Submissions are now closed.
The Lab will take place February 28 and March 1, 2019, during the 9th Annual Athena Film Festival.
About The Lab:
Now in its third year, this two-day lab consists of intensive script development with seasoned mentors. It is designed for female writers who have not yet had a feature-length fictional script produced. Screenplays must include one or more strong female characters in leadership roles at the center of the story and must be feature-length narratives.
About IRIS:
IRIS began in New York City as a group of women in film seeking to develop, produce and promote narrative films written by women. IRIS founded and produces, in partnership with New York Women In Film & Television, The Writers Lab for women over 40. It also designed and administers the Athena IRIS Screenwriting Lab at the Athena Film Festival in NYC, and the Athena Women’s TV and Screenwriting Lab in LA.
Rules & Terms
- Writers who identify as female. Projects with more than one writer (both have to
identify as female) can be considered. - Writers who have not yet had a feature-length narrative film or TV pilot or teleplay
produced. - Projects must include a strong female character in a leadership role at the center of the
story. - Projects must be feature-length narrative scripts in English
of no more than 120 pages. - We seek projects from all genres 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
- There will be 8 writers accepted per lab, chosen by January 16, 2019.
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 28- March 1, 2019 (no travel stipend provided).
2018 Athena IRIS Lab Writers
RUN
by Joy Goodwin
In antebellum Maryland, three enslaved men and women are forced to decide whether to stay or to run.
GEMMA
by Kellee Terrell
A Black lesbian grieving the death of her wife moves into an isolated Wisconsin farmhouse and befriends a resident ghost.
A FOREST WITHOUT HOURS
by Elizabeth Richardson
When an overworked neurologist hires a new nanny, her relationships with her family and her work begin to unravel.
PLACAGE
by G. Michelle Robinson
In 1820s New Orleans, a young quadroon woman rejects a white man’s patronage, and strikes out to the Missouri territories to forge her own way.
