Lab US-2020

2020

Our sixth annual Writers Lab program took place October 1-4, and was entirely virtual.

Virtual

When the pandemic closed in-person opportunities, it opened up the possibility of expanding inclusion and participation. And so we did.

In our sixth year, we doubled our participating mentor roster, engaging a total of 15 writers, directors, and producers. New to our family in 2020 were the incredible Rita Hsiao, Riva Marker, Tracey Scott Wilson, and Frida Torresblanco. All the mentors worked with our screenwriters virtually, but no less intensely and generously. 

We again welcomed participants from beyond the US – 4 of 12 this year, across many time zones. We all pivoted to a new way of bonding, communicating, and supporting one another, and with the help of our tech-savvy staff, we built a rich 4-day experience. These writers left with a deadline for their next draft, and calendar of virtual meetings for the class, and plans for our next virtual gathering.

The 2020 writers

Nicole AbshireCharlotte CameronElise GrevenJoey Day HargroveChristine HoangChristine Autrand MitchellCarolyn SaundersKelly Yoon StrathmoreBarbara Ward ThallVictoria ThomasSandy ThomsonJulie Zografos
2020 lab participantNicole Abshire
IMPOSTER IMPERSONATOR An imaginative girl’s small-town world is upended when she must team up with a fabulous outsider to create a funeral extravaganza for their shared mentor.
2020 lab participantCharlotte Cameron
THROW MONEY A savvy migrant office cleaner and her crew stage a secret heist in a London investment bank, armed only with their hostages’ paranoia and sense of omnipotence (n pre-production.)
2020 lab participantElise Greven
SILENT SPRING Biologist Rachel Carson takes on the government and powerful chemical industries as she struggles to write SILENT SPRING, the book that sparks the creation of the American environmental movement (021 NRDC-Black List Fellowship Winner.)
2020 lab participantJoey Day Hargrove
HIGHWAY TO HECK When an uber-Christian teen is taken hostage in a bank robbery, she must convince her jaded captor to let her become his partner-in-crime, because she’s hell-bent on saving his soul.
2020 lab participantChristine Hoang
FLY GIRL Linh Hoang Williams, 42 and a recent divorcee, joins a 90s-inspired hip-hop team to dance away her demons and kick in a new life (In pre-production.)
2020 lab participantChristine Autrand Mitchell
THE FIELD When catatonic men, like human scarecrows, start assembling in a cornfield, an ambitious beat reporter risks her life to uncover a world-changing secret.
2020 lab participantCarolyn Saunders
ISLAND WEST On an isolated island in a world flooded by climate change, a young woman raised as a militant racist falls for an outsider who reveals the dark truth about her home and herself.
2020 lab participantKelly Yoon Strathmore
WING AND A PRAYER In a Midwestern farm town, an impoverished teen resolves to make a better life for her disabled younger brother, but when she meets a resourceful homeless girl, she must save more than just the rent money.
2020 lab participantBarbara Ward Thall
LITTLE SISTER In 1849 Missouri, a gender defiant farmgirl drags her flighty mother along on a rescue mission to save her abducted sister from escaped convicts.
2020 lab participantVictoria Thomas
STREET FOOD When a Nigerian refugee discovers that her promised job in Italy is sex work, she flees to a safe house where she joins her new community in fighting prejudice while cooking their way to freedom (In pre-production.)
2020 lab participantSandy Thomson
A SHARP ARROW In 1695, a newly widowed woman battles the law, the church, and her own community when her neighbor accuses her of witchcraft so he can seize her land.
2020 lab participantJulie Zografos
DARK QUARRY In 1963 North Carolina, a defiant mute girl and the town pariah dig a strange bullet from a wolf pup and unravel a mystery that could save them both.

I now have a supportive cohort and mentors whom I still keep in touch with today. 

Christine Hoang
TWL US 2020

The 2020 mentors

Susan Cartsonis
Lisa Cortes
Amy Fox
Shruti Gangly
Pamela Gray

Rita Hsiao
Lisa Jones
Riva Marker
Mary Jane Skalski
Robin Swicord

Frida Torresblanco
Pat Verducci
Tracey Scott Wilson
Jamie Zelermyer

Industry Insights

In the 2020-21 season, women accounted for just 30% of creators of streaming programs, and 22% on broadcast network programs–which is down from the previous year.

Previous labs
in the US

2015
2016

2017
2018

2019
2020

2021
2022

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