A Life of Future Past (Sci-fi) David Cheung
When a teenaged orphan discovers an uncanny ability to see into the past, he embarks on a journey to view the memories of his departed parent’s romance, encountering love, heartache and devastating secrets along the way.
David Cheung enjoys writing versatile stories, from intimate dramas that explore social issues to exciting genre scripts. He partook in the inaugural EAST x BBC Writers scheme, mentored by Netflix Commissioner Manda Levin, and was chosen for BBC Voices South. His scripts have been shortlisted in All3Media’s New Drama Script award, and Creative UK and Sky’s ShortFLIX programme. He has also been on a writing scheme run by DMC Film, with a BAFTA-nominated producer. David also has script edited beloved shows such as Doctor Who, Renegade Nell and Silent Witness.
Blood Owes Blood (Thriller) Serena Coady
When an old Hong Kong enforcer returns from exile, his estranged daughter Penny must walk the line between vengeance and survival in the dark, vast landscape of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
Serena Coady is an award-nominated Malaysian-Australian writer living in London. She has an MA in Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths and is an alumnus of New Earth Theatre’s writing academy. Her plays have been shortlisted for the Cooper Prize and Martin-Lysicrates Prize, and longlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award, Woven Voices Prize, and Ilfeld Prize. Her audio drama The Beanie Baby Heist of ‘97 was produced by Vespucci. She has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, reporting on culture, food, and isolated communities for The Independent, CNN, Dazed, i-D, Vox, Harper’s Bazaar, and more.
Colony (Horror) San San F Young
After her brother dies in a tragedy that claims 22 lives, Ling drifts in limbo with her reclusive mother and the other grieving families until his return from the dead forces her to find a way to set them all free.
San San F. Young is a Scottish and Hong Kong Chinese documentary director with over a decade of experience. She began her career as a current affairs reporter before moving into feature fiction production. Her work combines urgent, real-world storytelling with a cinematic sensibility, and she is now developing fiction projects as a writer-director alongside her documentary practice. Her films have been commissioned by BBC Three, Al Jazeera, and VICE, earning two One World Media Awards and a Foreign Press Association Award. Hong Kong Mixtape (2023), was her feature debut.
Dream Rider (Sci-fi) Catherine Nguyen Dauphin
In a dystopian mega-city where dreams are chemically erased to control society, an amnesiac woman who purges forbidden dreams has to reclaim her identity and revel against the system to save the man she loves.
Catherine Nguyen Dauphin is a queer, mixed race writer-director and actor based in London. Her work focuses on female and queer stories, especially taking place in cross-cultural spaces. She started working as a camerawoman in documentaries and commercials, before directing her own short films (The Art of Picture Taking, Coffee and Water) and documentaries (Three Borders, Hometowns). She wrote, directed and acted in the miniseries When We Talk About Sex (2020, Series Mania). She has worked alongside Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Olivier Assayas, Vicky Krieps and Gaspard Ulliel. Her feature Double Negative was selected at Torino Film Lab 2024.
Get Sucked! (Horror-comedy) Jemma Moore & Bruce Tang
A chronically unlucky millennial is hit by a London bus and cursed by a witch.
Jemma Moore is a Hong Kong born British writer, director, voice actor and performer. She stars as Jess Li in Red Eye (ITV, Hulu) and leads Netflix’s Flashback, the BAFTA/TGA nominated game Sifu and the award-winning horror Host, which received multiple BIFA nominations. As a filmmaker she co-created Stalling It, nominated for Underwire’s BAFTA qualifying XX Award. She also produced All of Me, which screened at Academy Award qualifying festivals including Palm Springs and Rhode Island. Jemma wrote for Brock Media’s acclaimed horror anthology Eerie and is an alumnus of MilkTea’s Laughing Matters development lab.
Bruce Tang is a comedy writer, director & improviser. Credits includes East Mode with Nigel Ng (Comedy Central) & Drop the Dead Panda (BBC R4), which earned nominations from the BBC’s Audio Drama Awards & the British Comedy Guide. Bruce directed THISMOTHERPHUCKER at the Edinburgh Fringe, earning rave reviews and Best Queer Performer from Binge Fringe. Bruce is an alumnus of Van Thanh's development programme, Queen’s Young Leaders Mentoring Scheme, Creative Access, MilkTea’s Laughing Matters development lab.
Haven (Horror) Julie Nørgaard Jensen
A 16-year-old Korean adoptee is forced to attend a heritage retreat for interracial adoptive families.
Julie Nørgaard Jensen is a Korean-born, Danish screenwriter and NFTS graduate based in Cornwall. She’s very passionate about representation and inclusivity, and often writes about mental health, grief, race and belonging. She loves to explore grey areas or divisive themes through genre (and somewhat grumpy characters) often with a dash of humour. Among others, Julie’s work includes the BAFTA-longlisted animated short film A Film About a Pudding, Amma Asante’s upcoming sci-fi series Smilla’s Sense of Snow, horror feature Lucia, and the comedy-drama feature Cake Days.
Prayers for a Hungry Ghost (Horror) Elisabeth Gunawan
Overshadowed by her virtuoso twin and trapped at home caring for their father, a resentful woman develops a mysterious illness that manifests as an uncontrollable hunger.
Elisabeth Gunawan 吳金蘭 is an award-winning writer-performer. With her theatre company Kiss Witness, their work harnesses the power of stories to create spaces of belonging for people who don’t have it in real life, to decolonise the imagination and empower people. Their past works include the bouffon performance Unforgettable Girl (The Pleasance), the immersive headphone piece Stampin’ in the Graveyard (Summerhall) and the ensemble piece Prayers for a Hungry Ghost (Barbican).
Ripples (Horror) Jen Lim
In Victorian London’s Chinatown, Alex lures classmates into her disreputable neighbourhood with a tale of a drowned water ghost, until sailors and children begin to vanish, and she fears the legend is real.
Jen Lim first began filmmaking at the Beijing Film Academy before graduating with a degree in Film & TV from the University of Bristol. Her short films include the award-winning Apocalypse Anytime Now, supported by the Roundhouse and Ex-Animo Foundation, and the award nominated and BIFA-qualified Discord, winner of the Emerging Voices Film Foundation. Alongside writing and directing she crews on the sets of Film and TV. Jen attended Reykjavik International Film Festival’s Talent Lab in 2024 and is a member of BAFTA Connect and Directors UK.
The Multiple (Thriller) Emerald Paston
An obsessive journalist spots a reclusive painter who hasn’t been seen in years but when the artist turns up dead under a different name, uncovering her true identity becomes all-consuming.
Emerald Paston is a comedy writer and unscripted development executive. She regularly writes for Have I Got News For You and co-hosts its accompanying podcast. She has written sketches for East Mode, Shots, Flaps and Unhinged. She was part of the writing room for an action feature film development with Randan Productions, and wrote on Hypothetical. She developed the award-winning comedy entertainment game show, Rosie Jones’ Out of Order, as well as several other Comedy Central UK television and digital series.
Suck (Horror-comedy) MF Wong
Hunted by vampires after a late night out in Soho, Joel must herd his group of friends into the safety of their favourite Chinese restaurant and survive till sunrise.
MF Wong is a writer who creates heartwarming and heartbreaking films with sharply observed dialogue. He explores themes such as identity, duty and cultural heritage. He was on the All3Media/TV Foundation's New Writers Collective (2024), and MilkTea’s Laughing Matters development lab (2024/5). Prior to this, he won a scholarship for the Golden Egg Academy for novel writing, and created several pieces for The Big Think for presentation across the UK. He continues to work hard to become a better writer and person but is secretly less bothered about the person thing.
Teddy Girls (Thriller) Lao Lee
In 1967 Liverpool, mixed-race newcomer Jean is swept into the radical Teddy Girl subculture by the magnetic Bobbie, but as love entangles with violence, she must decide how far she’ll go to protect the only place she feels she belongs.
Lao Lee is a British-Chinese playwright, screenwriter, and composer with a passion for telling unheard stories, particularly through a queer and global majority lens. She was selected for BBC London Voices Writersroom in 2022. Prior to this, she received a seed commission on New Earth’s Professional Writers Programme, where she had an attachment and a workshop at the National Theatre Studio, as well as a rehearsed reading at Soho Theatre. Lao was a part of Soho Writers Lab, amongst other development programmes, and her work has been long listed for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and the Tony Craze Award.
Tilted (Thriller) Kayla Hendy
On the night of a five-million-dollar esports final in Shanghai, a volatile young player’s personal unravelling threatens to cost his team their one shot at this life-changing prize.
Kayla Hendy is a thriller, crime, and drama writer from Berkshire, represented by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. She recently participated in BBC Voices, where her TV thriller idea was selected to be developed into a script with an NFTS script editor. In 2025, Kayla was mentored by Daisy Coulam (Grantchester, Deadwater Fell) through the inaugural BBC X EAST mentorship program for emerging ESEA screenwriters. She also previously took part in the year-long Netflix X Sky Fellowship Scheme spearheaded by Bisha K. Ali, during which she worked in the writers’ room for a Sky series.
