African development organisation the Realness Institute has selected 12 participants for its 2023 Episodic Lab and Development Executive Traineeship (DET), in partnership with Netflix.
The two cohorts each comprise six participants from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
The Episodic Lab participants include Amanda Gicharu and Juma Adero (Kenya), Emil Garuba (Nigeria), Gabe Gabriel, Jason Staggie and Vanishia Kisten (South Africa).
They will work to refine their skills as episodic screenwriters and develop their story ideas, and will have the opportunity to pitch their stories to Netflix content executives at the end of the proramme.
The DET cohort includes Damilola Aleje and Mimi Bartels (Nigeria), Sphe Dlulu and Tshenolo Mabale (South Africa), Sue-Ellen Chitunya (Zimbabwe), and Tricia L. Sello (Botswana).
In the DET Traineeship, participants will learn about the process of story development and be guided on how to support writers in their creative process. Working in teams to support the creative development of the Episodic Lab Participants’ projects, they will help them transfer their story concept into polished pitch decks to be able to pitch their projects to Netflix for a first look deal.
Twelve international guest speakers will present to the participants including Anna Winger, showrunner of Unorthodox and creator of Transatlantic, and Christopher Mack, director, of Grow Creative at Netflix.
“Now in its third edition the Episodic Lab and DET Traineeship has not only empowered screenwriters and creative producers by gaining profound experience in the creative process but has also produced some exciting outcomes,” said Elias Ribeiro, executive director of Realness and founder and creative producer at Urucu Media). “It is very rewarding to see that each year of the incubator has led to a green light for alumni Kudi Maradzika (South Africa) and Voline Ogutu (Kenya) whose projects are currently in different stages of development following their pitches.
No comments yet