PGA Create Lab Names Nine Producers to Its 2026 Fellowship
Nine emerging and mid-career producers have been chosen for the 2026 PGA Create Lab, the fellowship run by the Producers Guild of America. Deadline broke the list as an exclusive on 12 November 2026.
The fellows come from underrepresented backgrounds and were selected in the programme's scripted cycle. Together they represent eight scripted feature projects, so one project has two producers attached. The fellowship runs from 17 to 20 November, and this year marks the sixth round of the lab.
Here is who is attached to which project:
- Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Arc
- Annie Huang, Bobbie and Diana
- Lea Mende, Cold Blooded
- Cristobal Abugaber and Felipe Torres Urso, Keel Over & Die
- Selena Leoni, Nine Night
- Yuki M. Ledbetter, The Panacea
- Claire Brooks, Total Landscaping
- Alison Week, Wanle
A producer is the person who shepherds a film from idea to finished picture. They raise money, hire the team, and keep the schedule and budget on track. Many producers work for years before their names reach a poster, so a fellowship like this one is a way to meet established people in the business while a project is still taking shape.
The lab is part of the guild's One Guild initiative, which the PGA says is aimed at making the industry more inclusive. Create Lab fellows are chosen from the wider pool of producers working in film and television, and the scripted cycle focuses on people developing feature-length stories.
Nothing in the announcement says which studio or streamer, if any, will back the eight projects. Those decisions usually come later, once a script, a budget and a set of partners are in place. For now, the news is simply the list: nine names, eight films in development, and four days of fellowship work starting next week.
