Variety: Inevitable Foundation Announces Spring 2022 Screenwriting Fellows

Image Description: Two headshots. The photo on the right is of a brunette man with glasses in a red button-up shirt against a red background, looking up and into the distance. The photo on the left is of a brunette man with a braid, dressed in a grey T-shirt and black jacket. He smiles slightly and looks into the camera.

By Sasha Urban

Inevitable Foundation, a non-profit for mid-career disabled screenwriters, announced that its fellows for the spring of 2022 will be Sam Dunnewold and Anton Ray. Each of them will receive a $40,000 grant and 12 months of individualized mentorship, workshops and networking opportunities with major players in the entertainment industry.

The two of them will join fall 2021 fellows Shaina Ghuraya, Greg Machlin and Aoife Baker, as well as spring 2021 fellows Shani Am Moore and Kalen Feeney.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sam and Anton into the program. There is a massive void of upper-level talent in the industry — of the 1,300 first look and overall deals on record in 2021, only one was with a disabled creator — and we are laser focused on putting disabled screenwriters in positions of power,” foundation co-founders Richie Siegel and Marisa Torelli-Pedevska said in a statement. “Our fellowship helps them develop and sell their own content and climb the (often inaccessible) ladder to the upper-levels of the film and television industry.”

Sam Dunnewold, originally from Minnesota, is a comedy writer who “likes a sharp wit and a good poop joke” and his writing “is often high-concept, usually dark and always nerdy,” per Inevitable. He graduated from Carleton College with a major in film and has worked as an editor at The Onion, Funny or Die and Team Coco, in addition to working on fiction podcasts. Dunnewold was also a finalist at the 2022 ATX Pitch Competition.

“Receiving this Fellowship means I finally have the time and backing not just to write, but to build community, take meetings, read scripts and still be able to take care of myself,” Dunnewold said in a statement. “More than that, it’s crucial validation. In an industry where it’s easy to question your own talent and skills, I’ll frequently come back to the thought that Inevitable Foundation believes in me as a storyteller.”

Anton Ray is a poly-ethnic writer and director from Eugene, Ore.. He served for eight years in the Army Infantry and earned his BFA in Acting from CalArts. There, he met collaborator and writing partner Paul Masterson, with whom he created the production company Warrior Poet. Ray earned his directing MFA from East 15th in London. He has written, directed and produced theater and film in New York, Los Angeles and London. Ray “works most often in the one-hour drama space, with a special fondness for sci-fi/urban fantasy that explores complicated moral gray areas,” per Inevitable. He also recently finished the WGA Veterans writing project.

“Being selected is quite literally life changing,” Ray said in a statement. “I have dedicated myself to screenwriting for nearly two decades while searching for opportunities to open doors for myself and others. Now that Inevitable Foundation has opened those doors, I will endeavor to make the most of it and keep them open behind me.”