Please join us in congratulating the 2020 TWL Participants

 

Nichole Abshire 
Imposter Impersonator
Charlotte Cameron
Throw Money
Elise Greven
Silent Spring
Joey Day Hargrove
Highway to Heck
Christine Hoang 
Fly Girl
Christine Autrand Mitchell
The Field
Carolyn Saunders
Island West 
Kelly Yoon Strathmore
Wing and a Prayer
Barbara Ward Thall
Little Sister
Victoria Thomas
Street Food
Sandy Thomson
A Sharp Arrow 
Julie Zografos
Dark Quarry

Congratulations also to our 2020 FINALISTS and SEMIFINALISTS.

And THANK YOU to the all the writers who shared their excellent scripts with us this year. We continue to be awed and humbled by the expanse of talent in our community.

 

  

The 2020 Lab was an intensive virtual four-day script-development program.

Reframed to optimize an online lab experience, the Lab brought 12 selected writers together with outstanding professional mentors in one-on-one development sessions, panel discussions and workshops, refining their work while building a unique and powerful community.

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The Writers Lab presented a roster of influential, experienced filmmakers including:

PRODUCERS Anne Carey (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Susan Cartsonis (What Women Want), Lisa Cortes (Precious), Shruti Ganguly (The Color of Time), Riva Marker (Relic, Stronger) Mary Jane Skalski (Hello I Must Be Going), Frida Torresblanco (Pan’s Labyrinth), Jamie Zelermyer (NYWIFT Board President and former Focus Features VP)
and
SCREENWRITERS Mara Brock Akil (The Game), Amy Fox (Equity), Pamela Gray (A Walk on the Moon), Rita Hsiao (Toy Story 2). Lisa Jones (Disappearing Acts), Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights), Theresa Rebeck (355), Tracey Scott Wilson (Respect), Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Pat Verducci (True Crime). 

 

 

 

2020 TWL Finalists

Jackee Chang, Insatiable
Ji Un Choi, Bada
Marya Cohn, Hurricane Season
MaryAnna Donaldson, Pig in a Bathtub
Karyn Langhorne Folan, The Revisionist
Shannon Hamblin, Lilly Has Questions: A Sort of Memoir
Kate Hewlett, The Swearing Jar
Armelle Lajus, Malick
Krystyna Loboda, Doll
Jamie Mayer, Consent
Cath Moore, A Quiet Companion
Patricia Nagy, Mariology
Janice Okoh,  Aina
Angelina Olkhovskaya, Eggshells
Anita Palathingal, Seen, Unseen
Charity Stashwick, Goal
Rangeley Wallace, Everybody Knows
Rae Welch, Her Dracula

2020 TWL Semifinalists

Emma Barnes, Mr. Keynes’ Revolution
Amy Carlson, The Pariah
Kara Sabin Doran, Finding Alice
Trish Dotson, Revolutionary Heart
Samia Doumit, Drown
Skye Emerson, Challenger
Theresa Burkhart Gallagher, Schmoolie the Deathwatcher
Audra Gorman, Beefalo
Nicole Jones, Shrimp
Elizabeth Keyishian, Tin Girls
Betty Lee Kim, Lucky Star
Paige Morrow Kimball, Late Bloomers
Jessie McCormack, Snookered
Valerie Miller, Withdrawal
Paula Puryear, Jupiter
Shoshana Rosenbaum, At the Edge of the Woods
Cheri Steinkellner, Prima Materia
Barbara Ward Thall, The Gold Fish
Sandy Thomson, Salt Water Blood
Cheryl Willis, The Live Oak
Cheryl Willis, Salt and Pepper
Elena Zucker, The Weathergirl 

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Please join us in congratulating 2017 Alum KAREN MCDERMOTT for being named ONE of the five 2019 winners of the Academy’s  Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting.  The Writers Lab congratulates 2018 Alum LYNN ESTA GOLDMAN on being selected as a 2019 Nicholl Fellowship Finalist.  Two out of 12 Nicholl Finalists this year are TWL Alumnae!  They join 2017 Participant VIGIL CHIME on the prestigious list of  Nicholl Fellowship winners.  
Read about the 2017 mentors and participants

The Lab is an intensive four-day script development retreat for women screenwriters over 40.

Meeting one on one and in panels with outstanding female film professionals, as well as in peer groups and directed discussion sessions, talented writers examine and refine their work while building a unique and powerful community.

Selections are blind and based solely on the merit of the screenplay submitted. We welcome all genres of narrative feature-length scripts:

•   from women who have a compelling story and a cinematic vision.
•   from women with or without previous industry experience.
•   from women open to feedback and revision.
•   from women eager to forge career-building peer relationships.
•   from women of any country who have written an English language feature-length narrative screenplay.
•   from women of all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural groups.

The Writers Lab is supported by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey, with additional support from Kate Hall & Gary Lynch. It is produced by co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, with New York Women in Film & Television.

The Lab is presented in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America, East, with in-kind support from The Black List, Falco Ink, Film Fatales, Filmarket Hub, Roadmap Writers, Stony Brook Manhattan Center for Creative Writing & Film, and Untamed Stories. A special thank you to Final Draft for their product contribution.