Photo: Jeremy Thomas
2019 Screenwriting Alumna
Cottage: Oak
BIO: Sonja is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, and facilitator with a passion for telling diverse, female-centered stories with heart and humor. She was born in California but was raised right outside of Atlanta, GA. She graduated with honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in drama, and went on to perform in numerous critically acclaimed theater productions throughout the country. Sonja soon felt a call to participate in health and wellness initiatives in her community and worked as a health educator throughout South Los Angeles. She went on to receive her Masters in Public Health from UCLA and upon graduation, used her research and storytelling skills as Director of Research & Development at Wise Entertainment, where she oversaw numerous television projects and also served as associate producer on Hulu’s Emmy-nominated TV series, East Los High. She is also associate producer on Time 2 Surrender, an award-winning short film directed by Elvis Nolasco and executive produced by Spike Lee. She recently worked as a staff writer on season two of the Facebook Watch original, Five Points (EP, Kerry Washington) and served as story consultant on Loops, an Audible drama podcast series starring Vivica A. Fox. Sonja was one of five women selected to participate in Hedgebrook’s 2019 Screenwriters Lab, where she developed her first feature film, The 84, a coming-of-age drama set in 1968 South Los Angeles. That script won Grand Prize in the 2021 WeScreenplay Feature Competition, Grand Prize in Nantucket Film Festival's Tony Cox Screenplay Competition, Grand Prize in the 2021 ScreenCraft Drama Competition, and Best Screenplay at Urbanworld Film Festival 2021. It also ranks among the top 1% of all projects on Coverfly. Sonja has been a guest lecturer and facilitator at institutions around the country, including: UCLA, USC, UT Austin, Webster University, The Geffen Theater, Johns Hopkins University, and more. She is currently co-writing a one-hour drama in development at Entertainment One and has a half-hour dramedy in development with Wise Entertainment and Gabrielle Union's production company, I'll Have Another. She is represented by Silver Lining Entertainment, RBEL, and Morris Yorn Entertainment Law Firm.