Rideback, the production company founded by “The LEGO Movie” franchise producer Dan Lin, has teamed with film and TV studio MRC to create a new TV incubator aimed at supporting young TV drama writers from diverse backgrounds to develop projects for cable and streaming, the company announced Thursday.
Veteran TV executives Elsie Choi and Kiri Hart will oversee the program, which offers a paid eight-month residency to eight writers who have previously worked as staffers on series and want to create original dramas.
The young creators will be paired with experienced showrunners and/or executive producers who act as mentors, and also get feedback from their fellow participants at Rideback Ranch, a new creative campus in L.A.’s Historic Filipinotown neighborhood.
Participants will be charged with creating market-ready, straight-to-series projects — that will then be produced by Rideback, with financing and studio support from MRC. Participants would maintain executive producer credits, as well as writing credits, as determined by the WGA.
Producer-mentors will be attached to their respective projects as non-writing executive producers.
Hart, who established the Lucasfilm Story Group overseeing “Star Wars” development, will serve as creative adviser. Choi, former head of development for Mad Rabbit, will oversee the program as executive director.