Diversity Initiative Competition

 July Winner!

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Helen Fernandez
Helen Fernandez is a film and TV writer based in Los Angeles, California. She was raised by her single mother, in between Arizona, Texas, and in her mother’s homeland of Mexico. As a first-generation American woman, she often feels trapped between two cultures: her Mexican culture and her American side. Today, she embraces her identity crisis and channels it into her writing.

Last year, Helen was selected to be a part of Women In Film’s mentorship program for emerging talent. This program has been an invaluable resource to Helen, as it pushes her to ask better questions and to open up about her journey as a young, writer and director.

Helen is currently serving as the showrunner’s assistant on Justin Spitzer’s NBC comedy, American Auto, starring Ana Gasteyer. Previously, Helen worked on Kenya Barris’ Entergalactic for Netflix, starring Kid Cudi. Helen loves telling character-driven stories about unconventional women, complex family dynamics, and the occasional surrealist comedy. Her latest web series, Help Yourself, has partially wrapped and is currently in post-production.

Each month, Roadmap selects one diverse screenwriter to participate in the Pitch Prep Program (Step 1 of our Career Writer Program) for FREE!

The lack of diversity and representation in Hollywood has been at the forefront of the national conversation for a while now. At Roadmap, we want to do our part to help bring more diversity to the big screen (and the small)! For us, that starts with the screenwriters.

That's why we are proud to sponsor the Roadmap Writers Diversity Initiative Competition!

We launched this tribute in memory of Roadmap Writer Coletta Preacely-Garcia, whose budding career was cut short when she passed suddenly shortly after Roadmap's launch in 2016. Coletta was an extremely hardworking screenwriter who was always working to better her craft—tirelessly writing, rewriting, and taking advantage of every opportunity presented to her to gain skills, make connections, and polish her screenplays. This tribute highlights diverse writers that embody this same spirit.

Who should apply? This program is for diverse screenwriters with at least one completed original Feature or TV Pilot who are ready to tackle the marketing aspect of their career and start getting their work out there! Roadmap defines "diverse" as anyone belonging to a group whose voice has traditionally been marginalized in Hollywood, particularly BIPOC, AAPI, LGBTQIA+, and Disabled.