EXCLUSIVE: The Pursuit of Love‘s Emily Mortimer and Rocks co-writer Claire Wilson are among the guest mentors for The Writers Lab UK & Ireland’s second script development programme for women and non-binary screenwriters aged over 40.
Film4 Senior Film Commissioning Executive Farhana Bhula and Top Boy producer Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo have also been announced for the programming, with Curzon CM Development Fund joining the Lab as it enters its second year.
Created by independent film distributors Curzon, Cinéart from the Benelux region and Australia’s Madman Entertainment, the £1.2M ($1.5M) CM Development Fund film development fund runs out of Curzon’s London office and is led by Head of Development Kristian Brodie. It focuses on director-led scripts.
Film and TV scripts will be eligible for the Lab, which will see up to 12 writers from across the UK and Ireland be selected for the six-month programme, during which they’ll work one-on-one and in group sessions with screen industry leaders to develop their scripts and their craft, enter the marketplace and build tools to achieve sustainable career pathways.
The deadline for submissions has been extended to June 1 and the programme will run September 2022-February 2023. Applicants can read more here.
Untamed Stories’ Julia Berg and Ruth Spencer have again partnered with the founders of The Writers Lab, Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, to continue the programme, with support from Dirty Films, indie producer headed by Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Coco Francini and Georgie Pym.
The Lab is created in association with Birds’ Eye View, The Responder producer Dancing Ledge Productions, Curzon CM Development Fund, Screen Scotland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen, Ffilm Cymru Wales & BFI Network with funding from the National Lottery.
The US programme, produced by co-founders Kaiden and Wilon and New York Women in Film & Television, is supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.