Submissions have been extended until Monday, November 6 at 11:59 PM PST! 

The Athena Film Festival Writers Lab is a three-day creative development workshop for emerging writers which provides storytellers with creative guidance, training, industry access, and a valuable, supportive network. Applicants must submit a project that features a woman or women characters in a leadership role or position at the center of the story.

Eligibility Criteria

• Projects must have a woman (girl) or women character(s) in leadership role(s) or position(s). Projects from all genres are accepted, we look for stories about women from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural groups;
• Episodic writers cannot have had a pilot that was aired within the past 10 years – Projects must have been completed before January 1, 2014;
• Feature writers cannot have had a feature film released within the past 10 years – Projects must have been released before January 1, 2014;
• Projects (features) must be written in English and between 80 and 120 pages;
• Projects (pilots) must be written in English and no more than 60 pages;
• If you have been on the Athena List, you can submit a project, but it CAN NOT be a script that was on the Athena List;
• If you have previously attended the lab, you cannot reapply for five years, but if you have been a part of the TV lab, you can submit a project to the Screenwriters lab and vice-versa;
• Scripts based on existing material will be considered, as long as the writer(s) have secured the underlying rights to the source material;

The Athena Film Festival encourages applications from people of all races, religions, national origins, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and ages, as well as veterans and individuals with disabilities. We strongly encourage you to apply if you are from a marginalized or underrepresented group, particularly in the film industry.