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Meryl Streep’s Writers Lab Selects 12 Female Screenwriters

Meryl Streep's Writers Lab Selects 12 Female Screenwriters

By Zack Sharf

Zack Sharf

zsharf

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August 10, 2015 10:54 am

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) and IRIS, a collective of women filmmakers, have announced the selected screenwriters to participate in the inaugural year of The Writers Lab. The program is the only kind in the world devoted to providing script development for women writers over the age of 40 and is fully funded by Oscar winner Meryl Streep. The Writers Lab is presented in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE).

Receiving over 3,500 submissions and overwhelming praise from women writers across the globe, the program has decided to expand the number of total participants from eight to twelve. Members of the WGAE were active participants in the judging process. Other support for The Lab came from Final Draft.

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The 12 chosen participants for the The Writers Lab 2015 are:

Sarah Bird, “Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen”

Vanessa Carmichael, “The American”

Tracy Charlton, “Raised Up”

Kellen Hertz. “Ashburn”

Anna Hozian, “Anchor Baby”

Lyralen Kaye, “St. John the Divine in Iowa”

Jan Kimbrough, “The Glastonbury Cow Party”

Billie Mason, “The Cargo”

Peres Owino, “Basketweaver”

Gretchen Somerfeld, “Face Value”

Janet Stilson, “Jaguar Trail”

Kim Turner, “It Goes Like This”

The eight mentors attached to The Lab include: Jessica Bendinger (“Bring It On,” “Aquamarine”), Caroline Kaplan (“Time Out of Mind”), Meg LeFauve (“Inside Out”), Darnell Martin (“Cadillac Records”), Lydia Dean Pilcher (“Darjeeling Limited”), Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Beyond the Lights”), Mary Jane Skalski (“Win Win”) and Kirsten Smith (“Legally Blonde”).

The 2015 Writers Lab will take place September 18-20.