Duffel Bag Founders
Darrell Bogan, CEO
Darrell Bogan, Co-founder and CEO of Duffel Bag Productions, served thirty three years in the U.S. Air Force and Reserves. Raised in one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods, he found refuge in storytelling, writing plays for his church, and performing in the band, creative outlets that quite literally saved his life.
A graduate of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project, Darrell crafts equal justice dramas that center ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, where survival demands courage, and transformation is the only way through. His work explores what it means to fight for identity, family, and purpose with grit, heart, and unwavering hope.
LeVonda Lee, President, Film and TV Development
LeVonda Lee, Co-founder and President of Duffel Bag Productions, served ten years in the U.S. Air Force, where she rose through the ranks as a Space Surveillance Officer. From briefing generals at the Pentagon to writing and directing plays for Black History Month to heal and inspire her military community, storytelling has long been her tool for transformation and truth-telling.
LeVonda earned her MFA in Screenwriting from USC and is a graduate of both the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project and the Veterans Writing Fellowship. Her work spans grounded dramas and sci-fi thrillers that interrogate power, identity, and the unseen systems shaping our lives. Through every script, she seeks to give voice to those who have been overlooked and to champion stories of personal reclamation and resilience.
Writing Team
Allen Sowelle
Allen served seven years in the Marine Corps. He is an award-winning writer-director, currently writing on the NBC Universal’s medical drama, New Amsterdam. His work ranges from reality TV, creative directing for a branding agency, and head of production for a broadband advocacy corporation. Here he created award-winning scripted series, “9INE,” addressing teen pregnancy from the POV of a teen-father, and “Front Seat Chronicles,” about the life-changing conversations that occur in transition. He also wrote and directed an award-winning short, Emma Rae, a story about a teen girl avenging the online and real-time abuse by her foster brother.
A Military Intelligence Veteran and former gang interventionist, Allen is an alumnus of the Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller Screenwriting Fellowship at USC. Allen earned his bachelor’s degree in World Literature at UC Santa Cruz. He is a mentor in the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project.