Earlier this year Women In Film, Los Angeles and The Black List announced that they would join forces to launch a new episodic television lab for women writers. The eight-week lab offers an opportunity for women television writers early in their careers to receive mentoring and feedback on their work. The eight finalists for the inaugural Women In Film/The Black List Episodic Lab have been revealed.

A press release details, “Lab participants will be hosted by The Black List website for free and have their final pilots read by a variety of agencies and networks, to be announced at a later date.” The 2016 edition of the Lab is sponsored by HBO, and instructors will include Cindy Chupack (“Sex and the City”), Mara Brock Akil (“Being Mary Jane”), Melissa Rosenberg (“Jessica Jones”), Stacy Rukeyser (“UnREAL”), and Monica Beletsky (“Fargo”).

“The participants and instructors for this inaugural WIF/Black List Episodic Lab exemplify an incredible wealth and range of talent,” commented WIF Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer. “This group of instructors, on top of their extraordinary qualifications, are passionately dedicated to helping women writers succeed in television and to raising the number of women working in writers rooms and running shows.”

“It was exceedingly difficult to narrow the hundreds of worthy scripts and writers to our final eight,” said The Black List’s Director of Events Megan Halpern of the selection process. “The bright side of such a difficult process is that it further proves the point that there are many talented women currently going unhired in this industry for reasons unrelated to their talent and writing. It’s unconscionable, and the Black List is proud to be part of changing it.”

According to research from Dr. Martha Lauzen, women accounted for 25 percent of writers on programs that aired on broadcast networks and cable channels, and streamed on Netflix, in 2014–2015.

The Lab kicks off in August. The participants are Erica Bardin and Susan Graham; Gesha-Marie Bland; Denise Jaxon; Jean Lee; Jamie Mayer; Colleen McAllister; Erin Weller and Kate Heckman; and Jeane Wong. Their original scripts tackle diverse topics including big pharma, race relations in LA, and rehab.

Women in Film and The Black List also announced the semi-finalists. Check out the names of all the up-and-comers below, as well as info about the participants’ projects, courtesy of a press release.

THE FINALISTS

Name: Erica Bardin & Susan Graham
Series Title: “Shepheards”
Logline: When dedicated pharmaceutical researcher Madison Shepherds gets fired for questionable reasons, she decides to start an underground psychedelic therapy clinic with her terminally ill father and hippie best friend. They run the Shepherds Clinic from the attached garage in her parents’ Tucson home, unbeknownst to her mother, a Republican senator in the middle of a reelection campaign largely financed by big pharma.

Name: Gesha-Marie Bland
Series Title: “Legend of a Queen”
Logline: After the ultimate betrayal by her husband, an ambitious Queen challenges her misogynist peers and the Roman Empire to gain political power and avenge the rape of her daughters, until a final battle forces a choice between life, family and legacy.

Name: Denise Jaxon
Series Title: “Ten Miles to Sunset”
Logline: During 1960’s Los Angeles, in the twilight of the Black Panther party and the dawn of the CRIPS, three LAPD officers with troubled lives and conflicting backgrounds battle to patrol the streets of South Central LA from their own self-righteous viewpoint while fueling the historically divisive precinct and compromising their safety on the streets.

Name: Jean Lee
Series Title: “Stranger Pilgrim” Season 1 Title: “Robot Courtesan”
Logline: A sci-fi anthology series about unlikely heroes who encounter the horrors and delights of both humanity and technology as they deal with innovations that blur the line between man and machine. Season 1 follows a subversive Pinocchio story about a man who creates the world’s most human-like robot for prostitution; only, the more he succeeds in making her human, the less control he has over her, until eventually she begins to wonder if she is capable of more.

Name: Jamie Mayer
Series Title: “Tomorrowland”
Logline: The staff of a high-end Malibu rehab center try to keep their own lives together while dealing with the needs of their wealthy, often celebrity, clients.

Name: Colleen McAllister
Series Title: “Pussies”
Logline: An animated comedy about a bunch of cats living in a cul-de-sac, confirming what we all know to be true, cats are assholes.

Names: Erin Weller & Kate Heckman
Series Title: “False Flag”
Logline: When a plane full of passengers disappears, Hester Scott, CIA, tracks down her former partner to help stop the terrorists responsible. The trouble is, her partner now works for them.

Name: Jeane Wong
Series Title: “The Thin Line”
Logline: A revisionist history series set in present-day America where segregation still exists.

WIF LA and The Black List also announced nineteen talented screenwriters who were semi-finalists for the Episodic Lab.

THE SEMI-FINALISTS
(For loglines to their series head here.)

Name: Sarah Beckett
Series Title: “Playing Dead”

Name: Déjà Bernhardt-Leazer
Series Title: “The Hyline”

Name: Bronwen Clark
Series Title: “Nosh”

Name: Liz Cotone
Series Title: “Serf”

Name: Meagan Daine
Series title: “Gone Town”

Name: Jenny Deiker
Series Title: “Baptiste”

Name: Nancy Duff
Series Title: “Dead Drop”

Name: Melanie Holmes
Series Title: “Hopewell”

Name: Jillian Lauren
Series Title: “Harem”

Name: Lindsay McRae
Series Title: “Unity”

Name: Kate Murdoch
Series Title: “Our Kingdom Primed”

Name: Erin Rodman
Series Title: “Superior”

Name: Paula Sabbaga
Series Title: “Pros and Cons”

Name: Dawn Spinella
Series Title: “G.I. Jane”

Name: Nadria Tucker
Series Title: “The Reporter”

Name: Kay Tuxford & E.S. Dahl
Series Title: “40 Elephants”

Name: Ursula Wendel
Series Title: “Hemisphere”

Name: April Wright
Series Title: “Soul City”

Name: Sarah Zucker
Series Title: “The Sun Set”