Imagine Impact 2 Launches Second Mentoring Program; Application Process Underway

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Impact is launching its second mentoring program. The program launched last year, to find new writer voices and give them a seat at the table, pairing them with a veteran mentor and giving them a paid eight-week creative boot camp to develop saleable screenplays, teleplays and presentations that were pitched to buyers across town late last year at a Pitch Day.

The application process for Impact 2 is now underway, and Imagine Impact head Tyler Mitchell said that each and every application will be thoroughly considered. An improved infrastructure, and a dedicated app, has enabled them to handle up to 10,000 online submissions.

The application window closes Sunday, January 20 at 11:59 PM PST.  A link to the application can be found here.

Imagine Impact 1 road tested a philosophy by Imagine founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, that democratizing the creative process by inviting in new narrative voices from all over the world, would be a good thing, and good business. According to Mitchell, six of the projects from the first program have received offers from studios and production companies, and deals are in active negotiations.  Two of the shapers — the industry veterans who guided the newcomers through the project incubation process — came attached to projects they oversaw. That was black-ish executive producer and Emmy nominee Stacy Traub, who is attached to be executive producer on Vidhya Iyer’s potential series; and Kate Purdy, the WGA winner for Bojack Horseman, became attached to the Tanya Steele potential series Rocket.

Agents and managers also came to the Pitch Day where over 700 scripts were sent out. One-third of the newcomers didn’t have representation, but several of them signed on with agencies. Stefani Woodburne signed with Verve; Linda Ge signed with UTA and Writ Large, with the agency packaging her script Canary; Elizabeth Stamp signed with CAA and Lit Management, with CAA packaging her Impact 1 submission Siloed; Hunter Daniels & Chris Stevens signed with Lit Management; Steele signed with Underground Management, with CAA packaging Rocket; and Paul Marchand signed with Lit Management.

Impact is an eight-week creative boot camp that will discover new voices and empower content creators and narrative storytellers from around the world. Creators are paired with shapers — top screenwriters or showrunners — who work directly with the creators twice weekly on their projects. By the end of the eight weeks, selected creators will have developed a saleable screenplay, teleplay or presentation to pitch around town. Participants will be paid a stipend, and Imagine shares in success of projects it buys or which take root elsewhere by taking a small position on the back end.

Imagine will reveal the Impact 1 deals when they close.