BRING YOUR STORY TO THE MIDDLEBURY SCRIPT LAB
Six emerging screenwriters—the Fellows—will be invited to attend this intensive creativity incubator. The 2021 edition will unfold in a fully online format, but with the same productivity and effectiveness that the Script Lab is known for. There is no tuition cost for the six Fellows.
The Script Lab will welcome screenwriters developing their first or second feature script or their first television series.
Writers, producers, script consultants, and agents — the advisors — will be offering their mentorship in workshops, master classes, and one-on-one conferences. Ample individual time is built into the schedule, allowing fellows to make real progress on their screenplays. For the 2021 edition, all activities will take place remotely, scheduled over a three-week period in January and early February. The Script Lab will start with an industry event showcasing the work of last year's Fellows and will end with a public reading of the 2021 Fellows' work.
The 2021 Fellows will be in the running for the Midd award, to be handed out at an industry event in Los Angeles in September 2021 (COVID pandemic developments permitting).
We are particularly looking for talented emerging writers who have encountered extraordinary obstacles in their pursuit of a screenwriting career.
SEND US YOUR WORK
We are looking for compelling, exciting screenplays that have a completed first draft (75–120 pages). The screenplay should be the writer’s first or second feature script (no more than one other feature screenplay produced or sold) and fit the scale of an independent production. For TV content, we request a full pilot script for 60 minute shows or the first two episodes for 30 minute shows, accompanied by a show bible. We accept all genres but we prefer serialized over episodic content. Writers who find brainstorming and discussion helpful will get the most out of the Script Lab.
The screenplay should be written in English, in any genre, and must be the original work of the author (no adaptations). Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are over 18 years of age on January 1, 2021.
The application process is handled via FilmFreeway and we initially ask that you send us the first ten pages of your script accompanied by additional materials (as described in the FilmFreeway application). If you are selected as a finalist for the second round of evaluation, we will ask for the full script(s) to be submitted no later than December 20, 2020.
If you are selected as a Fellow, you must commit to attending all the online group Lab activities and all the one-on-one advising sessions.
PAST ADVISORS
SHAWN RYAN
Creator of hit series The Shield, The Chicago Code, Last Resort, Timeless. Writer and executive producer (The Unit, Lie to Me, S.W.A.T.)
HAWK OSTBY
Academy Award nominated screenwriter (Children of Men, Iron Man, Cowboys and Aliens)
BEN FRAHM
Screenwriter (The Discreet Pleasures of Rejection) and script consultant (How to Train Your Dragon), assistant professor of screenwriting at Syracuse University. Ben leads the Script Lab’s structure and pitching workshop.
PETER LIGUORI
President and CEO of FX Networks and Chairman of Entertainment for Fox (1998-2009). Producer of independent cult classic Big Night.
ANDREW PETERSON
Producer (Howl, Thin Ice), executive director of Film North, director of programming at Provincetown Film Festival
RYAN KOO
Writer-director (Amateur), web series creator (The West Side, Webby Award for Best Drama Series). Founder of the filmmaking website No Film School.
LIA LANGWORTHY
Writer (The Shield, General Hospital, Soul Food)
ALEX SMITH
Writer-director (Walking Out, Winter in the Blood, The Slaughter Rule), script consultant, former Creative Director of the University of Texas Film Institute.
LARRY ANDRIES
Writer and producer (Six Feet Under, Boomtown, Alias, Supernatural, HBO’s The Pacific, BET’s Being Mary Jane).
ANTONIO MACIA
Screenwriter (Affluenza, Anne B. Real, Holy Rollers), professor of screenwriting at the AFI Conservatory.
JEFF BUSHELL
Writer (The Bernie Mac Show, What I Like about You, Beverly Hills Chihuahua)
ELIZA HITTMAN
Writer-director (It felt Like Love, Beach Rats), winner of the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival
BRAD BECKER-PARTON
Producer (Beach Rats)
The Middlebury Script Lab was initiated through the Ron and Jessica Liebowitz Fund for Innovation and it is currently organized and sponsored by Middlebury College through its Envisioning Middlebury initiative.
The six selected projects are in the running for the Midd Award, handed out at an industry event in Los Angeles In September 2021. A jury will evaluate the updated screenplays and TV pilots in July 2021; the author of the selected script will be invited to Los Angeles to pitch their project to an audience of industry decision makers, followed by a reading of the script and a networking reception. The writer will also have several one-on-one meetings with industry representatives. The other five projects will also have the opportunity of a pitch, either remotely or in person if the writer can cover their own travel expenses. (Note: because of the COVID-19 epidemic, the 2020 event has been postponed and will be organized in virtual form in January 2021)
- March 2021
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John Burr
February 2021 - February 2021
- February 2021
- February 2021
