Producers Guild of America Announces Selected Producers and Producing Teams for 2026 PGA Create Lab
Program to take place Tuesday, November 17–Friday, November 20, 2026
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the nine producers of eight scripted feature projects invited to join the 2026 PGA Create Lab for emerging and mid-career creative producers. Now in its sixth year, the program is focused on supporting and uplifting producers from underrepresented backgrounds.
From Tuesday, November 17, through Friday, November 20, the PGA Create Lab’s scripted cycle will feature creative producers and teams in active development, financing, or packaging of a feature. The lab offers fellows the opportunity to hone their pitches, attend master classes led by experienced producers, and expand their network of fellow producers. It is rooted in sharing the practical realities, challenges and opportunities facing producers today.
Additionally, each project will receive a one-on-one mentor following the completion of the lab.
PGA Create was developed through PGA’s One Guild initiative which supports inclusive membership, employment, content, and authentic depictions.
“For six years, PGA Create has provided steadfast support to up-and-coming producers with a range of personal backgrounds, work experience, and innovative storytelling that are invaluable to the future of our industry and profession,” said One Guild Task Force Chairs Javier Chapa and Shelby Stone. “We could not be more proud of the Guild’s investment in this program, the colleagues who generously share their time as speakers and mentors, and the fellows who have shared their work with us.”
2026 PGA CREATE LAB FELLOWS
Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Producer, Arc
Miami, 1999: A paranoid young hustler who believes his mother was abducted by aliens finds solace in a mysterious woman whose cult promises extraterrestrial salvation, drawing the attention of a washed-up former government agent who's desperate for a case.
Annie Huang, Producer, Bobbie and Diana
After her cheating husband’s sudden death in the summer of ’92, a Princess Diana-obsessed Southern grandmother is thrust into independence and a late-in-life sexual awakening that challenges everything she believed about love, herself, and her own desires.
Lea Mende, Producer, Cold Blooded
After a desperate 911 call leads a deputy to a snow-covered lake house, she reconstructs a deadly crime scene alongside a local officer she knew as a child — but as the storm closes in, mounting evidence forces her to question both what happened that night and the man beside her.
Cristobal Abugaber and Felipe Torres Urso, Producers, Keel Over & Die
Wanting to give the love of his life a “happily ever after,” Gustavo, an out-of-work sailboat designer, puts everything on the line when he discovers what could be $100 million worth of gold inside an old boat.
Selena Leoni, Producer, Nine Night
When Dale Lewis’ grandmother Durene dies and her family gathers to host a traditional Jamaican wake, she is given nine nights to fulfill Durene’s secret dying wish - but at the risk of tearing her family apart.
Yuki M. Ledbetter, Producer, The Panacea
A man living in a society that treats toxic masculinity as a clinical disease must undergo a psychedelic treatment or face permanent exile from civilization.
Claire Brooks, Total Landscaping
On the outskirts of Philadelphia, a well-meaning but spectacularly unlucky everyman rents out his company's parking lot for what he believes is a film shoot, only to find himself at the center of a national media circus.
Alison Week, Producer, Wanle
As violent threats mount against a second-generation Hawaiian-Chinese-Filipino cockfighter aiming to avenge her father’s wrongful death, her pacifist lover issues an ultimatum: him or her beloved birds.
The 2026 Final Selection Panel included Zainab Azizi, president of Raimi Productions, Send Help, Don’t Move; Javier Chapa, founder of Mucho Mas Media; J. Miles Dale, producer, The Shape of Water, Frankenstein; Bill Horberg, producer, Ezra, The Queen’s Gambit; Shelby Stone, executive producer, The Chi, Bessie; and Roxanne Taylor, co-CEO, Hidden Empire Film Group, Black and Blue, Drift, Fatale, Intruder.