Conversations from the Sundance Institute Labs | Developing a TV Series with Graham Yost (BAND OF BROTHERS), LaToya Morgan (SHAMELESS) & more

Erica Rivinoja is a television and feature writer. She spent eleven years as a writer/producer on SOUTH PARK, where she won two Emmy awards. She has also written for numerous television shows including UP ALL NIGHT, MARRY ME, BAD TEACHER, GROUNDED FOR LIFE, and the short-lived, but much-loved CLONE HIGH. She was also a Co-Executive Producer on the critically-acclaimed comedy THE LAST MAN ON EARTH.

In addition to her television work, Erica has been active in feature films. She has written on the features CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2, Dreamworks' TROLLS, GIRLS TRIP, and THE ADDAMS FAMILY. She is currently the showrunner for the reboot of CLONE HIGH. Erica is directing the new animated feature for Warner Brothers Animation, THE CAT IN THE HAT. Erica lives in Los Angeles with her intellectually superior physician husband and their two perfect children.

Graham Yost began writing for television in 1989 on the Nickelodeon series HEY DUDE. After a brief stint on FULL HOUSE his script for SPEED was picked up by Paramount (it was later produced by 20th Century Fox). His other feature film credits include BROKEN ARROW, HARD RAIN, MISSION TO MARS, and THE LAST CASTLE.

Yost was nominated for an Emmy as a writer for the HBO miniseries FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, and won Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for it as a producer. He later wrote/co-wrote two installments of the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning HBO WWII miniseries BAND OF BROTHERS, and won an Emmy Award for THE PACIFIC, HBO’s epic miniseries following three Marines through the Pacific theater of World War II. In 2002, Yost created BOOMTOWN for NBC, which was honored with a Peabody Award and two Television Critics Association awards. In 2006, Yost created RAINES starring Jeff Goldblum for NBC.

Yost was the showrunner on JUSTIFIED, the Emmy winning FX series starring Timothy Olyphant, based on a character created by America’s preeminent crime novelist Elmore Leonard. He also served as an Executive Producer on the Emmy-winning FX series THE AMERICANS, and was the showrunner and executive producer on seasons one and two of Amazon's SNEAKY PETE. Since 2019, Yost has been with AppleTV+. Along with producing SLOW HORSES, Yost is Executive Producing and showrunning SILO, based on Hugh Howey’s Silo series of novels.

Teresa Hsiao is the co-creator, writer and executive producer of AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS. Teresa has written for shows such as AMERICAN DAD, FAMILY GUY, FRESH OFF THE BOAT, and BLACK MONDAY. She has developed television pilots for Sony, 20th Century FOX, Warner Horizon, and currently has a feature in development at Lionsgate.

Originally from Boston, Teresa graduated from Harvard with a degree in Economics. Her funniest job to date was the summer she spent at Lehman Brothers in 2006; a year and a half later, Lehman went bankrupt and triggered a $700 billion government bailout (Teresa saw no signs of impending disaster). She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, LaToya Morgan is a graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory where she received a MFA in Screenwriting. She's an alumna of several prestigious fellowships including the Warner Bros. Television Writers' Workshop, the Producers Guild Power of Diversity Fellowship, Film Independent's Project: Involve and its Producer's Lab, as well as the WGA's Feature Access Project. She's been a writer on SHAMELESS, PARENTHOOD, COMPLICATIONS, TURN: WASHINGTON'S SPIES, INTO THE BADLANDS, and THE WALKING DEAD. After back-to-back overall deals at AMC, this two-time NAACP Image Award nominee inked a new multi-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television to write and develop new television series across their family of prestige networks and across digital platforms. She has been tapped by J.J. Abrams to co-create and executive produce the upcoming HBOMax series DUSTER, which has been given a series production greenlight.

Morgan is an executive producer on the HBOMax teen sci-fi thriller AGE OF MIRACLES, which is a co-production with AMC Studios. While at the network, Morgan spearheaded the creation of AMC's Inclusion Initiative which seeks to develop and mentor powerful new voices and talent for the network. The initiative recently announced the development of the edgy scifi spectacle FARMHAND based on the award-winning Image comic book series and the dark comedy OF TWO MINDS as the first accelerated projects. On the feature front, Morgan's spec thriller CARRIED BY SIX is being produced by Mandalay Pictures, sold a crime thriller to Imperative Entertainment and is currently penning the script for a drama-thriller produced by Robert Rodriguez and Stephen Fung.

Morgan is the creator of the viral hashtag #WGAStaffingBoost which launched in the wake of the WGA-ATA dispute to help writers and creatives without representatives connect with showrunners, producers and executives looking to hire talent. A long time comic book fan and writer, Morgan's genre- bending sci-fi graphic novel DARK BLOOD is set for publication by BOOM! Studios in the Fall of 2021. In addition to writing and producing the award winning short film TEAM MARILYN, Morgan also made her directorial debut. It screened at festivals around the globe, including Outfest 2020. She's a two-time Sundance Institute's Episodic Lab mentor, serves on the WGA Inclusion and Equity Group committee and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Charles Eglee was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He graduated cum laude from The Williston Northampton School and went on to receive a B.A. in English from Yale University.

After a brief stint teaching film history at Yale, Eglee moved to California and worked for Roger Corman, where he met James Cameron. With Cameron, Eglee wrote PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING under the screen name H.A. Milton. Subsequently, he wrote and produced the mutant rodent, canuxploitation classic, DEADLY EYES.

In 1984, Eglee moved to television, joining the writing staff of ST. ELSEWHERE, after which he went on to become writer/supervising producer of the ABC hit series, MOONLIGHTING. At Steven Bochco Productions, Eglee wrote and co-executive produced the ABC series CIVIL WARS, and wrote for L.A. LAW. He co-created the short-lived ABC series, The BYRDS OF PARADISE, starring Timothy Busfield, Seth Green and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Eglee joined NYPD BLUE as writer/co-executive producer. With Steven Bochco, he co-created the

series MURDER ONE and TOTAL SECURITY, starring Jim Belushi and James Remar. Eglee and James Cameron co-created DARK ANGEL, a futuristic, dystopian drama starring Jessica Alba.

Eglee has served as writer and executive producer for THE SHIELD, THE WALKING DEAD, HEMLOCK GROVE and DEXTER, the latter receiving Emmy nominations for Best Dramatic Series during his tenure. He is a six-time Emmy nominee, winning the award for NYPD BLUE. His work on THE SHIELD was recognized with a Peabody Award. He is currently the showrunner for the Starz drama, AMERICAN GODS.

Of 'The 101 Best Written TV Series of All Time,' chosen by the Writers Guild of America, Charles Eglee has been on the writing staff of six.