Sony Television Sets Elevate Writers & Directors Fellowship Class Of 2026

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television has its Elevate Writers & Directors Fellowship Class of 2026. The eight fellows selected are Kelly Luu and Kevin Luu who will take part in both the writers and directors programs — writers Luke Johnson, Melissa Long and Natasha Sabour and directors Chelsea Christer, Emily Kim and Sheridan O’Donnell. Read more about them below.

Starting this week, the new cohorts will participate in curated programs on the Sony lot in Culver City that are designed to identify exceptional emerging storytellers and provide individualized mentorship, industry access and hands-on professional development. Throughout the two programs, fellows will receive mentorship and access to writers, directors, showrunners, producers, executives and other industry leaders, with programming tailored to their individual areas of focus and career development.

The Elevate program reflects SPT’s creator-first, content-first approach to storytelling and its continued investment in the next generation of actors, writers and directors. Here is more about this year’s Elevate Writers & Directors Fellows:

Kelly & Kevin Luu
Their work spans both writing and directing and who were selected to participate in both the Elevate Writers and Directors Fellowships. Their projects have been developed through Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative, Soo Hugh and UCP’s Thousand Miles Project, Hillman Grad and Indeed’s Rising Voices and Rideback RISE, with their short Rising Voices premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. They will participate in both the Elevate Writers and Directors Fellowships.

Luke Johnson
Johnson’s career began at Sony Pictures Entertainment before he went on to serve as a writers assistant on Netflix’s The Night Agent, contributing to the writers room before writing a freelance episode for Season 2.

Melissa Long
Long’s experience includes work as an assistant and script coordinator on projects including Showtime’s King Shaka and Prime Video’s Bishop. She is an alum of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Writers Access program.

Natasha Sabour
Sabourcurrently works as Shawn Ryan and Marney Hochman’s assistant at MiddKidProductions, and previously served as a writers’ PA on The Night Agent and as an assistant at Artists First.

Chelsea Christer
Christer’s documentary Bleeding Audio screened at nearly 20 film festivals, including Slamdance, and her narrative short Out for Delivery premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and played the SXSW Film & TV Festival.

Emily Kim
Kim is an acclaimed filmmaker whose short films have screened at top Oscar-qualifying festivals, including To the Lights, which earned a Best Short nomination at the Hawaii International Film Festival and won the Jury Award for Best Narrative at NFFTY.

Sheridan O’Donnell
O’Donnell’s directorial debut Little Brother, starring J.K. Simmons, won the Audience Award at the Atlanta Film Festival. He most recently directed Rising Phoenix: A New Revolution, the feature-length follow-up to the Emmy-winning documentary Rising Phoenix.