Twelve writers have been selected to participate in The Writers Lab, a new program, funded by Meryl Streep, devoted to script development for women writers over the age of 40. New York Women in Film & Television and Iris, a collection of women filmmakers, announced the participants on Monday. The Writers Lab is presented in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America, East.
The program received more than 3,500 submissions, and so it was expanded to increase the total number of recipients from eight to 12. Members of the WGAE participated in the judging process. Other support for The Lab came from Final Draft.
The twelve writers who were selected 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; and Kim Turner, It Goes Like This.
The eight mentors attached to the first lab, slated for September 18-20, 2015, will include: Jessica Bendinger (Bring It On, Aquamarine), Caroline Kaplan (Time Out of Mind, Me and You and Everyone We Know), Meg LeFauve (Inside Out), Darnell Martin (Cadillac Records), Lydia Dean Pilcher (Darjeeling Limited, The Talented Mr. Ripley), Gina Prince-Bythewood (Secret Life of Bees, Beyond the Lights, Mary Jane Skalski (Win Win, The Station Agent) and Kirsten Smith (Legally Blond, Ten Things I Hate About You).
The Writers Lab will take place on Lake George in upstate New York at the Wiawaka Center, the oldest and longest continuously operating retreat for women in America, created in 1903.
