LMU Student Picked for Writers Program is Latest Coup for Screenwriting Department

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Oct 13, 2017, 17:27 ET

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television congratulates MFA student Octavia Bray, who was just selected for NBC's Writers on the Verge program.

Bray was one of eight chosen from more than 2,500 applicants for the program, which is intended to develop aspiring television writers from diverse backgrounds. She currently works as the showrunner's assistant on the Netflix series BoJack Horseman.

Current students and recent alumni of the screenwriting program at Loyola Marymount University have won awards and sold scripts to become upcoming television series.

She is the latest student or recent alum of LMU's Screenwriting Department to be recognized by the entertainment industry over the last six weeks.

- Netflix recently gave an eight-episode, straight-to-series order for The Green Beret's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse, which is co-created and written by current MFA student Daril Fannin. The hybrid scripted/unscripted comedy is executive produced by Matt Damon.

- Netflix also gave a two-season, straight-to-series order for Ratched, based on a script written by 2016 screenwriting graduate Evan Romansky. The drama will chronicle the early years of Nurse Ratched, the antagonist of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and is being produced by Ryan Murphy.

- Ashley Marie Ryan, a current MFA student, was honored with the Randal Greenland Screenwriter of the Year award at the Austin Revolution Film Festival.

- Sam McGoldrick, a 2017 graduate of the screenwriting program, was named one of six 2017 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab fellows, and awarded a $10,000 grant to help develop his script.

"The success of our screenwriting alumni is a direct result of the environment created by our faculty," said Stephen Ujlaki, dean of the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University. "Curiosity, collaboration, and connection. Students find their unique voices in a community of story-tellers who are making a difference in our ever-evolving industry."

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About Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University, the University of Silicon Beach, is ranked in the top 10 percent of higher education institutions nationally by The Wall Street Journal. Founded in 1911, LMU is a Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount university with more than 6,100 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate and law students. LMU offers 58 undergraduate majors and 53 minor programs, along with 46 master's degree programs, one education doctorate, one juris doctorate, one doctorate of juridical science and 13 credential/authorization programs. LMU's intercollegiate athletics teams compete in the West Coast Conference with 22 Division I and varsity sports.

LMU news and events are found at: www.lmu.edu/news.

SOURCE Loyola Marymount University