APRIL SHIH

APRIL SHIH is a WGA Award-winning television writer/producer and filmmaker with several series in development at FX, WBTV, and Paramount Television Studios. She has written for FX’s critically acclaimed comedy YOU’RE THE WORST, MRS. AMERICA (starring Cate Blanchett), and Amazon's UNDONE, and served as Supervising Producer for Season 2 of DAVE. April was recently a showrunner for Alex Garland's THE BEACH for FX and is currently a co-executive producer on Season 5 of FARGO.

April has been a fellow of the Sundance Episodic Story Lab, CAPE New Writers Fellowship, CBS Writers Mentoring Program, and the inaugural Film Independent Episodic Lab. April is currently under an overall deal at FX where she is creating, developing, and producing meaningful, soul-oriented content under her production banner DIVERSITY HIRE LTD.

Before partnering with April Shih at Diversity Hire Ltd, JEN GOYNE BLAKE was the Founding Director of the Episodic Lab at the Sundance Institute. For nearly 7 years, she headed the program dedicated to nurturing television writers from underrepresented communities. Blake shepherded over 200 writers and produced over 20 Labs during her tenure. Ninety percent of the program's alumni have been staffed on shows, and dozens of lab projects have been developed at networks and streaming platforms. The program has become a go-to destination for showrunners and executives staffing new shows.

In 2017, out of thousands of submissions, Blake selected Shih's project, Tilting, for the program and the two have been close since then. Prior to Sundance, Blake worked at Relativity Media. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the New Market Discovery Foundation.