HUMANITAS LEADERSHIP

Jenny Bicks is a television and film writer and producer. Her series credits include Seinfeld, Dawson’s Creek, and HBO's Sex and The City. She wrote on Sex and The City for all six seasons, rising to the rank of executive producer. Her work on the series earned her several major awards, including an Emmy® Award, multiple Golden Globes and Producers Guild Awards and three WGA nominations.

Bicks created comedy Leap of Faith, starring Sarah Paulson, for NBC and dramedy Men In Trees, starring Ann Heche, on ABC. She Executive Produced and Show-ran Showtime’s critically acclaimed The Big C, starring Laura Linney, for all four seasons. Her work on that show earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She is currently shooting the second season of her half hour mockumentary series Welcome to Flatch for Fox.

In the feature world, her writing credits include What a Girl Wants, Rio 2 and The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman. That film garnered three Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture. She is currently adapting Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel Sex and Vanity for Sony Pictures.

Bicks has taught and mentored at The Sundance Labs, Hedgebrook, Humanitas and The Austin TV Festival, among others.

A born and bred New Yorker, Bicks divides her time amongst New York, Maine and Los Angeles.

“As writers, we owe a great debt to the storytellers that influenced and came before us. HUMANITAS’ New Voices Fellowship allows us to support and nurture the new voices that will continue our tradition. I am honored to be a part of empowering these emerging writers.”
– JENNY BICKS

Carter Covington got his start when his first original script Just a Phase was bought and produced by ABC Family. The half-hour single-camera comedy was a memoir of Covington’s life growing up gay in the 80’s in North Carolina, and soon he was on his first set, producing his first pilot, surrounded by actors he cast as his family. This launched his development career, and Covington has since sold multiple comedy and drama projects. Covington’s first series was the TV adaptation of the teen classic 10 Things I Hate About You, which he ran for two seasons and was named by The New York Times as one of the year’s top 10 shows. His next series Faking It was a ground-breaking dramedy that explored the fluidity of sexuality and featured television’s first intersex main character. The series garnered three GLAAD nominations, Teen Choice Award for Breakout Show, and the key to the City of West Hollywood during its three-season run. Other credits include Charmed, Greek and Hart of Dixie. Covington is an alumnus of the Warner Brothers Comedy Workshop and the WGA Showrunner’s program. He holds a dual degree in Spanish and Foreign Affairs from The University of Virginia and an MBA from UCLA.

Oscar and Emmy winning producer Chris Donahue was appointed as President of Paulist Productions in July of 2014, a prestigious film and television production company.

Donahue most recently completed Season 3 of the hit A&E television series Longmire in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He became creatively involved in the project during its development phase from a novel, and continued to oversee production for its subsequent seasons.

He served as Executive Vice President of the Shephard/Robin Company, a Warner Bros. Television based company, for five years. While at Shephard/Robin (Nip/Tuck for FX, The Closer for TNT), Donahue was involved in the development and production of series including State of Mind for Lifetime, Trust Me for TNT, and Longmire for A&E. Donahue was instrumental in creating, executing and managing product integrations and digital assets across multiple platforms for Trust Me, an advertising related drama. These brand integrations with corporations such as General Motors, Anheuser-Busch, and Unilever generated over a million dollars in new revenue streams. Shephard/Robin sold an additional 10 pilots during his tenure.

Prior to joining Shephard/Robin, Donahue was the Executive Director of the HUMANITAS Prize, one of screenwriting’s most prestigious awards. He received an Academy Award for Visas and Virtue, a narrative depiction of Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. Donahue also received an Emmy Award for the documentary Be Good Smile Pretty, broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens.

While living and working in New Orleans, Donahue received two consecutive New Orleans Press Club Awards for the documentaries Russia: A Prison of Nations and Nicaragua: A Land Divided. He was selected as a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Fellow at WGBH in Boston and is a graduate of the American Film Institute and The Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California.

In addition to his producing credits, Donahue has taught film and television courses at the American Film Institute and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Producers Guild of America.

Growing up in a family of writers, the love for the written word is etched into Lauren Goodman's DNA. Her grandmother worked as a string reporter for the Kansas City Call; her great uncle founded the Los Angeles Sentinel in 1933, the largest African American-owned newspaper in Southern California, and her father, George Goodman, Jr., a former reporter at the New York Times, has written articles on Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, and Sonny Rollins, establishing him as one of the premiere music critics in journalism. After finishing film school, a graduate of the USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Lauren wrote the industry-lauded Marvin Gaye biopic, Sexual Healing, which was optioned by James Gandolfini and his production company Attaboy Films. In 2015, Lauren was a Humanitas New Voices Fellow, mentored by Janine Sherman Barrois, was one of five selected to participate in the inaugural Screenwriters Lab at Hedgebrook, mentored by Jane Anderson and Jenny Bicks, and, in the same year, participated in the CBS Writers Fellowship. She has written for the CBS television drama American Gothic, Fox's Our Kind of People, and FX's highly acclaimed drama Snowfall. Ms. Goodman has developed pilots with Amazon and Netflix and is currently developing a character-driven procedural for ABC Television.

Hart Hanson is creator and show-runner of the Fox television series Bones and The Finder. Prior to creating Bones and The Finder, Hart was Executive Producer of the Emmy nominated CBS tv series Judging Amy followed by Joan of Arcadia which won the HUMANITAS, Peoples’s Choice Award, and the AFI Program of the Year Award. Hart was Co-Excecutive Producer of the ABC series Cupid and Snoops.

Hart has worked under a longtime overall deal with 20th Century Fox. Before moving to the United States a decade ago, Hart wrote and produced a number of indigenous Canadian series including Beachcombers, North of 60, The Odyssey, Ready or Not, The Road to Avonlea, Cold Squad, Stargate, The Outer Limits, garnering several Gemini nominations and four wins along the way. Hart won the Writers Guild of Canada Award for best writing in a television series for Traders and then executive produced the multi-award winning seasons Two through Four. Pilots written for 20th Century Fox include: Palm City, Expert Witness, Zuma, Buzz, and Pleading Guilty.

Hart graduated from University College, University of Toronto, with degrees in Political Theory and English and received his Master degrees in Political Theory and English and received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia. He taught as an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. He lives with his wife Brigitte and two sons in Malibu.

Marshall Herskovitz is a writer, producer, and director in Los Angeles who has won many awards for his work in television and film. Born in Philadelphia, he attended Brandeis University, then moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where he attended the American Film Institute and met his longtime creative partner Edward Zwick. In the years since he helped create such series as Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once and Again. Among the films he has produced are Legends of the Fall, Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond and Love and Other Drugs. He also directed Jack the Bear and Dangerous Beauty.

In 2007 Herskovitz migrated to the Internet with Quarterlife, the ground-breaking online series and social network dedicated to artistic, activist twenty-somethings. A year after launch, the website – www.quarterlife.com – has become an international destination with members in 60 countries, and the series is now the most successful scripted program in Internet history.

Herskovitz, a longtime environmentalist, has served on the board of several organizations dedicated to preserving America’s precious natural resources. He is a founding member of the national 1Sky campaign.

He is currently serving as President of the Producers Guild of America.

Erika Kennair is currently Head of Scripted, US and Canada at The Mediapro Studio. She was recently the President of Production for Extracurricular, working with Malala Yousafzai to provide scripted and unscripted film and television content in an exclusive overall deal with AppleTV+. Their film, Joyland, won an Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film, and Stranger at the Gate was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Documentary.

Prior to Extracurricular, Erika was Senior Vice President, Development, at Berlanti Productions, overseeing the procurement and development of new scripted and unscripted series for both network and cable/streaming. She produced Emmy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, PGA, DGA and SAG nominated, The Flight Attendant for HBO Max (Which she was nominated for a PGA Award and an Emmy for), You for Netflix, docu-series Helter Skelter for Epix, Prodigal Son for FOX and Incarnate for Netflix.

As Vice President, Comedy Development, ABC Entertainment Group, Erika was responsible for identifying and developing comedy series for ABC Network. She oversaw creative for American Housewife, Splitting Up Together, Roseanne, and The Connors. Erika was also very active in the international comedy space, eyeing formats, attending festivals, and establishing relationships with key comedy talent around the world.

Prior to joining ABC, Ms. Kennair was Vice President, Original Programming and Development, Syfy, since July 2010. She was responsible for developing new original programming and talent for Syfy and shepherded the series The Magicians, 12 Monkeys, and Killjoys. Kennair joined Syfy in 2008 as director of Development, overseeing all creative aspects of original series, including Helix, Dominion, Defiance, Stargate: Universe, and the Syfy mini-series, Alice and Neverland. She also served as creative point on WWE Friday Night Smackdown! and was made an honorary “Diva.”

Previously Ms. Kennair was manager, Entertainment Diversity Programs, NBC Entertainment, since 2006. She was responsible for identifying diverse writing talent and created and oversaw the network’s competitive writing program, Writers on the Verge, an initiative aimed at developing and marketing new writers for placement on NBC series.

A Cuban-American, Ms. Kennair was voted one of the Most Influential and Powerful Latinos in Media by the Imagen Foundation four times. In 2013, she was named one of Hollywood Reporter’s Top Young Latino Decision Makers. In 2012, she was named to Multichannel News’s 40 under Forty, Variety’s New Leaders, CableFAX’s Most Influential Minorities in Cable, and was honored as a NAMIC Luminary.

Carol Mendelsohn was the Showrunner/Executive Producer of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from the pilot episode through season 14. The show ran for 16 seasons and was ranked number one in scripted drama series on television. She was also a Co-Creator/Executive Producer of CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.

As a producer, she has been nominated for multiple Emmys; WGA Awards; Golden Globes; Producers Guild Awards and the prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Award. Additionally, she is a three-time People’s Choice Award Winner. 

“The human spirit needs validation. Art in its many forms is the necessary mirror that reflects our existence and evolution. It’s hard on the human spirit to look in that mirror and see one’s image constantly distorted, or worse, not even there. NEW VOICES is akin to creating a larger mirror for us all to see ourselves… and maybe, just maybe, we can start to see each other. ”
-Mara Brock Akil

“I am very pleased to be part of the HUMANITAS NEW VOICES program, which finds and nurtures new writers who want to create work that speaks to our common humanity. I look forward to doing whatever I can to help writers find their voice, and to learn from each other in the process.”
-ALAN BALL

"Stories are the timeline of humanity. Without them, true history cannot be written inclusively. HUMANITAS understands that."
–Janine Sherman Barrois

Janine Sherman Barrois is an award-winning writer/producer who has recently signed an exclusive multi-year overall deal with Warner Brothers Studios to create and develop new series. Currently, she is the Showrunner and Executive Producer of Claws, a dramedy starring Niecy Nash on TNT. Barrois has also recently sold the network her suburban family drama Hinges, a project she is executive-producing along with John Wells, Emmy-winning director Anthony Hemingway and his producing partner, Mark Taylor. Previously, she spent five years as an Executive Producer on the hit CBS series Criminal Minds. Prior to that, she was an Executive Producer on ER and worked on the final four seasons of the show. Before ER, Barrois spent five seasons on Third Watch, rising from Story Editor to Co-Executive Producer. She has also written on Eddie Murphy's The PJ's and The Jamie Foxx Show. Barrois got her start on Lush Life, where she was placed after participating in the Warner Bros. Writers Workshop.

In 2014, Barrois won an NAACP Image Award for best dramatic writing for her work on the Criminal Minds episode entitled “Strange Fruit.” Prior to that she was nominated for six Image Awards and a HUMANITAS Award for her writing. She is also active in the WGA, where she serves in their Mentoring Program, as a judge for their Writers’ Access Project. In addition, she serves on the board of the William H. Johnson Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to giving scholarships to African-American contemporary artists. Barrois graduated from Howard University.

Barrois is repped by WME and Patti Felker at Felker Toczek Suddleson Ambramson.

Twitter:@Jsbarrois
IG:Janine Sherman Barrois

“HUMANITAS rewards writers for telling great stories. Now they are going to pay writers to write great stories. I applaud them.”

-GREG BERLANTI

“As writers, we have an obligation to empower up-and-coming writers. We call them ‘baby writers.’ We all need a helping hand in the beginning of our careers. Someone to say, well done, keep going. NEW VOICES of HUMANITAS serves as a life raft in a tough business. It’s my honor to support these talented newcomers. ”
– SHANE BRENNAN

“The script development fund is like The Voice for writers: A search by HUMANITAS for new, singular voices capable of elevating the human spirit. Okay, so maybe more people watch The Voice than pay attention to our search for writers. But someday people everywhere will be touched by the amazing stories these NEW VOICES have to tell.”
– JOHN EISENDRATH

https://twitter.com/johneisendrath

“The privilege of writing for motion pictures and television comes with a terrible responsibility. HUMANITAS celebrates what should be at the core of our writing: stories that enlighten as well as entertain, narratives that speak to human dignity and the universality of man. Stories are our window to understanding; no two people or cultures tell them quite alike, and it’s important that we watch and listen with open minds. HUMANITAS is taking a much-needed step toward enabling new voices to tell new stories and enrich the fellowship of all writers everywhere.”
– KIRK ELLIS

“It’s fitting that an organization whose prize is given to stories that ‘confront us with our individual responsibility and examine the consequences of our choice’ would take on the responsibility to guide and mentor new voices. They’re basically generating a ‘HUMANITAS Prize self generating machine.’ I am very excited to be a part of it. Our legacies as writers are not just confined to the stories we tell. They exist in the stories of the writers we inspire.”
– BRAD FALCHUK

“Often, the biggest stumbling block for aspiring writers isn’t a lack of passion or talent, it’s a lack of entrée. The NEW VOICES program offers emerging writers a wonderful opportunity to challenge themselves and grow into the next generation of great storytellers.”
– VINCE GILLIGAN

“For almost four decades, HUMANITAS has honored film and television writers for stories that inspire us and give us hope. Now this great organization is empowering the next generation of talented young writers. Why? Because Hollywood can be a hard place to get a start and NEW VOICES opens doors for deserving writers. I’m honored to support their work.”
– HOWARD GORDON

www.howardmgordon.com
Twitter handle: @howardmgordon

“HUMANITAS endures because it reminds us that good stories well told have the ability to change the world for the better. No longer content with trumpeting these achievements, HUMANITAS is taking the next logical step and fostering the kind of storytelling that inspires rather than merely entertains.”
– MARC GUGGENHEIM

“I firmly believe that it is the responsibility of those who ‘make it’ to hold the door open for someone else. The NEW VOICES program is that open door and I’m proud to be part of it.”
–Noah Hawley

“All writers deserve the opportunity to be creatively free. Writing is freedom for my soul. I imagine that’s true for other writers, as well. That’s what HUMANITAS celebrates and supports — the freedom to explore your truth through storytelling; to pull back the layers of the human condition and show the world know why your characters are who they are.”
– Felicia Henderson

“Writers need encouragement. I love the way courage sparkles like a jewel in the word encouragement and I love that the root of courage is coeur— heart. Keeping my heart open is more than a good idea, it’s my job description. Our annual HUMANITAS awards ceremony reminds me of this.”
– WINNIE HOLZMAN

“HUMANITAS honors great stories and the people who tell them. I am thrilled to be a part of the NEW VOICES program, which is an innovative and exciting way for the industry to discover fresh talent and nurture it with people who’ve been down the development road a time or two.”
– DAVID HUDGINS

“I’m very lucky that as a young writer, my voice was heard by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz who basically found me under a rock in Brooklyn and not only employed me, but encouraged me. These days it seems the Ed and Marshall’s of the world are few and far between which makes NEW VOICES an exciting and vitally important endeavor. I am honored and humbled to be associated with HUMANITAS. I’m eager to help discover, nurture and encourage writers whose voices might otherwise never be heard.”
– JASON KATIMS

“NEW VOICES is a ground-breaking program to help launch the careers of talented young writers. Nothing is more important to the vibrancy of our culture and the honesty of our art than nurturing the next generation of true storytellers. HUMANITAS does that.”
– CHRIS KEYSER

“As writers, the entertainment business fools us into thinking success is measured in sales and ratings. But we’re actually in the truth telling business. Real success is creating stories that reveal what it’s honestly like to make our way through this life. The HUMANITAS Awards reminds us to ask our better selves, 'How’s business?'"
– JAY KOGEN

“HUMANITAS might, ironically, turn into a revolutionary production outlet; a place for writers to create powerful, more personal stories about our times and our individual journeys. HUMANITAS answers a call to fill a void; to support evocative, self-reflective work by artists who hold a mirror up to our culture.”
– RICHARD LaGRAVENESE

“Too often in television, even the leading creative forces in the medium trivialize what we do: ‘It’s just a sitcom,’ or ‘It’s only a procedural.’ We take solace in the fact that, at best, we provide escapist entertainment. HUMANITAS raises the bar by encouraging us to write and produce stories that maybe, actually, matter a little. In a time when it’s such a struggle to get a fragmented audience to connect with anything… well, what a pleasant surprise it will be when NEW VOICES not only finds and supports new voices, but serves as a roadmap for all of us as to what we need to be writing in the future.”
– BILL LAWRENCE

“HUMANITAS nurtures writers. Simple, right? Not really. Because Hollywood can be both intimidating and impenetrable. What NEW VOICES of HUMANITAS does is find up-and-coming writers. And after they find them, they nurture them and empower them in a meaningful and hands-on way. Makes total sense. But someone had to do it. HUMANITAS did.”
– STEVE LEVITAN

“Every person on Earth has a story to tell. For those who have been gifted with the great fortune to tell our stories on the grandest scale imaginable, our shared goal is to somehow tap into the core emotional nature of that which makes us human. This conceit would be purely esoteric if an actual organization were not committed to illuminating this ideal and celebrating those who have captured it while seeking out an entirely new generation of storytellers to carry the torch forwards. Thank God for HUMANITAS.”
– DAMON LINDELOF

“As a writer, there’s only one thing I find more satisfying than typing the words “The End”…discovering and nurturing new talent. I am so thrilled to be a part of the NEW VOICES of HUMANITAS and to help create an opportunity for the next generation of great writers to tell their stories.”
– ROB LOTTERSTEIN

“In a business that too often runs on scarcity and fear, HUMANITAS reminds us of the dignity and abundance of creativity. One of the best ways they do this is through their NEW VOICES Program, which provides up-and-coming writers with what they need: connections, perspective, feedback and encouragement. I’m honored to be joining this family as a mentor.”
– MELANIE MARNICH

“More than ever, we need new voices to remind us that the fundamental truths of our rapidly changing world are to be found in the enduring struggles of the human heart. The NEW VOICES program seeks writers who illuminate our common humanity and inspire us to lead lives of value and meaning. By supporting them, we support the highest aspirations of us all.”
– JEFF MELVOIN

“Storyteller is a wonderful and noble calling. Those who are good at it entertain, enlighten, document and change the very fabric of society itself. Where the HUMANITAS Prize has honored those achievements, the NEW VOICES program seeks to continue that tradition by identifying the next generation of storytellers. If stories are what make us human, then NEW VOICES truly celebrates our humanity.”
– BILL PRADY

https://twitter.com/billprady