The Autism Scene is dedicated to promoting the creation and inclusion of explicitly autistic characters in kids pop culture

THE 2026

AuSPEC SCRIPT

COMPETITION

The Autism Scene will be holding a kids animated series spec script competition starting in December 2025, culminating in the AuSPEC AWARDS ceremony on April 2, 2026 in Burbank. Category winners will win meetings with animation executives, showrunners, and/or managers, including from agencies like Gersh, management companies like Gotham, Verve, and kids animated shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lego Friends, Hello Kitty, Monster High, and more! The AuSPEC AWARDS will culminate in a Grand Prize of $5,000. Each script should be an episode of a recent animated show, and have at least one series regular meaningfully interacting with an explicitly autistic character. Autistic characters should be in every type of show — comedy, drama, sci-fi, romance, YA, fantasy, everything! — and the AuSPEC AWARDS will show the industry how it’s done!

press release

The Autism Scene is pleased to invite you to submit to the 2026 AuSPEC SCRIPT COMPETITION. We are looking for submissions of spec scripts for existing kids animation shows. The only expectation is that each script will include a series regular meaningfully interacting with an explicitly autistic character. A great submission will feel like it could be a real episode of the animated show you choose — in tone, characterization and format.
For the money and prizes! Each category winner will get a meeting with an executive, manager, agent or showrunner who has read their script. These will include folks from Gersh, Nickelodeon, The Gotham Group, etc. We will do our best to match the winners with an appropriate meeting. AND ALSO— We will hold an AuSPEC AWARDS Ceremony where three scripts will have a staged reading with professional Hollywood VO talent, which should be pretty cool. And the grand prize winner will be awarded $5,000! Sweet!
Any human person, really. We hope this will provide an opportunity for people new to animation to get an introduction, and to help working animation writers get to the next level. The awarding team is comprised of television animation show runners, writers, executives and autism consultants.
An average kids television animation script will be for an 11-minute segment. Well-known shows or shows currently in production are more likely to help your ideas and writing come across quickly and clearly in a competition like this. All submissions should include the following:
- A log line or brief summary of the episode
- A sentence about the autistic character, and
- A pdf of your script submission.
- A $25 submission fee.
Please DO NOT include your name on your script or in the title of the PDF, to help us be as unbiased as possible.
Once the competition opens to submissions in December 2025, you will be able to submit through the button below. And if you have any trouble with that, you can always email us at AuSPEC2026@TheAutismScene.org.
The submission fee can be covered by making a $25 donation to The Autism Scene, which you can make by following the submission button below. Funds raised will be used to defray costs of running the competition.
The submission period will open December 1, 2025. Entries are due by January 31, 2026. The awards will be announced on Thursday April 2, 2026.
Prize Categories
- Grand Prize
- Best preschool script
- Best kids animation (@ages 8-11) script
- Best musical script
- Funniest script
- Spookiest script
- Cutest script
- Kindest script
- Best sci-fi script
- Best adventure script
- Best educational script
- Best nonspeaking/nonverbal character
- Best use of AAC device
- Best explanation of autism
- Best script by unrepresented writer
- And more!

FAQ, Submission form and more!

Authentically Creating Autistic Characters

Autism is historically underrepresented in pop culture. With increasing rates of autism (the CDC currently estimates 1 in 31), there is an increasing demand for autistic characters in our pop culture from both executives and audiences. But for the creatives in the middle, especially the neurotypical ones, it can feel like a daunting challenge. How can I fit an autistic character in my goofy animated show? Autistic people are in our world, so whether it’s a YA fantasy graphic novel, a family sitcom, a high-octane hospital drama, a post-apocalyptic zombie comic, or whatever -- authentic autistic characters belong there, too. The Autism Scene aims to gather autistic and neurotypical creators to successfully add autistic characters to pop culture, and how you can too!

About Us

If you’re writing an autistic character, its important to get to know some autistic people if you don’t already, beyond what you see through pop culture. Some of our nonspeaking friends have lent their voices to The Autism Scene through their blogs:

Advisory Group Member Alfonso Camacho’s Autism and Other Endeavors of the Heart

Friend of The Autism Scene Zora Oginar’s Being Zora

Zora’s friends at the Mouth to Hand Learning Center

Authenticity Consultants

It has become standard practice for a studio to engage an autism consultant if they are producing a show with an autistic character. And it’s generally a good idea for professional writers working on their own! Some autism consultants who have worked on Hollywood studio projects:

Dr. Kerry Magro, Ed.D, CAS, is a full-time professional speaker, best-selling author, and autism consultant for major film and television projects including Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum U.S., Warner Bros.’ Joyful Noise, and the The Present. As a writer, he contributed to PBS Kids’ Carl the Collector and has authored several books, including Supporting Your Autism Journey and Autistics on Autism. Kerry has been featured in national outlets such as NBC’s Today Show, CBS News, and The New York Times. He has provided autism sensitivity training for directors and crews on multiple projects. He received a credit Ezra (starring Robert DeNiro) and was paid to consult on several episodes of HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher. In addition to giving over 1,400 talks worldwide on inclusion and disability awareness, Kerry is also returning to his first love - acting. He has performed in more than 20 stage productions and recently auditioned for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia (starring Emma Stone) and Apple TV’s Radical. His unique perspective bridges advocacy, consulting, and performance to create a stronger platform for meaningful representation of autism in the media. You can contact Kerry at Kerrymagro.com/contact

Dr. Desi Jones is a neurodivergent psychologist and autism researcher whose work focuses on how autistic people experience and navigate everyday social interactions. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, where she directs the SHINE Lab and studies peer attitudes, social interactions, and mental health among autistic adolescents and adults, with special attention to how race and gender shape these experiences. Dr. Jones’ research is centered on capturing authentic, real-world perspectives from autistic people themselves, making her well suited to support writers and producers who want to create thoughtful, accurate, and multidimensional autistic characters. You can contact Desi at desi-jones.weebly.com/contact-us.html.

Ava Xiao-Lin Rigelhaupt is an Emmy Award-nominated writer, consultant, actress, and public speaker. As a Chinese, Jewish, neurodiverse, transracial adoptee, Ava shares her lived experiences in a way that’s easily understandable and entertaining for a wide audience. Currently, she's working on an unreleased APPLE TV feature film. Ava's episode, "The Fall," on the PBS KIDS show, CARL THE COLLECTOR, is Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Series! She's written and consulted on scripts for 9Story Media (BLUE’S CLUES, DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD), Apple TV (CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH), and Disney (THE GHOST AND MOLLY MCCGEE). Ava received a Drama Desk Special Award for Authentic Autistic Representation, recognizing her accessibility work as the Creative Consultant for the Broadway coming of age musical, HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO (follows seven autistic young adults at a social skills center as they prepare for a dance. Broadway 2023/West End 2025). As an often called upon public speaker and panelist, Ava shares best practices working with the neurodiverse community, creating authentic characters, tools for producing accessible events, and how her own identity breaks stereotypes! Highlights: Disney, Netflix, The New York Times, Sundance, Television Critics Association. You can contact Ava at linkedin.com/in/ava-x-r-59a7a5126.

Alex Plank is a trailblazing autistic self-advocate and a pioneering leader in the autistic human rights. As an associate producer of the critically acclaimed movie “Ezra,” Alex has made significant strides in both behind-the-scenes and on-camera roles. He is a champion of authentic and humanistic representation of autistic individuals in the film industry. With a deep commitment to challenging ableism, Alex advocates for a world where autistic people are valued and respected. This commitment extends to a broader condemnation of ableism in all its forms, with a specific focus on dismantling the barriers within the film industry that marginalize autistic talent and narratives.You can contact Alex at alexplank.com/contact.html.