Lab US-2023

Our ninth annual Writers Lab will begin in New York City on Tuesday, November 7. Writers, Mentors, and the TWL Team will travel upstate to Saugerties for 4 full days focused solely on their projects, community building, and career strategizing.

Saugerties, NY

For the second time, we’ll be staying at the Kaatsbaan Lodge, which offers serene accommodations and inspiring views of the Catskill mountains, plentiful and delicious meals, and countless spots for our one on ones, panels, workshops, screenings, and informal meetings.

The hybrid intensive—with in-person and virtual elements—balances workshops and discussion, along with individual script work and group sessions. We’ll focus on building craft, community, and career skills with this cohort, which includes feature and pilot writers bringing a diverse array of genres, profiles, creative voices and lived experiences. The on-site mentors—writers and directors—offer generous and candid unscripted interaction, as well as hours of deep craft and career exploration. Virtual discussions with additional speakers and guests further enrich the retreat.

The writers will leave with detailed plans for revisions and tools to advocate for themselves and their work. The cohort will continue to work together and support each other, with advocacy and guidance from The Writers Lab team, the mentors, and the alumnae community.

Mentors

This year, the Lab welcomes Alison Small and Krissy Wall, head of Film and TV,
respectively, at Brownstone Productions, to share development tips
from Elizabeth Banks’ female-forward company.

They will join a powerhouse roster of Writer Mentors that includes
Debora Cahn (The Diplomat),
Anya Epstein (The Affair),
Amy Fox (Equity),
Pamela Gray (A Walk on the Moon),
Rita Hsiao (Mulan),
Meg LeFauve (Inside Out),
Robina Lord-Stafford (Moonshine),
Erica Saleh (One Of Us Is Lying),
Susan Seidelman (She-Devil),
Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
and Pat Verducci (True Crime).

Previous labs
in the US

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