Unless you’ve been living under a rock or you are literally Aaron Sorkin, you might know that women have a hard time getting their movies made. In the top 250 movies of 2016 only 7% of directors and 13% of writers were women, which is strange when you remember that women accounted for (shocker!) 52% of movie-going audiences last year.
Now The Black List, which champions overlooked screenplays, is launching a new incubation writing lab for women writing feature films in collaboration with the organization Women in Film. “The Black List/Women In Film Feature Lab” for six selected female writers will take place over a one-week residency in 2018 and include one-on-one mentoring, workshops and meetings with well-known screenwriters. And when you’re done the Lab your script will be hosted by the Black List website for free and your script will be read by agencies and studios.
The Black List and Women in Film also announced the return of their Episodic Lab which similarly offered a residential program for six to eight female writers looking to break into television last year.
“In the inaugural year of the Black List/WIF Episodic Lab, we learned just how vital programs like these are—for emerging female writers and for those looking for talent,” said WIF’s executive director Kirsten Schaffer. “With our expanded program, we are excited to discover a new crop of writers and help guide them to the next stage of their careers.”
Fantastic, now I finally have a place to pitch my movie-musical about two struggling young artists living in Los Angeles! I really think it’s gonna be a hit.