Until February 7, applications are open for the European edition of The Writers Lab (TWL), a mentoring program for script development exclusively for women over 40 years old. English-language feature films or pilots should be submitted on the initiative’swebsite.
During the four-day virtual lab, which will take place in April, the mentors and the 15 selected participants will engage in rigorous script development through one-on-one meetings, small group and panel discussions, workshops, among other activities. Over the following six months, follow-up will be provided with mentoring, development, and marketplace sessions.
Mentors and guests for the 2022 edition include directors Susanne Bier (“The Night Manager”), Jasmila Žbanić (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”), Isabel Coixet (“Secret Life Of Words”), Nadine Labaki (“Capernaum”), producer and writer Jantje Friese (“Dark”), playwright and writer Christina Ham (“Them”), and producer Ameenah Ayub Allen (“Rocks, Ali and Ava”).
The Writers Lab Europe is produced by co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, and UK partner Untamed Stories, helmed by producers Julia Berg and Ruth Spencer. The edition of the same laboratory in the United Kingdom and Ireland was launched this year and has the support of the production company Dirty Films, founded by Cate Blanchett. In the USA the initiative was born in 2015, produced by NYWIFT, and supported by actresses Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. The Laboratory is also associated with Drehbuchforum Wien (Vienna Writers Forum) and Women in Film and TV (WIFT) Finland.
