From Moonshot Initiative Finalist to Published Author

Moonshot Initiative community member and Pilot Accelerator finalist Charlotte Lillie Balogh is now a published author! We asked Charlotte some questions about the process.

How did you get involved with Moonshot Initiative?

I was a 2023 Moonshot Initiative Pilot Accelerator finalist for my drama pilot KILL THE LAX BRO, and last year I had the chance to be a reader for the Moonshot Accelerator. I love seeing so many alums from the program thriving on social media, and I’m excited to be sharing some of my own updates with the Moonshot community.

Tell us a little bit about the book and how you decided to adapt it from the original pilot script.

This summer, my debut YA novel, KILL THE LAX BRO, based on that very same pilot from Moonshot, is being published by Penguin Random House on June 24, 2025. It’s a murder mystery set in the deliciously chaotic, bubblegum pink world of the 1990s. Think: Clueless meets Scream! The night before graduation, the high school lacrosse team captain turns up dead—and suspicion immediately falls on the girls who had the most reason to hate him: Sassi (the overachiever), Tatum (the rebel), Naomi (the geek), and Jennifer (the dream girl). It’s twisty, messy, nostalgic, and, hopefully, a little unhinged…in the best way. But I’m biased!

You can check out the full synopsis and/or preorder a copy here: Kill the Lax Bro.

I always dreamed of being an author growing up—it was only in college that I got into screenwriting. So writing this book felt like a real full-circle moment. However, adapting the pilot into a novel was no small feat! When I wrote the script, I didn’t know who the killer was. Then, after selling the book on proposal, I had to figure out the entire mystery structure—including the whodunit—while on deadline. The process nearly broke my brain but it also made the final version so much better…and fun!

What’s the difference between writing a pilot and writing a novel? What did you like and dislike about each process?

The LAX BRO pilot more or less ended up being the first 50 pages of the book. At first, this made the drafting process go by quickly, but then I hit a real rut and had to rebreak the ending a few times. I’m someone who loves to procrastinate by putting up color-coded notecards on my corkboard and overanalyzing plot structure—but one of the best things about books is that they allow for rambling! You can follow a tangent or explore a character’s backstory, and more than once I was surprised by where my characters wanted to take me. I love being able to dig a little deeper and build the atmosphere in a way that’s not really possible in screenwriting—if anything, it goes completely against the rule of “show don’t tell”, because in your books you do the “showing” by how our character does the telling. That said, I also love writing scripts because of how mathematical they are—you’re always thinking about the page count, scene length, how many lines of dialogue you can squeeze in—and every line of text has to earn its place.

What did you get out of being a Moonshot Pilot Accelerator finalist?

Community and confidence! Just last week I got coffee with another writer who I met through one of the virtual Moonshot mixers. Being a part of the Accelerator cohort gave me a sense of belonging in a space that can otherwise feel pretty isolated. Also, the interview process was huge for me and the development of LAX BRO—it was the first time someone asked me to think critically about the project as a potential series, not just a sample, and it challenged me to imagine the bigger picture: What does Season 1 look like? Where do the characters go? What’s the long-term arc, etc., etc.? Looking back now, it was a game changer for how I saw the story, and it later helped in the adaptation process from pilot to book.

In addition to reading the book, how can Moonshot community members support this project?

I’d love to invite the Moonshot community to come hang out at an in-person book tour event (you can check out my website for a full list). Also, if you are in a book club, or library group, or know other folks interested in learning about publishing, know I would love to visit and do a virtual Q&A.

Congratulations Charlotte! We're so excited to read it and look forward to your continued success.

Thanks again to Moonshot, and best wishes to you all!

You can read more and purchase KILL THE LAX BRO here!