Sarah Granger Named to 2026 Writers Discovery Fellowship
- Jul 8
- 2 min read
Anarchists United, founded by Lilly Wachowski of THE MATRIX and Lawrence Mattis of Circle of Confusion, announced their 2026 Writers Discovery Fellows July 7th via The Hollywood Reporter. The six month program, previously the Circle of Confusion Fellowship, provides writers with resources for traditional and alternative paths to TV writing and nontraditional long form storytelling. Five fellows were selected for this year’s cohort, including IWC writer, Sarah Granger.
Program sponsors include Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions, Drew Goddard’s Goddard Textiles, and Eric Heisserer’s Chronology. Each fellow receives a stipend, a professional mentor, invitations to private panels with TV professionals, and specialized training through mock general meetings, pitch sessions, and networking opportunities. Fellows will develop pilot scripts and pitch decks with their assigned mentors.
Sarah’s project, WHITE HAT, is a one-hour workplace drama. Pilot logline: “On the verge of collapse, a female-led startup of ethical hackers risks everything to win a high-stakes government cybersecurity contract, going up against powerful competitors and a system built to shut them out.” Centered around a diverse team, the series addresses topics of trust, friendship, intimacy, and self doubt.
Sarah wrote her first script as part of a game she coded at age 9 in Kansas City. She first explored playwriting and screenwriting at the University of Michigan, while initially studying computer science and eventually designed her own major, “Technology and Society.” Her first produced project was a cyberpunk play she wrote and directed while in Ann Arbor.
After graduating, Sarah moved to the San Francisco area, where she worked in cybersecurity at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, then shifted to tech startups ranging from small three person teams to 100+ venture funded endeavors, she worked with organizations like Symnatec, Mozilla, Phoenix Technologies, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Sarah sustained pelvic nerve damage while giving birth and she shifted her career to writing about tech and building innovative new media companies. She was an early blogger for The Huffington Post and wrote a column for SFGate. She also penned articles for Slate, Inverse, and Harvard Business Review, among other publications. Her book, The Digital Mystique, was published by Seal Press (Hachette) in 2014.
She returned to screenwriting in 2018. She draws from her professional background to craft grounded, authentic dramas, sci-fi, and thrillers — features as well as pilots. She is the recipient of the SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disabilities grant and the inaugural Loreen Arbus Fellowship and she is an alumna of the Athena Writers Lab, Stowe Story Lab, and Disability Belongs Entertainment Professionals Lab. Her scripts have been included on The Black List’s annual Disability List and The Women’s List, co-curated by WGA writers. She has also been on producing teams for short and feature films that have screened at major festivals like Slamdance and Austin Film Festival.
Sarah relocated from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles two years ago and joined IWC in January. She will conclude the Writers Discovery Fellowship in October. For anyone interested in applying for the 2027 program, applications typically open for the program in late fall and selections are made in the spring.
Check out Sarah's member profile at https://www.iwclist.com/team/sarah-granger.
