Jasmilla Zbanic Susanne Bier

Source: Edvin Kalic, Les Kaner

Jasmilla Zbanic, Susanne Bier

The Writers Lab (TWL), the non-profit script development programme for woman and non-binary writers over 40, has launched a European edition.

Submissions for the Writers Lab Europe (TWL Europe) will be open from January 6-31, with the virtual lab taking place in April 2022 and ongoing mentoring, development and marketplace sessions taking place in the following months. 

Up to 15 writers will be selected, with the scheme open to English-language features or pilots.

Mentors and guests include directors Susanne Bier (The Night Manager), Jasmila Žbanić (Quo Vadis, Aida?), Isabel Coixet (Secret Life Of Words), Nadine Labaki (Capernaum), producer and writer Jantje Friese (Dark), playwright and writer Christina Ham (Them), and producer Ameenah Ayub Allen (Rocks, Ali and Ava).

TWL Europe will be produced by TWL co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon and partner Untamed Stories, lead by Julia Berg and Ruth Spencer. A UK and Ireland version of the lab supported by Cate Blanchett´s Dirty Films launched earlier this year, whilst the US iteration started in 2015, is produced by NYWIFT and counts Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman among its supporters.

Partners of TWL Europe include German Films, The Netherlands Filmfund, Screen Ireland, The Polish Film Institute, The Austrian Film Institute, Finland’s Aurora Studios, screen.brussels, Fremantle-owned Wildside and Germany-based Odeon Fiction. 

The Lab is in association with Drehbuchforum Wien (Screenwriters Forum Vienna) and Women in Film and TV (WIFT) Finland.

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