Are you working on your first or second feature script and looking for some feedback from outside your personal network? Have you had trouble carving out time to look critically at your work and take practical steps toward completing it? We just aired an entire podcast episode on how valuable filmmaking labs can be, and now there’s one that has your name on it if you answered “yes” to these questions.
The Middlebury Script Lab, on the gorgeous Vermont campus of Middlebury College, is looking for six screenwriters who have a full draft that they want to workshop, brainstorm and focus on exclusively for a week. If chosen, you will be invited to Vermont from January 11-17,2018, where you will be housed, fed, mentored by industry professionals, and, most importantly, given plenty of time to write. Best of all, this opportunity and all of its perks are free of charge for participants and the program also offers travel stipends of up to $300 USD.
In addition to Middlebury faculty, lab mentors include professional writers, producers, script consultants, and agents. Participants will have one-on-one opportunities as well as masterclasses from the likes of writer/director Eliza Hittman (who won the directing award at Sundance forBeach Rats) and her producer, Brad Becker Parton.
'Beach Rats', whose award-winning director Eliza Hittman will give a master class at the Middlebury Script Lab.
According to the site, submitted screenplays should:
- Be written in English, in any genre
- Be compelling and exciting
- Have a completed first draft (75–120 pages)
- Be the writer’s first or second feature script (no more than one other feature screenplay produced or sold)
- Fit the scale of an independent production
- Be the original work of the author (no adaptations)
Also note that candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are over 18 years of age on January 1, 2018.
If you’re ready to apply, good news! Middlebury has extended a discount for the No Film School community. Send them an e-mail at screenwriters@middlebury.edu with NFS Discount in the subject line and they'll email you a code to save $10 dollars off your Film Freeway application fee. (You can use the same email address for any additional questions about the program or application.)
First round applications (including the first ten pages of your script) are dueNovember 1, 2017, so read more details here, email for the Film Freeway discount, and apply away!
