Submissions are now closed for the 2020 season.
The Lab will take place February 26 and February 29, 2020, during the 10th Annual Athena Film Festival.
About The Lab:
Now in its fourth year, this three-day lab consists of intensive script development with seasoned mentors. It is designed for women writers who have not yet had a feature-length fictional script produced. Screenplays must include one or more strong woman character(s) in leadership roles at the center of the story and must be feature-length narratives.
About WIST:
Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon formed WIST (Women in the Script Trade) to work with exceptional women screenwriters, develop promising projects for production, and manage script development labs. They are co-founders of The Writers Lab for women over 40 (produced with New York Women in Film & Television and supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman), and run the Athena Film Festival Labs for emerging women writers in New York and Los Angeles.
Rules & Terms
- Emerging writers who identify as women;
- Writers cannot yet have a feature-length narrative film in pre-production or previously produced;
- Projects with more than one writer may be considered upon assessment (both have to identify as women);
- Scripts with a strong woman character in a leadership role at the center of the story;
- Feature narrative scripts in English in the 70-to-120-page range.
- Projects from all genres from and about women from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural groups.
- If chosen as a finalist, you will be asked to submit a one-page personal statement.
- Up to 20 finalists will be chosen and notified by December 10.
- 8 participants will be chosen by January 15.
The Athena Film Festival has partnered with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which promotes the development, production, and distribution of science-themed films. We are offering a fellowship to one writer who submit STEM-themed scripts.
Scripts submitted to the Athena List are not eligible for this workshop.
If selected to participate in the lab, you must be available to be in New York City, February 27- March 1, 2020 (no travel stipend provided).
