Writers Lab Europe Gains New Supporters

Bookmark and Share

Mon, 01/31/2022 - 09:35 -- Nick Dager

The Writers Lab Europe has received support from Fremantle and HBO Max, Nordic for the first virtual script development program of its kind for women over 40. Submissions are open now until February 7.  The Writers Lab, produced by co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, is the only program devoted exclusively to script development for women and non-binary writers over 40.

The Writers Lab Europe has received support from Fremantle and HBO Max, Nordic for the first virtual script development program of its kind for women over 40. Submissions are open now until February 7.  The Writers Lab, produced by co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, is the only program devoted exclusively to script development for women and non-binary writers over 40.Originally founded in the U.S., the program there is supported by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Oprah Winfrey, in association with New York Women in Film and Television.  With partners Julia Berg and Ruth Spencer of Untamed Stories, the Lab expanded into the UK in 2021 with Cate Blanchett´s Dirty Films and now into Europe.

Fremantle, the production and distribution force behind hit dramas and films such as Mosquito Coast, The Investigation and Sorrentino’s The Hand of God is supporting The Writers Lab Europe, where, alongside its award-winning Italian production label Wildside (My Brilliant Friend, Anna) will back the initiative by sponsoring several writers across the program.

HBO Max, Nordic will sponsor one Nordic writer to participate in the Lab. HBO Max began its global rollout launching in markets across Latin America and the Caribbean last summer, followed by its first European launches in the Nordics and Spain.

European Partners also include German Films, The Netherlands Filmfund, Screen Ireland, The Polish Film Institute, The Austrian Film Institute, ORF, FISA - Film Industry Support Austria, Aurora Studios from Finland, Rabbit Films, Film Tampere, City of Helsinki and screen.brussels. Award winning European based production companies Wildside, a Fremantle Company (My Brilliant Friend, The Miracle, Anna) and Germany-based Odeon Fiction (Spy City) also join. The Lab is in association with Drehbuchforum Wien (Screenwriters Forum Vienna), Women in Film and TV Finland, Women in Film and TV International and Women In Film TV & Media Italy.

More mentors are added to the European line up including Valeria Golino (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and Zackary Drucker (Transparent). They join guests and mentors Susanne Bier (The Night Manager), Jasmila Žbanić (Quo Vadis, Aida?), Christina Ham (Them), Jantje Friese (Dark), Isabel Coixet (Secret Life of Words), Ameenah Ayub Allen (Rocks, Ali & Ava), and Nadine Labaki (Capernaum).

This six-month virtual program for European writers will be held April 2022, with ongoing mentoring, development and marketplace sessions in the months following. Submissions of both Features and Pilots (both hour-long and half-hour long) will be accepted for consideration in English. At a writer’s and financier’s discretion, projects may be later translated into the original language.  As many as 15 writers will be selected to participate in an opportunity for unique and emerging voices reflecting the diversity of the populations across the whole European region.

Submissions are open now until February 7.

Click here for details and to apply https://writers.coverfly.com/competitions/view/twl-europe-2022