everywhere – that with a little faith and the magic that makes us each special, our dreams can come true. And until then, we should all act like we are the stars of our own life.
Tyler Stuart
Creator, Writer, “GFF: Ghost Friends Forever”
Tyler Stuart is a Canadian writer, actor, and director, currently based in NYC. His work has screened at festivals and been produced by theaters throughout the US and Canada, including Series Fest, Catalyst, and FringeNYC. At some he even won awards (and at others he was robbed). He hates writing bios, but loves writing in third person.
Sunny Dae
Writer, Storyteller, “Earle’s”
Sunny Dae is a writer, storyteller, event producer, and interior design enthusiast. Navigating the world at the intersection of Beyoncé and Martha Stewart, her love for process and planning (#VIRGO) merges seamlessly with creativity and a commitment to making things beautiful. Over the past six years in the experiential marketing industry, she has built best-in-class activations and campaigns for some of the biggest names in tech, media, and retail.
Her work has amplified the stories of hundreds of Black and Brown creators and thought leaders.
Sunny recently relocated back to her hometown of LA, where she is pursuing a career in screenwriting, shifting to telling stories through a different medium – but this time, they’re her own. Sunny recently participated in Mara Brock Akil’s (Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, The Game) writer’s colony, where she was one of four cohort members. Her writing generally centers on Black womanhood, friendships, and the pursuit of self-discovery and healing.
Sunny is part of a writing duo with her sister Lauren, they are currently developing EARLE’S—a half-hour comedy inspired by their family’s restaurant in South L.A.
Lauren Davis
Stand-Up Comedian, Writer, “Earle’s”
Lauren Davis is a Brooklyn-based stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and visual artist who turns life’s most awkward moments into something painfully relatable and, more importantly, worth laughing about.
Stand-up comedy is easily the most embarrassing yet oddly fulfilling thing she’s ever done. Off stage, Lauren taps into her eclectic experiences– a career in trend research, her time living in Norway (yes, really), and her own journey with body acceptance–to write character-driven stories about messy, lovable misfits learning to embrace their true selves. When she’s not writing or performing, Lauren channels her creativity into hands-on projects from weaving to ceramics.
Lauren is part of a writing duo with her sister Sunny, they are currently developing EARLE’S—a half-hour comedy inspired by their family’s restaurant in South L.A.
