BFI-backed Gatecrashers lab for working-class genre writers unveils cohort

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Olivia Gagan, Sarah Louise Madden, Samantha O’Rourke, Rebecca Osias, Calif Chong, Zina Wegrzynski, Liv Ello, Guiled Osman, Paul Chambers, Hannah Frances Therese Jones

Source: Gatecrashers/Sona Films

Olivia Gagan, Sarah Louise Madden, Samantha O’Rourke, Rebecca Osias, Calif Chong, Zina Wegrzynski, Liv Ello, Guiled Osman, Paul Chambers, Hannah Frances Therese Jones

EXCLUSIVE: Gatecrashers, a UK development lab for working-class and low socio-economic background genre writers, has unveiled its inaugural cohort of 10 participants.

The cohort for the BFI-backed lab includes Sarah Louise Madden, who appeared on 2025’s Brit List; Calif Chong, director of BFI London Film Festival 2025 world premiere High Wire; former Bad Wolf development executive Zina Wergrzynski; and Hannah Frances Therese Jones, star of BBC series What It Feels Like For A Girl.

Scroll down to see the list of participating writers

UK industry talent providing masterclasses are Scrapper and Mint writer-director Charlotte Regan, Rye Lane co-writer Nathan Bryon, Wasteman co-writer Eoin Doran, and Samantha Beddoe, co-founder and producer at It’s All Made Up Productions.  

The lab is led by producer and script editor Caragh Davison, producer and actor Yasser Zadeh, Animol producer Thomas Hawkins of Joi Productions, and Sona Films’ founder Sophie Reynolds, whose credits include Thea Gajic’s SXSW premiere Surviving Earth. Reynolds is also co-founder of the UK Producers’ Roundtable. Davison and Zadeh previously collaborated on the BFI-backed Darkroom Writers’ Lab.

Gatecrashers is delivered by Sona Films and backed by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. The programme aims make it financially possible for ambitious genre projects to receive industry support at the early development phase.

In 2024, research by the Creative Industries Policy and Research Centre found that just 8.4% of creatives in film, TV, radio, and photography are from working-class backgrounds - the lowest rate in a decade.

The programme includes two six-day residencies in Shropshire and Yorkshire, supported by writing charity Arvon. The course culminates in a pitch showcase at London’s Curzon Soho, delivered for funders, studios, streamers, agents, sales agents, producers, and directors.  

”In this climate, we are losing the most talented artists to class disparity,” said Zadeh. ”Without this lab, these projects may never have existed. Gatecrashers provides crucial financial support to develop our writers and their scripts – and access to an industry hungry for compelling, fresh genre projects.”