We are so excited to announce the cohort for Writing For Animation, in partnership with the ScreenSkills Animation Fund. These brilliant filmmakers from four different regions will take part in a range of masterclasses exploring subjects such as structure, collaboration and audience. Each writer will also work with a script editor to develop their short film idea.
South West
Tommy Howlett (he/him)
Tommy Howlett is a director, animator and writer based in Bristol. He graduated with an MA from the National Film & Television School with his short film, All Hail the Duck King, which has screened at over 25 film festivals. He runs ‘Kwak Studios’, an independent animation studio entirely ran by ducks, and he currently works freelance under IPs such as One World or None, and Mattel’s Pingu.
Eva Edo (she/her)
Eva is an animation writer, screenwriter and director who creates emotionally rich stories. Inspired by motherhood and her former career as a child protection solicitor, her work champions women, young people and underrepresented voices. Eva recently observed her first animation writers’ room and is shadowing a BAFTA-nominated animation writer. A graduate of the BBC Scripted Programme, she made her directing debut with Grandboy, a BFI NETWORK-backed short film.
Justyna Green (she/her)
Justyna Green is an animation writer, director, and illustrator creating sensitive, accessible, and courageous narratives that explore the full spectrum of what it means to be human. In 2025, Justyna released her first short film, Make a Wish, and she was also selected for the BFI NETWORK New Voices scheme, through which she developed her second film, PRICK.
Nathan Johnson (he/him)
Nathan Johnson is a character designer and an aspiring animation writer based in Bristol. He is currently a BBC Diversity Fund writer for a kids show in development with Wildseed Studios. Inspired by the whimsical, other worlds, the fun and funny, exploring memories through new perspectives, Nathan’s work spans across character design, storyboard, 2D animation and production, in projects with Wildseed Studios, Netflix, Blink Industries, and It’s Nice That.
Midlands
Kathryn Flynn (she/her)
Kathryn Flynn is a multi‑award‑winning animator and emerging writer based in Northampton, with a degree in Animation and several years’ experience across narrative, educational and commissioned projects. She has contributed to award‑winning work, including the BFI‑funded short, animated film Of All the Things. Her storytelling explores everyday life pushed to surreal extremes, often incorporating anthropomorphic characters and combining humour with emotionally grounded, character driven narratives.
Anika Patel (she/her)
Anika Patel is a screenwriter who loves writing character-driven stories that find the warmth and absurdity in people just trying to hold it together. For her, the best stories make harder topics more digestible, letting humour create space for something true to land. She has a background in children’s YouTube animation and is drawn to how the medium lets you build worlds that couldn’t exist any other way.
Katerina Pushkin (she/her)
Katerina Pushkin is a writer, director, songwriter and performer from Birmingham, specialising in musical and sensory storytelling. She is Artistic Director of Cloud Cuckoo Land Theatre: their musical productions for young audiences have toured to theatres, schools and community centres across Birmingham and the UK. Katerina is a Trustee for Assitej UK, the sector umbrella body for performance for young audiences. Her live action detective short, Slomo, was shortlisted for the BBC Future Talent Award.
South East
Jason David (he/him)
Jason is an award-nominated scriptwriter who likes to blend magical realism and dark humour to tackle challenging themes. Since graduating from a screenwriting MA in 2023, he has been shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award in 2024, invited to be a part of BBC London Voices in 2025, and currently has a play in production with Talawa Theatre for their 2026 Firsts Festival.
Kate Jessop (she/her)
Kate Jessop is an award-winning animation filmmaker who is regarded as a pioneer of Queer Animation, creating ground breaking award winning films showcasing the queer perspective through animation. She was selected for the Berlinale Talent Lab both with her portfolio as a director and with her comedy series chosen for development in the Project Lab. She has had retrospectives at the USA Gilbert Baker Film Festival USA and in Czech Republic’s Anifilm. Her work was written about in the first ever book on Queer Animation: On LGBTQ2S Animation published by Quickdraw in Canada, 2020.
Instagram Website Planet Pussy Willow Planet Pussy Willow Instagram
Lee Guilliland (he/him)
Lee Guilliland is a filmmaker from Felixstowe. When his animatic Bedward Story unexpectedly won Best Animation at the Family Film Festival in LA, it led to the development of Lonely Stick of Dynamite, a stop-motion/live-action short starring Peter Guinness, with puppets and sets by AMS. His animated feature The Old Bear and the Flea was shortlisted for the BFI NETWORK Early Development Fund. He tells stories filled with imagination and wonder.
Carly Mills (she/her)
Carly Mills hails from Belfast, Northern Ireland, but is currently based in Surrey. She was part of Northern Ireland Screen’s New Writer Focus Programme in 2020, and since then has written for CBeebies show Yukee, developed a daytime TV romantic comedy for Reel One Entertainment, and was a 2024 4Screenwriting Mentee. Her first short film Polished screened at the 2025 Galway Film Fleadh.
North
Charles Humphreys (he/him)
Charles Humphreys is a neurodiverse, working-class multidisciplinary filmmaker working across animation as a writer-director and animator, alongside acting and production design. Through his DIY artistic practice, he explores character and form using handmade, experimental practices. As part of the indie collective Idle Work Factory, Charles places Northern narratives at the forefront of his work, offering a fresh take on traditional animation.