Young & Hungry No More — A Look Back At Some Of The 2015 Young & Hungry Alums

We’re thrilled to announce that on Monday, October 3 we will be releasing the 2016 Young & Hungry List, comprised of the 100 best up-and-coming writers in the business, as voted on by industry professionals.

This week, we’ve been taking a look back at the writers who made past Young & Hungry Lists — where they were and where they are today. Now just days away from the release of this year’s Young & Hungry List, we wanted to recognize one more group of writers: those who made the list just one year ago. Their achievements are testaments to the hard work and dedication with which these ambitious talents continue to push themselves towards success.

Today, we proudly present the latest updates from some of the writers who made the 2015 Young & Hungry List. And don’t forget to check back on Monday for the release of the 2016 Young & Hungry List!

HERE ARE A FEW STAND-OUT HONOREES FROM THE 2015 YOUNG & HUNGRY LIST

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Anthony Jaswinski broke through last year when his script In the Deep took the town by storm – and landed Jaswinski on the 2015 Young & Hungry List – along with his specs Interstate and May You Live In Interesting Times. In the Deep became one of this summer’s strongest thrillers, the Blake Lively-starring The Shallows. Interesting Times is currently in development with Voltage Pictures and The Picture Company and Jaswinski’s horror thriller Mary recently landed at Tucker Tooley’s Tooley Productions.

Ben Jacoby made the list with his spec Earthwalkers – now known as Kingdom Come – and his adaptation of Dash Shaw’s graphic novel, Doctors. Jacoby’ s first feature credit, Bleed, was released last year by Spitfire Studios and Gravitas Ventures. Doctors, now set up at 20th Century Fox, has Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s David S. Goyer producing and Mike Cahill attached to direct. Jacoby has also been tapped to write the prequel to the classic horror flick The Omen, The First Omen, for Fox.

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Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi, after serving as staff writers on the short-lived but critically acclaimed series About a Boy, stormed onto the Young & Hungry List with their scripts Pale Blue Dot and Uncle Shelby. The writing partners are currently executive producers of the drama alongside Reese Witherspoon, who is also attached to star.

Brandon Tenney had three killer sci-fi scripts carry him onto the Young & Hungry List: They Came From Above, Dead Mountain, and a rewrite of Peter Gaffney’s Terrestrial. Dead Mountain, adapted from Donnie Eichar’s book about the true story of the mysterious deaths of nine experienced hikers in Russia’s Ural Mountains, is currently in development with Straight Up Films. Tenney is also rewriting Earthless, a sci-fi thriller set up at 20th Century Fox with Ridley Scott producing.

Carver Gray landed on the Young & Hungry List with his spec Unlawful and Brothers and Bones. Unlawful, one of the year’s most buzzworthy thriller specs, is now in development with Romark Entertainment and Energy Entertainment. Brothers and Bones, which Gray adapted from the novel by James Hankins, is also in development with Romark.

Cat Vasko hit the Young & Hungry List with four scripts, including Situation Comedy, Queen of the Air, The Spy Who Loved, and Life After Life. The Spy Who Loved, adapted from Clare Mulley’s book, is in development with Bluegrass Films and Queen of the Air, adapted from Dean N. Jenson’s book, is in development with Mad Chance Productions and set up at Warner Bros. Her high-concept original spec, Situation Comedy, is in development with producer Jason Reitman.

David Chirchirillo, who saw his first feature Cheap Thrills released in 2014, hit the list with his specs Eli and Drug Tunnel, both of which are now in development. Eli, a horror film set in a “clean house”, is in development with Broad Green Pictures and Bellevue Productions while Drug Tunnel is in the works with Ineffable Pictures. Chirchirillo recently wrapped on the black comedy Good Match, the first US film co-production for mm2 Entertainment as part of their deal with BoulderLight, which he wrote and made his feature directorial debut.

David Hoffman not only made the 2015 Young & Hungry List, but came out on top in the 2015 Launch Pad Pilots Competition with his script Running Money. He recently joined the writers’ room of the Shawn Ryan NBC drama Timeless, which premieres this fall. His original spec The Great Debate, pitched as The King’s Speech meets The Founder, is being produced by Romark Entertainment.

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Evan Kilgore and Samuel Franco broke out in 2015, making the list with their specs Mayday 109 – based on the harrowing story of how JFK saved members of his crew when their boat was sunk in World War II – and a political thriller Containment. Mayday 109 triggered a bidding war, ultimately landing with Thunder Road Pictures and Flynn Picture Co. The pair is now adapting Undefeated: The Rocky Marciano Story, the boxing biopic that has Jeremy Renner attached to star in the titular role.

Isaac Adamson turned heads in Hollywood last year with his buzzworthy spec Bubbles, a story told from the perspective of Michael Jackson’s famous chimpanzee of the same name – now in development with Community creator Dan Harmon. Adamson is also the author of Tokyo Suckerpunch, which is now being adapted by The BFG scribe Ed Solomon for Columbia Pictures, and his spec How High the Moon, a sci-fi comedy, is now in development at Level 1 Entertainment. Adamson has also been hired to adapt The Ice Twins for Alcon Entertainment

Lori Evans Taylor, who spent years working as a story producer for networks like Animal Planet and Discovery, broke through as a feature writer in 2015 with her red hot thriller spec Bed Rest – one of the few specs from last year to land on all four major script lists, including the Hit List. The script is set up at MGM with Sunswept Entertainment producing along with Buried scribe Chris Sparling and has Brad Parker attached to direct. Evans Taylor also has a thriller in development with mega-producer Akiva Goldsman and Columbia Pictures.

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Marja-Lewis Ryan landed on the 2015 Young & Hungry List with her scripts One in the Chamber and Screwed the Four-Faced Liar. This year, Ryan has landed several high-profile jobs, including being hired to write the Splash remake for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer which will star Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell. She has also been tapped to adapt Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s best-selling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Ryan is also set to direct 6 Ballons for Netflix, a spec she wrote which has Abbi Jacobson and Dave Franco set to star and Channing Tatum producing.

Max Hurwitz blazed his way onto the 2015 Young & Hungry List with his scripts Forgive Me, Crown, and The Titan. After two seasons on the AMC drama Hell on Wheels, Hurwitz saw his spec Forgive Me, based on the life of 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace, land at Amazon Studios with COTA Films producing. The Titan, based on a story idea from Arash Amel, was produced by Automatik, 42, and Motion Picture Captial and stars Avatar’s Sam Worthington and was directed by Lennart Ruff – currently awaiting a release date. Hurwitz is writing the current draft of The First Phone Call from Heaven, an adaptation of the Mitch Albom novel for Di Novi Pictures and Warner Bros.

Michael Russell Gunn made the Young & Hungry List with his powerful biopic The Virginian, which details the life of George Washington before he joined the Continental Army. The script is set up at New Line Cinema with Donald De Line producing and several A-list actors circling the lead role, including Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender, and Henry Cavill. After writing on the Aaron Sorkin HBO series The Newsroom, Gunn spent a season as a writer and executive story editor on ABC’s The Whispers. He is currently a writer and producer on the Fox drama Designated Survivor.

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Nelson Greaves and Sam Chalsen made the Young & Hungry List with their original pilot POTUS and their work adapting the classic video game Spyhunter for Warner Bros. The duo, who are also writers for the Fox drama series Sleepy Hollow, saw the network nab POTUS with Howard Gordon attached to produce, but ultimately it was not picked up. Greaves, who is also an executive story editor on the upcoming 24: Legacy, the reboot of the hit series on Fox, saw his first feature hit theaters last year, Unfriended.

Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan made waves last year with their spec Chappaquiddick, the ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller about the tragic car accident that took the life of Mary Jo Kopechne when Ted Kennedy was behind the wheel. Chappaquiddick is currently in production with John Curran directing and Jason Clarke and Kate Mara starring. The duo is currently set as producers on Taking Aim at the President, an adaptation of the book about the woman who shot at President Gerald Ford.

These are just a few of the remarkable success stories from the 2015 Young & Hungry List writers. The 2016 Young & Hungry List drops on Monday! Soon we’ll have another 100 rising stars to track as they rocket towards success!

Missed the previous recaps? Check the links below to read up on some of the highlights from previous years!

YOUNG & HUNGRY NO MORE – A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE 2011 YOUNG & HUNGRY ALUMS
YOUNG & HUNGRY NO MORE – A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE 2012 YOUNG & HUNGRY ALUMS
YOUNG & HUNGRY NO MORE – A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE 2013 YOUNG & HUNGRY ALUMS
YOUNG & HUNGRY NO MORE – A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE 2014 YOUNG & HUNGRY ALUMS