The Series Creators to Watch section of the Project Market highlights rising voices that will shape the future of television and push the boundaries of serialized fiction storytelling. Made possible thanks to The Gotham’s organizational partners and Gotham Alumni, this section of the Project Market will provide access to industry and opportunities for representation for writers and creators who have innovative vision and bold, risk-taking new series in development.
This year’s cohort will have the opportunity to attend The Gotham Week Project Market, taking place September 29 through October 3 in New York City. The creators selected are alumni of previous Gotham programs.
Learn about the 2024 Series Creators to Watch.
2025 SERIES CREATORS TO WATCH
Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo) is the writer/director of the award-winning feature film Frybread Face and Me, Executive Produced by Taika Waititi and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s Array for Netflix. The film was selected as part of SXSW 2023’s Narrative Spotlight and TIFF 2023’s Discovery and New Wave Selects. His feature documentary Miss Navajo, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens that same year. His second documentary feature, Grab, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was screened at over 80 film festivals around the world. His short documentary film, Red Lake, had its world premiere at the 2016 LA Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 2016 International Documentary Association Awards. In 2018, he launched his web series alter-NATIVE for PBS’ IndieLens StoryCast. He is currently a writer and director for the AMC series Dark Winds.
Zoey Martinson is an award-winning writer and director whose work spans theater, film, and television. Her feature The Fisherman premiered at the Venice Biennale, winning the Fellini Medal, Enrico Fulchignoni Prize from UNESCO. She has directed for Showtime’s Ziwe (A24), Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween (Incomplete, NAACP Image Award nominee), and MTV/Paramount+ (The Wave). Her short Cupids premiered at Tribeca and aired on BET & CBS. Other credits include Uthandiwe for DSTV MzansiMagic South Africa, La Oposición (Casa Mexicano program SXSW), and The Fisherman short on HBO Max. She’s written for HBO Max’s Betty and was a finalist on Issa Rae’s Project Greenlight. A Warner Bros. Discovery Directing Fellow (2023–24), Martinson has also directed Off-Broadway and internationally.
Lanre Olabisi is an award-winning writer/director whose films have aired on HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and Hulu. Most recently, he has been directing television, including six episodes of ABC’s The Rookie and two episodes of the spinoff The Rookie: Feds.
Lanre’s short film, A Storybook Ending, streamed on HBO for three years and landed him in the HBOAccess Directing Program. There, he had the opportunity to shadow on HBO’s Succession and Max’s Love Life. Lanre was then selected into the Disney Entertainment Television (DET) Directing Program. His feature film work includes August the First and Somewhere in the Middle, both distributed by Film Movement worldwide. August the First played at over 35 film festivals, including South by Southwest (SXSW) and Karlovy Vary. It won the top prize at seven festivals and was nominated for an IFP Gotham Award. It also played on Showtime and Netflix. It can be seen on various streaming channels, including Tubi. Lanre’s second feature, Somewhere in the Middle, was nominated for Outstanding Feature at the Black Reel Awards and also streamed on Netflix. It is currently available to stream on PlutoTV.
A former collegiate wrestler at the University of Michigan, Lanre has practiced Brazilian jiu-jitsu for over a decade, an influence reflected in his hand-to-hand combat scenes. Before his television career, he taught Screenwriting, Directing, and Acting for Film at the New York Film Academy for 15 years.
John Onieal is probably the seventh best queer director, writer and series creator in Brooklyn. He is best known as the creator of Grindr’s Primetime Emmy-nominated series Bridesman and his recent short film Sister! is premiering at Tribeca Festival 2025. John began comedy as a form of exposure therapy to treat his severe blushing problem. Randomly, he’s a Georgetown School of Foreign Service, UCB and Second City alum, as well as an investment banking partner, an Edward R. Murrow award winner and a three-time broadcast news writing Emmy winner.
Jenn Shaw is a writer/director & executive producer known for her genre-bending narratives that champion underdogs, embrace the beautifully quirky, and spotlight overlooked cultural treasures. Before stepping behind the camera, Jenn was a powerhouse producer at ESPN, where she produced major branded campaigns blending emotional depth with cinematic flair. Since then, she’s directed more than 60 commercials, documentaries, and narrative films for top-tier brands like Adidas, Hyundai, Ivory and Hershey’s. Her work has screened at premier festivals including Tribeca, Pan African, and HollyShorts.
Jenn’s ESPN film $15 Kicks, executive produced by Spike Lee, earned a Black Reel Award, while her 2022 docuseries Running While Black (Adidas x VICE) sparked vital conversations about race and movement in America. Her short film Gaps, created through Tribeca, P&G & Queen Latifah’s Queen Collective, was nominated for a 2024 NAACP Image Award. Currently, Jenn is in development on two narrative feature films, including Lollies, a coming-of-age story selected for the Alliance of Women Directors’ Rising Director Fellowship. She’s also developing a new television series about two brothers navigating a world where sports luck and loyalty collide.
Whether behind the lens or deep in the writing process, Jenn brings a grounded, magical, and storytelling-forward approach to every project. She is proudly represented by Elissa Friedman at Zero Gravity.
Ani Simon-Kennedy is a Paris-raised, Brooklyn-based writer and director. Her narrative feature films include The Short History of the Long Road (starring Sabrina Carpenter, premiered at Tribeca 2019 and rose to #2 at the box office) and Days of Gray (a post-apocalyptic fable with a live score, screened at festivals globally and was described by The Hollywood Reporter as “an assured debut.”) She is a Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Fellow,and her work has received support from Sundance, Tribeca, The Gotham, Film Independent, and Yaddo. As co-founder of Bicephaly Pictures with cinematographer Cailin Yatsko, Ani has directed campaigns for LEGO, Teen Vogue, and Smirnoff, working with award-winning talent including Viola Davis, Michael Phelps, and Julia Garner.
Anu Valia is a writer/director whose roots are in India and Indiana. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Anu’s work has screened around the world. Her short film, Lucia, Before and After, won the US Fiction Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017.
Anu’s TV directing credits include Shrinking (Apple), She-Hulk (Marvel, Disney+), A Man on the Inside (Netflix), The Afterparty (Apple), And Just Like That (HBO), Shrill (Hulu), and Never Have I Ever (Netflix). She is the executive producer and pilot director for Apple TV’s Big Door Prize.
Her debut feature, We Strangers, premiered at SXSW in 2024 and will be released later this year.
Lindsey Villarreal is a television and feature writer, emerging director, and 2024 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive Fellow. She also received the 2024 Sundance Horror Fellowship. Lindsey has been recognized by the Austin Film Festival, The Tracking Board’s Hit List, and IFP’s Screen Forward Labs. Her work blends bold, genre-driven storytelling with emotional depth and expansive worldbuilding.
Lindsey served as Co-Executive Producer on La Máquina (Hulu), starring Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. She has written for shows such as Kindred (FX), Mayfair Witches and Tales of the Walking Dead (AMC), George & Tammy (Showtime), Resident Evil (Netflix), and Vida (Starz).
She currently has original pilots in development with FX Networks, Onyx Collective, and 20th Television, and is a recent graduate of the WGA’s 2025 Showrunner Training Program. On the feature side, Lindsey is developing several projects including collaborations with directors Nathalie Álvarez Mesén and Josephine Decker as well as actress Noomi Rapace.
Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Lindsey is an avid marathon runner. Before her writing career, she worked as a caricature artist in theme parks across the country. She is represented by UTA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Yorn Levine.