Lauren Monroe

Lauren Monroe (she/her) grew up on the outskirts of metro Atlanta where liking and being good at sports was the primary measure of success. That meant her sweet Accelerated Reader scores, poor depth perception, and overattachment to fictional characters made her uncool at best. At worst, it got her in trouble for sneaking books into pep rallies. Thankfully, she had a nerdy single mom in her corner who cosplayed at conventions, wrote fanfiction, and instilled in her a love of storytelling.

The rest of the conservative south was less supportive of a fat, neurodiverse, queer kid who did attention-grabbing things like writing with a quill in school. She connected with the characters in fantasy and sci-fi cartoons who were also navigating worlds they didn’t fully understand.

Any time she expressed wanting to write for a living, she was informed that being a professional nerd was not a Real Job. Even her otherwise encouraging mom was worried she wouldn’t be able to make a living writing. If her mom who was cool enough to proofread her gay Wicked fanfiction thought writing wasn’t a good career path, she was right, right?

Lauren got an English degree because she loved stories and thought it would help her land the coveted Real Job (spoiler: it did not). When the literary canon bored her so badly she started writing academic essays about Avatar: The Last Airbender, she had to reconsider her career.

A distinctly queer shift in animated content brought her writing ambitions back and Lauren realized she wanted to write cartoons instead of papers. By day, she worked a government job herding used car salespeople to pay the bills. By night, she worked on her samples, took TV writing classes, started networking with other writers, and completed a WIA mentorship program.

Now, Lauren happily writes colorful worlds for kids with the queerness and nuanced perspectives of diverse bodies and brains she wishes she’d had. Her favorite shows to write are animated fantasy and sci-fi adventures where she can let her imagination run wild.

When she isn’t writing, Lauren is couple cosplaying with her wife, sacrificing a spool of thread to the serger, playing DnD, and trying to teach her cats Zoom etiquette.

Writing Program

Founded in the year 2000, the Nickelodeon Writing Program is a full-time, paid, yearlong development Program for television comedy writers with unique voices and fresh perspectives. Join us at the studio in Burbank for classes and workshops to sharpen your skills, executive mentorship and networking to build your professional relationships, and the opportunity to work in the iconic live-action and animation writers’ rooms at Nick. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dedicate yourself to the craft of writing and build your career from the ground up.

The Nick Writing Program is not a writing contest – It’s a launching pad for emerging creatives. If you bring the unique voice and innovative ideas for kids’ and family content, we’ll help you launch a career with all the tools you’ll need to succeed in the industry for years to come.

We need your talent and perspective, so come tell us your story!

Submissions are closed.

Please note: all submission and notification dates are subject to change.

Artist Program

We can’t create the most awesome kids’ content in the world without the most awesome artists in the world.

The Nickelodeon Artist Program is a 6-month, full-time paid talent development program for aspiring pre-production artists. We seek out talented designers, painters, story artists, and CG generalists with unique voices, with the goal of mentoring, developing, and staffing the next generation of inclusive storytellers and content creators.

The Nick Artist Program is designed to kick-start the journey of career-ready artists! If you’re ready for the SLIME of your life, come join us at the Nick Animation Studio.

Please note: All dates are subject to change.