Disney Entertainment Television (DET) Directing Program
The Disney Entertainment Television (DET) Directing Program is a highly-selective, one-year program for diverse directors. The program guarantees episodes to first-time television directors on DET scripted series, and guarantees segment directing opportunities on DET unscripted series. Directors receive mentorship, on-set shadowing experience, networking opportunities with the company’s creative executives, and limited professional and career development prior to directing their episodes.
Established in 2001, the DET Directing Program has kickstarted the careers of many established and award-winning directors and producing directors on hit shows, including Tessa Blake (“A Million Little Things”), Pete Chatmon (“black-ish”), Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther” franchise), Zetna Fuentes (“Jane the Virgin”), Regina King (“Insecure”), Marvin Lemus (“Gentefied”), Jaffar Mahmood (“Young Sheldon”), Nzingha Stewart (“Little Fires Everywhere”),
Disney Directing Program - TK Shom on THE ROOKIE
Directing Program 2022-2023 TK Shom talks about the Disney Directing Program and his experience on the ABC show THE ROOKIE.
PRIMETIME SCRIPTED
In 2021, the DET Directing Program evolved to guarantee episodes to first-time episodic directors on Disney Entertainment Television’s primetime scripted series. Since then, the program has provided episodic opportunities to first-time television directors on series such as
ABC’s The Rookie, The Good Doctor, and Black-ish; Freeform’s Good Trouble and Single Drunk Female; FX’s Snowfall; and Disney Branded Television’s Raven’s Home and The Villains of Valley View, as well as Disney-produced series The Chi and The Resident.
DAYTIME SCRIPTED
In 2022, the DET Directing Program expanded into the daytime scripted programming space, guaranteeing segment and episodic directing opportunities on ABC’s daytime scripted series, General Hospital. This was the first formal engagement between daytime scripted and Disney’s talent programs.
UNSCRIPTED/ALTERNATIVE
In 2023, the DET Directing Program expanded into the unscripted/alternative programming space, providing segment directing opportunities on ABC’s hit unscripted series, THE BACHELOR, DANCING WITH THE STARS, and SHARK TANK. This was the first formal engagement between unscripted/alternative and Disney’s talent programs.
2023-2024 DET Directing Program
Scripted Cohort
Established in 2001, the DET Directing Program guarantees participants the opportunity to direct an episode of a Disney scripted series or a segment of a Disney unscripted series, and offers professional and career development through mentorship, on-set shadowing experience, and networking opportunities with the company’s creative executives and program alumni.
This year, the program’s scripted directors will be shadowing and directing episodes on 20th Television, ABC Entertainment and ABC Signature titles. After expanding into daytime television just last year, the program is also deepening its collaboration with ABC’s “General Hospital.” Three program participants will direct episodes of the beloved daytime drama.
The cohort and their directing assignments include Erica Eng, Nina Kramer and Aubrey Smyth (“General Hospital”); Haley Elizabeth Anderson (“The Chi”); Letia Solomon (“Station 19”); and Tracy Taylor (“The Good Doctor”).
Since its founding, the DET Directing Program has nurtured the careers of notable alumni including Tessa Blake (“A Million Little Things”), Pete Chatmon (“black-ish”), Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther” franchise), Regina King (“Insecure”), Marvin Lemus (“Gentefied”), Jaffar Mahmood (“Young Sheldon”) and Nzingha Stewart (“Little Fires Everywhere”).
Aubrey Smyth is a Cannes Lions award-winning commercial director and three-Time Tribeca Film Festival film director with nine-Telly Award wins and a Webby Award nomination. She has 14 years of experience directing narrative and documentary films, commercials, branded episodic, digital, and promos spanning genres comedy, drama, and unscripted. Her specialties include directing celebrities, influencers, athletes, kids of all ages, non-professional performers, animals and products. Aubrey’s client roster includes networks ABC, Hulu, A+E, Lifetime, Amazon, Netflix and household names Google, Target, Sherwin Williams, Purina, Audible to name a few. After graduating from the Pratt Institute with High Honors for a BFA in Film & Video, Aubrey founded her production company, Gingersnap, whose earliest clients included Grey Advertising and Pantene Pro-V. Aubrey furthered her education at NYU Stern School of Business Entertainment for a Media Executives mini-MBA program from 2013-2014. Aubrey was the Grand Prize Winner for the Moët Moment Film Festival 2018 sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Tribeca Film Festival for her dramatic film THE BOUT. Her branded entertainment documentary, THE NEED TO KNOW, was executive produced by Tribeca Studios and 23andMe in 2019. Aubrey’s dark comedy film LIZA ANONYMOUS had its World Premiere at Tribeca in 2021 followed by screenings at 20+ festivals including Austin Film Festival. In 2023, Aubrey won a Cannes Lions Bronze award for a commercial campaign with FCB Health.
Erica Eng is a fifth-generation Chinese American director based in Los Angeles. She wrote and directed AMERICANIZED based on her experiences growing up in Oakland and playing high school basketball. The film earned a Vimeo Staff Pick and garnered 26 awards at festivals including Bentonville Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, and Cinequest where it became Oscar-qualified after winning "Best Narrative Short." Erica's latest film OFF FAIRFAX is a comedic mystery-thriller that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and took home an Honorable Mention at Slamdance in the Episodic category. Her coming-of-age drama/horror short film, THE GHOST, was produced by Disney’s Launchpad alongside Executives from Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, and is currently streaming on Disney+. Aside from narrative directing, Erica’s commercial directing work has been featured in Shots, Muse by Clio, and recognized as AdAge’s “Editor’s Pick” and “Pick of the Week.” She was selected for SHOOT Magazine's New Directors Showcase and the Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP). Since then, she has worked with Meta, BBDO, Google, The Many, and Procter & Gamble. Erica is one of two winners of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women.
Haley Elizabeth Anderson is a writer, filmmaker, and visual artist born in Houston, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin’s Film and Theatre Programs and graduated from NYU’s Tisch Graduate Film Program as a Dean’s Fellow. Haley’s short film PILLARS premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won Best Live Action Short and the Grand Jury Prize at AFI. Her follow-up short, SUMMER ANIMALS, premiered at SXSW in 2021 and won Best Texas Short. Anderson was named as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and her work has been featured at the Barbican in London, Le Cinema Club, The Criterion Channel, The New Orleans Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Slamdance, Sundance Film Festival, Champs-Élysées Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival. Her latest feature, TENDABERRY, premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews.
Letia Solomon is a former chemical engineer turned award-winning director based in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in TV & Film Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Her thesis film, THE CYPHER, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, ABFF HBO Competition, and streamed on HBO MAX. Letia is a Directing Fellow of the 2022 Tribeca x CHANEL Through Her Lens Program and Netflix’s 2023 Episodic Directors on the Rise Masterclass led by Paris Barclay. She directed a mockumentary-styled comedy, CLONES, which won the 2022 Lionsgate/STARZ Award for Best Speculative Film and directed a coming-of-age pilot, 3 BLIND MICE, that won the Best First Time Filmmaker Award at the Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase. Letia is committed to championing underrepresented narratives in both television and film.
Nina Kramer is a non-binary Chilean-American award-winning comedy writer, director, and actor based in Los Angeles, CA. Their recent projects include campaigns for brands such as Fujifilm, Reddit, Disney, and YouTube Premium. Most recently, their campaign for Fujifilm won the American Advertising Award for Best Series in 2023. Nina's narrative work, PLAYHOUSE OF CARDS, has also received high honors at various film festivals, and won a College Television Awards Emmy from the Television Academy for Best Scripted Web-Series. From 2016-2018, they served as producer for the podcast ANNA FARIS IS UNQUALIFIED. Nina is a graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts, where they studied Film Production.
Tracy Taylor is an LA-based television writer and director. Born and raised in Chicago, Tracy studied Journalism and Theater at Southern Illinois University. She began working as a copywriter before making the leap to Los Angeles to pursue writing and directing full-time. She jump-started her career by winning the BET Rap-It-Up film competition, for which she received a grant to write and direct a short film. The resulting work, WALKING ON SUNSHINE, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for outstanding television movie and won the Cable Positive award for outstanding TV movie. She is also the creator of THE NEW 20s – a dramatic web series which premiered in the New York Television Festival. In 2017, Amazon acquired Tracy’s latest short film, NAKED, to stream on their digital platform. She also created and directed The Africa Channel original series SHADES OF YOU, focusing on connecting the dots of the shared Black global experience. In 2018, she was a semi-finalist for the Humanitas New Voices TV Writing Program and a finalist for The Ryan Murphy Half Foundation Television Directing Program. She is an alum of the 2019 Disney Entertainment Television Writing Program. She is currently a Co-Producer on ABC's THE GOOD DOCTOR.