Transgender Film Center Reveals Second Annual Career Development Lab Cohort

EXCLUSIVE: The Transgender Film Center has revealed its latest group of fellows for the 2025-26 Career Development Lab.

These 10 film and television artists, who are now set to graduate from the program, participated in a 12-week professional accelerator designed to expand career access and opportunity for transgender creators working across the entertainment industry.

The TFC Career Development Lab, which is funded by Netflix, is in its second year. The Lab pairs intensive career strategy with direct industry access. The 2025-26 cohort completed 12 in-person sessions and experiences and eight virtual workshops, all led by and connecting fellows directly with working film and television professionals, including showrunners, writers, directors, producers, agents, and managers.

Fellows convened in Los Angeles for several days of meetings, seminars, and networking events in the fall, followed by weekly virtual workshops featuring industry leaders, including Lilly Wachowski and Mark Duplass. The cohort also got a behind-the-scenes look at Tribeca Film Festival, participating in learning sessions specifically designed for navigating the festival circuit.

They’ll also leave the program with a refined, 90-day roadmap to translate the insights from the Career Development Lab into concrete professional progress.

“Our mission is to help more transgender professionals build durable careers in film and television — because that’s how more trans-made stories reach audiences at scale,” Sav Rodgers, Executive Director of Transgender Film Center, said in a statement. “The Lab is designed as a rigorous, industry-facing experience that emphasizes practical skills, real relationships, and sustained momentum after graduation.”

The fellows, selective through a highly competitive and multi-step process, will also receive a $15,000 honorarium to offset time away from paid work during the Lab.

The 2025 TFC Career Development Lab fellows are:

Stella Alfjaro — A filmmaker crafting evocative, emotionally driven narrative cinema focused on identity, intimacy, and survival. She is currently developing her debut narrative feature through her production company, Moodrealm Films.

Dusty Austen — A director and VFX artist creating horror and sci-fi films centered on high-concept explorations of LGBTQ+ identity. She is completing her newest feature, Fiber Burn.

Betti Platt — An actor, writer, and producer who creates and stars in visually bold, absurdist scripts examining the absurdity of womanhood from a trans perspective. She is currently securing a premiere for her debut project, Mones, produced by Plattinum Productions in association with YUQ Studios.

Gugu Issa — A television writer and director telling stories about shame, double lives, and deeply dysfunctional families. With support from the Sundance Institute, she is developing her coming-of-age feature Khutbah.

Ocean Vashti Jude — A writer and director focused on dramas about rowdy characters, people on the downside of advantage, and the misadventures of having to work at life, Ocean is expanding into television directing.

Eva Reign — A writer crafting coming-of-age stories about women and girls pushed to the margins through a nuanced and authentic lens, working toward producing and directing her first feature film.

Chris Renfro — A writer and performer creating animated comedies centered on belonging and the many ways people self-sabotage. They are currently developing and pitching their first television series.

James Tom — A stand-up comic making dark comedies about lovable losers. He is scripting and packaging his first feature, a trans-masculine bachelor-party buddy comedy.

Jess Waters — A writer and director creating reimagined period and sci-fi/fantasy stories through a queer and awkward lens. Currently a writers’ room PA on Majesty Season 1, they are working toward securing representation.

Riley Westling — A writer and development executive crafting prestige network television stories about queer people pushed to the edge who find it in themselves to fight back, and now working to expand that storytelling into both feature film and created-by television.