Meryl Streep has provided funding for The Writers Lab, a weekend screenwriting workshop for female screenwriters ages 40 and up, to be run by the New York Women in Film and Television and IRIS, a collective of women filmmakers. The Writers Lab is seeking 8 women screenwriters over the age of 40 for a screenwriting workshop at Wiawaka Center for Women on Lake George, NY from September 18-20, 2015.

Selected screenwriters will work one-on-one with mentors including Caroline Kaplan (Time Out of Mind, Personal Velocity), Kirsten Smith (Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You), Jessica Bendinger (Bring It On, Aquamarine), Mary Jane Skalski (Win Win, The Station Agent), Gina Prince-Blythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees), Lydia Dean Pilcher (The Lunchbox, The Reluctant Fundamentalist) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys).

Here are the eligibility requirements from the NYWIFT website:

Applicants must be women who were born on or prior to June 1, 1975, and must be US Citizens or Permanent Residents. The Lab seeks submissions from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural groups. Submissions must be full-length narrative screenplays in English. (No TV scripts, shorts or documentaries.) We seek a broad selection of screenplays across all genres of fiction. Scripts by more than one writer will be considered, but all writers must be female, and only one writer can attend The Lab.

The deadline to apply is June 1, 2015 at 5 pm EDT. Submissions require a WGA registered screenplay in PDF, a short synopsis, and a brief personal statement. The entry fee is $25 for members of NYWIFT, other Women in Film chapters and WGA members, and $55 for non-members. Applicants can submit through the NYWIFT Submissions Page.

(photo by Vincent Luigi Molino [CC])

Source: New York Women in Film & Television

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