Almanack Screenwriters

Our October Colony is about time.

Time to write.
Time to think.
Time to listen.
Time to revise.

Time to share stories, meals, long walks, and visits to the beach.

Time to be in sustained conversation with other writers who take the work seriously.

We are delighted to welcome these four talented writers into the Almanack alumni community.

Here are a few moments from our time together…

AlmanackScreenwriters

2025 Highlights: Celebrating a Year of Creative Momentum -

2025 Highlights: Celebrating a Year of Creative Momentum Cyril Aris ('19) developed A Sad and Beautiful World at Almanack, which won the Audience Award at Venice in September and is Lebanon’s official entry for Best International Feature Film in the 98th Academy Awards.

We’re thrilled to welcome these four exceptional writers to Nantucket for our 2025 October Colony:

Alex Heller, Nik Dodani, Alex Murawski, Julie Sharbutt

Each year brings together a select group of talented artists for focused and immersive writing time, mentorship, and collaborative creative exchange. This year’s cohort represents a dynamic mix of voices, and we’re looking forward to an inspired time with them!

Learn more about each writer and their projects via link in bio.

We’re thrilled to celebrate alum Cyril Aris, whose feature film A Sad and Beautiful World just had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award!

Cyril worked on this beautiful screenplay with us on Nantucket in 2019, and it’s a delight to see the film reach the screen on such an extraordinary stage.

Congratulations, !

July 25: A Night of Stories, Music, and Magic at Almanack -

July 25: A Night of Stories, Music, and Magic at Almanack Join us on Friday, July 25 for the Almanack Summer Soirée — a celebration of storytelling, music, and community under the stars!

A heartfelt toast to our beloved friend All Kovalencik, from everyone lucky to have known and been fed by him at Almanack Pond Farm. Chef, friend, storyteller, photographer… All nourished our writers with delicious meals, warmth, curiosity, and endlessly joyful vibes.

All made the kitchen a gathering place and hearth for our residencies, filled with the smells of thoughtful dinners, his signature composed salads lined up on the counter, classic rock playing from his well-worn boombox on the windowsill, and wild stories spanning from his adventures at Woodstock to Nantucket in the ‘70s.

All always arrived with a sweet smile and local treasures to share: foraged burdock, fresh herbs from his garden, October’s first bay scallops. His cooking was a delight, and his presence helped make Almanack feel like a home.

Thank you, dear friend. You are deeply missed.

We are so lucky to have some absolutely incredible mentors joining us this year for our Episodic Lab!

DONICK CARY got his start writing for Late Night with David Letterman. After seven years in late night, Cary moved to The Simpsons, where he served as a Co-Executive Producer for seasons seven through eleven, winning an Emmy. Cary has since served in the same capacity on Just Shoot Me, Bored to Death, New Girl, Silicon Valley, AP Bio, Welcome To Flatch, Carol and the End of the World and Parks and Recreation where he also played the character Vern Palletta (aka DJ Jazzy Vern). 

JASON KIM is a Korean-born writer and producer. His television work includes BARRY (HBO), GIRLS (HBO), LOVE (Netflix), GRACEPOINT (Fox), and DIVORCE (HBO). Jason is the recipient of a Writers Guild Award and has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, two PGA Awards, and a NAACP Image Award.

CARLY WRAY is an Emmy-winning TV writer, producer, and screenwriter. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Wray launched her career on MAD MEN, where she won her first of two WGA Awards for the show’s final season. She has since written for THE LEFTOVERS and MINDHUNTER, received an Emmy nomination as a producer on WESTWORLD, and won an Emmy Award and Peabody for her work as Co-Executive Producer on WATCHMEN. 

JENNIFER YALE began her writing career in children’s animation where she won a Daytime Emmy, before moving to live action television as a staff writer on Showtime’s DEXTER. Jennifer is presently showrunning THE COPENHAGEN TEST for Peacock, and before that, she was showrunning THE SPIRE for Fremantle/Roku as well as JJ Abrams’ SUBJECT TO CHANGE for Max. Previously, Jennifer was the Writer/Executive Producer on Apple+’s SEE and Netflix’s CHAMBERS in addition to being a writer on Starz’s DA VINCI’S DEMONS, WGN’s UNDERGROUND, FX’s LEGION, Starz’s OUTLANDER and Apple+’s YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS.

Introducing the talented writers of our 2025 Episodic Lab! We can’t wait to dive into their projects in Nosara next week! 

PHILIPPE BOWGEN is the most irreverent white-passing Latino writer and performer bouncing between New York and LA. After a decade as a working actor in TV and film, Philippe decided he wanted to build worlds as well as act inside them and he took his M.F.A. from Brown and put it to use as a TV writer. He is a multiple-time second-rounder at the AFF, a semifinalist at WeScreenplay Diverse Voices, a finalist for the Nickelodeon Writers Program, a 2023 mentee, a 2024 Pre-Rainbow Pages mentee and a Mentorship Matters Fellow for 2025. 

AISSA ROSE GUEYE is a Senegalese-American writer and filmmaker raised in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles. She has worked as a script coordinator and writer’s assistant on HBO Max’s RAP S**T (Seasons 1 & 2), HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness (Season 2), OWN’s Queen Sugar (Season 7), and Audible’s We Stay Looking (Season 1). In 2024, she was one of two individuals selected to shadow the acclaimed and multi-award-winning showrunner and writer Mara Brock Akil on the set of her upcoming Netflix series, Forever. 

SEJAL PACHISIA transitioned from a decade-long career in Silicon Valley to pursue her screenwriting dreams. She went on to be staffed on Netflix India’s TOOTH PARI and was a Story Editor on Amazon India’s BANDISH BANDITS. She wrote two episodes for each of those series before transitioning into Hollywood as the Writers Assistant on POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN, for which she co-wrote an episode.

ROB RICHERT co-wrote and co-produced A24 and Plan B’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco, garnering two Sundance Grand Jury Prizes, a spot on President Barack Obama’s 2019 Favorite Movies List and a Gotham Awards nomination for Best Screenplay. His shorts have played at Telluride, Sundance and SXSW, screened on PBS and earned him back to back Faculty Honors at Columbia University. An SFFILM FilmHouse Fellow and Cine Qua Non Screenwriters Lab alum, Rob’s work across drama and comedy is invariably a reflection of the eclectic firebrands he grew up among in the Bay Area.

Please consider donating to Wildfire Relief Fund organized by Go Fund Me.

Donate to Wildfire Relief Fund 2025, organized by GoFundMe Org We are currently responding to the wildfires in Southern California. About the fund Wildfi… GoFundMe Org needs your support for Wildfire Relief Fund 2025

We’re all headed home today. The month was a beautiful one thanks largely to a collective willingness to be open and vulnerable from Day One. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be witness to the good vibes of this group of creatives. We’re so very happy to count them as part of our community. Safe travels to all ❤️

Big thanks to mentors Tracey Scott Wilson and Bryce Kass who were on the island with us last week. We appreciate your time and guidance and your willingness to join us during our October Colony

Good morning