Thanks to Visual Communications for the heads up about the June 30 deadline for the Fox Diversity Development program. From the official announcement:

The Fox Entertainment Group (hereinafter "Fox") announces a new chapter in its campaign to identify and support promising writers from diverse backgrounds. Since 2001, Fox has accepted submission of TV "spec" scripts towards the selection of aspiring writers for a six-week program at Writer's Boot Camp ("WBC") in Los Angeles. As a part of the Boot Camp experience the selected writers have written an additional "spec" script under the supervision of WBC instructors and Fox Diversity executives.

In the 2006 edition of Fox' writers outreach we do not wish to receive "spec" material based on series already on the air. In this new phase of our program, we are soliciting submission of original television pilot scripts.

This shift in focus represents our view that the television industry has at its disposal a large and growing population of diverse writers capable of assuming positions on series writing staffs. We will continue to seek and identify quality episodic writers through other outreach efforts and contact with talent representatives. But, in this new phase we hope to encourage more original thinking, and written product, by diverse writers and/or about diverse themes and characters.

Writers selected for this program will be enrolled in a concentrated course at Writer's Boot Camp where the writer will receive up to six months of instruction and personal guidance from instructors and Fox Diversity executives. During that time our hope will be to guide the writer through drafts of their original pilot towards the goal of a top-quality script that can be submitted to broadcast and cable networks for pilot consideration.

We encourage all diverse writers with a story to tell, or writers of any color with a diverse series lead character in mind, to submit their scripts per the guidelines described below.