If you dream of becoming a television writer, buff up the resume and click here because applications are now being accepted for the 2009 Writing Fellowship Program run by the Disney-ABC Television Group, Walt Disney Studios and Writers Guild of America West.

The fellowship is an intense year-long paid program that gives a handful of promising scribes the chance to jumpstart their careers through seminars and workshop, one-on-one mentor assignments with Disney and ABC creative execs and the ability to observe first hand how the sausage is made on ABC, Disney Channel or ABC Family shows, among others.

Alumni of this program, heading into its 19th year, have famously done well for themselves. Success stories from this year's program, which isn't even over yet, include Erika Johnson, who landed on "Ugly Betty"; Leyani Diaz, who joined the staff of "Brothers and Sisters"; and Matthew Whitney, who can now be found in the writers' room on ABC Family's "Greek."

I've spoken with a number of fellowship alums over the years, and there is no doubt that it is an incredible experience for those who are lucky enough to land a slot. Disney deserves a tip of the pen for its commitment to the Writing Fellowship and similar program for helmers that the Mouse House runs with the Directors Guild of America.

Applications for the Writing Fellowship will be accepted via this website through Aug. 8. So get out that spec script you've been harboring on your hard drive and get cracking.

Disney-ABC Television Group has selected its three directing fellows for the 2007-08 season. The Disney  Directing Fellows program is an intense year-long apprenticeship program run in conjunction with the DGA that is designed not for novices but for people who already have already shown some promise and spunk in getting their foot in the door. The plan is to give them exposure to sets, mentors, seminars with real relevance to those in the trenches, and generally giving them access to execs, writers, producers and other directors in the Disney orbit who can help them take it to the next level, if they have the right innate stuff. I've been impressed with the level of commitment Disney and ABC brass have made to this program (it's a pet project of ABC Entertainment prexy Steve McPherson's, among others on the Burbank lot) as well Disney's similarly structured writing fellowship program. It's basically grad school on the studio/network lot, and those who have been through the program in the past few years have thrived as helmers, A.Ds, staff writers, supervising producers, etc.

Selected from more than 300 applicants, this year's directing fellows are:

Nandi Bowe, who studied at Howard University, Temple U and AFI, and has logged time as an A.D. on numerous movies and TV series. She also had a stint as a staff writer on Fox's "X-Files" spinoff, "The Lone Gunman."

Oscar Daniels is a recent AFI grad and past winner of Showtime's Black Filmmaker Showcase contest. He had a short film, "Among Thieves," in competition this year at Sundance. In a previous life, Daniels worked as an intelligence analyst for the National Security Agency (no kidding).

Sharat Raju, a graduate of U of Michigan and AFI whose thesis film "American Made" has been on the festival circuit and racked up a number of short-film kudos and aired as part of the PBS indie film series "POV."

Pictured above, left to right: DGA's Regina Render, Bowe, Raju, Daniels and Disney-ABC TV Group's Tim McNeal, veep of talent and diversity.