The Writers Lab for Women Screenwriters Over 40 has announced its most inclusive class yet. The annual script development lab has selected 12 participants for its 2020 edition, half of whom identify as diverse. This year’s edition will be virtual instead of the usual physical retreat, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Along with its “intensified focus on pushing drafts across the finish line,” the 2020 lab will offer “its entire pool of applicants with new online resources, including podcasts and recorded talks with lab mentors and supporters, curated links, and more,” according to a press release.
Now in its sixth year, The Writers Lab is produced by co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon and New York Women in Film & Television, and supported by Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Nicole Kidman.
Submissions for the 2020 edition increased by 25 percent from the previous year. “Clearly, demand persists for this dynamic, prolific network of industry veterans and groundbreaking creatives that launches the work of women screenwriters in their prime,” the lab states.
Filmmakers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Shruti Ganguly, playwright and screenwriter Theresa Rebeck, and producer Anne Carey are among the 2020 Writers Lab mentors. They will provide guidance to the participants in development sessions, panels, and story-breaking workshops.
“I’m excited by this year’s inclusive group of women screenwriters and the diversity of their stories. I look forward to seeing these films — from science fiction to horror, mystery to westerns — come to fruition,” Kidman said. “The more women’s stories we see, the more women are empowered.”
The 2020 Writers Lab class and their projects are below, as are this year’s mentors.
The Writers Lab 2020
Nichole Abshire, Imposter Impersonator (family dramedy)
Charlotte, Cameron, Throw Money (thriller)
Elise Greven, Silent Spring (science biopic)
Joey Day Hargrove, Highway to Heck (comedy)
Christine Hoang, Fly Girl (comedy)
Christine Autrand Mitchell, The Field (horror)
Carolyn Saunders, Island West (sci-fi)
Kelly Yoon Strathmore, Wing and a Prayer (coming of age)
Barbara Ward Thall, Little Sister (western)
Victoria Thomas, Street Food (drama)
Sandy Thomson, A Sharp Arrow (historical thriller)
Julie Zografos, Dark Quarry (mystery)
The Writers Lab Mentors
Mara Brock Akil: Writer-Producer (The Game, Being Mary Jane, Love Is)
Anne Carey: Producer (Diary of a Teenage Girl, 20th Century Women, Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Susan Cartsonis: Producer (What Women Want, Where the Heart Is, The Duff, Carrie Pilby)
Pamela Gray: Writer (A Walk on the Moon, Music of the Heart, Conviction)
Shruti Ganguly: Producer, Writer, and Director (The Color of Time, Initials S.G.)
Lisa Jones: Author and Screenwriter (Disappearing Acts, The Wedding)
Gina Prince-Bythewood: Writer-Director (Beyond the Lights, Love and Basketball)
Theresa Rebeck: Playwright, Screenwriter (355, Trouble, Catwoman), Television Writer, Novelist
Mary Jane Skalski: Producer (Hello I Must Be Going, The Visitor, The Station Agent)
Robin Swicord: Screenwriter (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Memoirs of a Geisha, Little Women)
Frida Torresblanco: Producer (Pan’s Labyrinth, Disobedience)
Pat Verducci: Writer-Director (True Crime), Professor, Script Editor, Story Consultant
Jamie Zelermyer: Producer (Boys Don’t Cry, Before/During/After)
