Writing for a Broadway show is a feat that takes many aspiring writers years and hundreds of hours of work to achieve. But an NYU undergraduate has reached that point in his career after winning a screenwriting competition.

Tisch sophomore Devin Mojica, only 19 years old, beat five other alumni in an Urban Arts writing program, earning him a guest writer spot on the Broadway production of The 24 Hour Plays, featuring many celebrities such as Jason Biggs and Zachary Levi. The annual production involves six writers, six directors and 24 actors creating and producing six plays over a span of 24 hours.

Mojica said he was excited about being able to write for such a renowned cast.

“It’s a challenge,” Mojica said. “It is important for me to not stress out as much and have a little more fun.”

Mojica’s competition-winning work, “Naughty List,” is about a truck driver taking an anger management course.

“It’s called ‘Naughty List’ because the class counselor has written a book called ‘How to Get off Santa’s Naughty List,’” Mojica said.

Mojica’s said his script was inspired by American film actress Bette Davis and the individual’s ability to endure so many complex anger issues.

For the competition, each candidate had six hours to write a three minute play for three people, which was then performed the same night for a panel of judges and industry professionals.

The program’s sponsor, Urban Arts, is a partnership that serves to increase the presence of the arts in a New York educational system which CEO Philip Courtney described as broken.

“We are the largest arts organization in all of New York City,” Courtney said. “[Urban Arts] advances the intellectual, social and artistic development of underserved public school students.”

Mojica said he has found his current success because of hard work and because he is almost always busy. Throughout his freshman year he juggled school, work and writing at the same time. His advice to NYU undergraduates was to use stress to your advantage.

“It’s the stress that brings out an artist’s greatest work,” said Mojica. “I don’t want people to think that my schedule fits so [perfectly.]”

“My favorite time to write is between the hours of 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. In my freshmen year, I never started homework before 2 a.m. It’s where everyone else is sleeping so you can have space to breathe.”

Mojica had been a part of The Academy at Urban Arts, where students from ninth to 12th grade join to perfect their artistic craft with teaching artists and professional staffs.

“We’re really about using all different kinds of art forms, be it theater, poetry, film making, graphic design, and using that and integrating that into the curriculums of schools across the city,” Courtney said. “So think more [about] how you can teach a social studies class by integrating filmmaking.”

Mojica has always enjoyed the curriculum at Urban Arts, which has ultimately helped him achieve this latest accomplishment.

“It was senior year when I was working at Cold Stone [Creamery] and coming here on Saturdays,” Mojica said. “I treated this as a mandatory thing, although it wasn’t really.”

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Nov. 7 print edition. Nathan Ho is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].