FOX LAUNCHES ITS FIRST COMPREHENSIVE WRITER'S INITIATIVE SPANNING TELEVISION, FEATURE FILMS AND DIGITAL

"Fox Writer's Intensive" Will Create Staffing Pipeline of Experienced Writers With Diverse Voices, Backgrounds and Life Experiences for Fox Productions

Fox Audience Strategy today unveiled a distinctive new advanced writer's program - the Fox Writer's Intensive - designed to nurture experienced writers with diverse voices, backgrounds and life experiences and create a strong pipeline of well-rounded talent for potential staffing as writers, story editors or showrunners on Fox productions. The initiative, which will kick off with its inaugural class in February 2012, seeks to both elevate the craft of participating writers and help them further establish deeper connections with a wide range of Fox staff writers, show runners, screenwriters, directors and creative executives across television, feature films and digital entertainment.

"Through the Fox Writer's Intensive we are, for the first time, actively investing in experienced talent to bridge the gap between the emerging writer and showrunner," said Nicole A. Bernard, Senior Vice President of Audience Strategy for The Fox Group. "We're providing multi-platform learning experiences and, equally important, higher levels of access to top creative professionals and senior executives - an invaluable benefit both to the writers and our entertainment businesses."

Administered by Film Independent, a non-profit arts organization supporting artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision, the Fox Writer's Intensive offers trained writers a rigorous, four-month curriculum focused on 1) developing original material, 2) learning and honing writing skills for multiple mediums and 3) exploring the business of media and entertainment. Selected writers will have the opportunity to receive detailed feedback and guidance on their scripts through interactive "master classes" and will engage in intimate guest speaker sessions with experienced writers, showrunners and directors to discuss case studies of their films and television shows, and learn about their writing processes. Upon successful completion of the program, Fox will work to staff participating writers on Fox projects and provide each writer with a first look on his/her original script(s).

At the conclusion of the intensive, Fox will select one outstanding participant as the Fox Writer's Intensive Fellow. The Fox Writer's Intensive Fellow will be announced across all Fox units and will receive one-on-one meetings with network and studio heads as well as priority staffing efforts across Fox properties. In addition, Fox will purchase and develop the Fellow's original submission. Fox will also award the referring 501(c)(3) charitable organization of the winning Fellow a financial grant to be earmarked for its writing program.

Candidates for the Fox Writer's Intensive will be considered only through nomination by one of the program's partnering organizations, or through submission by agents and management companies, and must have demonstrated a command of their craft through published and/or other accomplished presentations of their work that demonstrate their writing experience. Fox encourages professional writers from across all entertainment media including television, features, literature and theatre or other published writers to apply. New and emerging writers seeking to learn the fundamentals of screenwriting and the business of writing will have the opportunity to apply for a separate, entry-level writer's program at Fox in the fall of 2012.

The deadline for nominations for the Fox Writer's Intensive is Nov. 09, 2011. For more information about the Fox Writer's Intensive and a list of referring organizations, please visit: www.fox.com/audiencestrategy.

Fox Audience Strategy is a recently formed department at The Fox Group designed to identify programming and operational opportunities that reflect diverse perspectives across all of its entertainment platforms.