Exclusive: Teyonah Parris (Chi-Raq, Mad Men) is in talks to star in Buffalo Soldier Girl, the story of a woman who, disguised as a man, enlisted and fought with the African American Post Civil War era as a ‘Buffalo Soldier.’ The project will be directed by Christine Swanson for production company, Pantheon of Women from a screenplay by Sarah Bird. The writer is a best-selling author and has been named Best Austin Author four times by the readers of the Austin Chronicle…...
- 5/5/2016
- Deadline
The first ever Writers Lab, a program targeting female screenwriters over 40, took place at Wiawaka on Lake George, New York from September 18-20, 2015.
The group of mentors included Caroline Kaplan ("Boyhood," "Time Out of Mind," "Personal Velocity"), Kirsten Smith ("Legally Blonde," "Ten Things I Hate About You"), Jessica Bendinger ("Bring It On," "Aquamarine"), Mary Jane Skalski ("Win Win," "The Station Agent"),Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Secret Life of Bees," "Beyond the Lights"),Lydia Dean-Pilcher ("The Lunchbox," The Reluctant Fundamentalist"), Meg LeFauve ("Inside Out," "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"), and Darnell Martin (“Cadillac Records” and “I Like It Like That”).
Launched by New York Women in Film and Television (Nywift) and Iris, a collective of women filmmakers dedicated to championing the female voice in narrative film, was funded in part by Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, and with the collaboration of the Writers Guild of America East.
Motivated by its screenwriting members who were frustrated with the paucity of development opportunities, Iris founders Elizabeth Kaiden, Kyle Ann Stoke, and Nitza Wilson approached Nywift to support a screenwriting Lab exclusively for this demographic and The Writers Lab came into being.
I spoke with Iris cofounder Elizabeth Kaiden to follow up about the first Writers Lab.
Kouguell: How many screenplays were submitted for consideration?
Kaiden: There were approximately 3,500 screenplays submitted. The selected participants were 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 Jo Mason ("The Cargo"), Peres Owino ("Basketweaver"), Gretchen Somerfeld ("Face Value"), Janet Stilson ("Jaguar Trail"), and Kim Turner ("It Goes Like This").
Kouguell: What were some highlights from the three-day Lab?
Kaiden: Highlights included the chemistry, warmth and enthusiasm of the group, the bucolic setting in which serious and thoughtful individual meetings between writers and mentors took place, the outstanding, locally sourced, group meals presented by Wiawaka chef Meg, and evening conversations around a bonfire. Oh, and the weather was fabulous.
Kouguell: What is the next step for these writers selected for the Lab?
Kaiden: Writers are all revising their work and communicating with each other. They will use the feedback, resources, references, and friendships they took away from the Lab to further develop their scripts and their opportunities.
Kouguell: In addition to the one-on-one meetings, what other events took place?
Kaiden: There were three panel discussions in which the mentors addressed specific craft issues and general industry insight, informal conversations, group meals, as well as small, directed group conversations led by Nywift Board President Alexis Alexanian to address the challenges writers face in navigating the film world.
Kouguell: What do you feel were some of the most positive outcomes from the weekend in Lake George?
Kaiden: The most exciting outcome of this venture, for me, is uncovering and bringing to public attention the field of women screenwriters, particularly its enormous breadth and depth. The most positive outcomes of the weekend Lab, for me, include the sense of empowerment I believe the Lab gave the writers to continue their work and develop their projects, and the supportive community of writers we all discovered, which can only further our goals of ensuring that more of their stories will reach audiences.
Kouguell: Will the Writers Lab take place again next year?
Kaiden: Yes.
Kouguell: Anything else you’d like to add?
Kaiden: We were excited and delighted by the energy and enthusiasm at the Lab. It felt like an important event. It Was an important event. We discussed and debated issues of theme, tone, craft, structure, character, as well as production, representation, and target markets. The mentors were unbelievably focused, supportive and encouraging. Serious work was done. The writers left feeling, I think, that their voices had been heard, and that they should all continue to tell their stories. I think you will be hearing more from these writers and about these projects. And, although that would have been enough, everyone had a blast.
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting at Purchase College Suny, and presents international seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...
The group of mentors included Caroline Kaplan ("Boyhood," "Time Out of Mind," "Personal Velocity"), Kirsten Smith ("Legally Blonde," "Ten Things I Hate About You"), Jessica Bendinger ("Bring It On," "Aquamarine"), Mary Jane Skalski ("Win Win," "The Station Agent"),Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Secret Life of Bees," "Beyond the Lights"),Lydia Dean-Pilcher ("The Lunchbox," The Reluctant Fundamentalist"), Meg LeFauve ("Inside Out," "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"), and Darnell Martin (“Cadillac Records” and “I Like It Like That”).
Launched by New York Women in Film and Television (Nywift) and Iris, a collective of women filmmakers dedicated to championing the female voice in narrative film, was funded in part by Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, and with the collaboration of the Writers Guild of America East.
Motivated by its screenwriting members who were frustrated with the paucity of development opportunities, Iris founders Elizabeth Kaiden, Kyle Ann Stoke, and Nitza Wilson approached Nywift to support a screenwriting Lab exclusively for this demographic and The Writers Lab came into being.
I spoke with Iris cofounder Elizabeth Kaiden to follow up about the first Writers Lab.
Kouguell: How many screenplays were submitted for consideration?
Kaiden: There were approximately 3,500 screenplays submitted. The selected participants were 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 Jo Mason ("The Cargo"), Peres Owino ("Basketweaver"), Gretchen Somerfeld ("Face Value"), Janet Stilson ("Jaguar Trail"), and Kim Turner ("It Goes Like This").
Kouguell: What were some highlights from the three-day Lab?
Kaiden: Highlights included the chemistry, warmth and enthusiasm of the group, the bucolic setting in which serious and thoughtful individual meetings between writers and mentors took place, the outstanding, locally sourced, group meals presented by Wiawaka chef Meg, and evening conversations around a bonfire. Oh, and the weather was fabulous.
Kouguell: What is the next step for these writers selected for the Lab?
Kaiden: Writers are all revising their work and communicating with each other. They will use the feedback, resources, references, and friendships they took away from the Lab to further develop their scripts and their opportunities.
Kouguell: In addition to the one-on-one meetings, what other events took place?
Kaiden: There were three panel discussions in which the mentors addressed specific craft issues and general industry insight, informal conversations, group meals, as well as small, directed group conversations led by Nywift Board President Alexis Alexanian to address the challenges writers face in navigating the film world.
Kouguell: What do you feel were some of the most positive outcomes from the weekend in Lake George?
Kaiden: The most exciting outcome of this venture, for me, is uncovering and bringing to public attention the field of women screenwriters, particularly its enormous breadth and depth. The most positive outcomes of the weekend Lab, for me, include the sense of empowerment I believe the Lab gave the writers to continue their work and develop their projects, and the supportive community of writers we all discovered, which can only further our goals of ensuring that more of their stories will reach audiences.
Kouguell: Will the Writers Lab take place again next year?
Kaiden: Yes.
Kouguell: Anything else you’d like to add?
Kaiden: We were excited and delighted by the energy and enthusiasm at the Lab. It felt like an important event. It Was an important event. We discussed and debated issues of theme, tone, craft, structure, character, as well as production, representation, and target markets. The mentors were unbelievably focused, supportive and encouraging. Serious work was done. The writers left feeling, I think, that their voices had been heard, and that they should all continue to tell their stories. I think you will be hearing more from these writers and about these projects. And, although that would have been enough, everyone had a blast.
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting at Purchase College Suny, and presents international seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...
- 10/26/2015
- by Susan Kouguell
- Sydney's Buzz
Presented by New York Women in Film and Television (Nywift) and Iris, The Writers Lab is funded with the generous support of Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep. The one-of-a-kind lab will bring 12 women screenwriters over the age of 40 together with established mentors from the film industry for an intimate gathering and intensive workshop at Wiawaka Center for Women on Lake George, NY from September 18-20, 2015. The Lab is also presented in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America, East.
Being the only program of its kind, The Writers Lab evolved in recognition of the absence of the female voice in narrative film, along with the lack of support for script development. The lab will offer these 12 promising features by women over 40 a springboard to production.
The prestigious group of mentors includes Caroline Kaplan ("Boyhood," "Time Out of Mind," "Personal Velocity"), Kirsten Smith ("Legally Blonde," "Ten Things I Hate About You"), Jessica Bendinger ("Bring It On," "Aquamarine"), Mary Jane Skalski ("Win Win," "The Station Agent"), Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Secret Life of Bees," "Beyond the Lights"), Lydia Dean-Pilcher ( "The Lunchbox,"The Reluctant Fundamentalist"), Meg LeFauve ("Inside Out," "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"). During one-on-one meetings they will provide the participants with insightful feedback and will take part in additional events to inspire the artists to hone their creative vision.
The Writers Lab, which was first announced at this year’s Tribeca film festival, received over 3,500 submissions, which encouraged the organizer to support not eight, as they originally had planned, but 12 women in film.
The selected participants 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").
You can find out more about this initiative and others from Nywift Here...
Being the only program of its kind, The Writers Lab evolved in recognition of the absence of the female voice in narrative film, along with the lack of support for script development. The lab will offer these 12 promising features by women over 40 a springboard to production.
The prestigious group of mentors includes Caroline Kaplan ("Boyhood," "Time Out of Mind," "Personal Velocity"), Kirsten Smith ("Legally Blonde," "Ten Things I Hate About You"), Jessica Bendinger ("Bring It On," "Aquamarine"), Mary Jane Skalski ("Win Win," "The Station Agent"), Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Secret Life of Bees," "Beyond the Lights"), Lydia Dean-Pilcher ( "The Lunchbox,"The Reluctant Fundamentalist"), Meg LeFauve ("Inside Out," "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"). During one-on-one meetings they will provide the participants with insightful feedback and will take part in additional events to inspire the artists to hone their creative vision.
The Writers Lab, which was first announced at this year’s Tribeca film festival, received over 3,500 submissions, which encouraged the organizer to support not eight, as they originally had planned, but 12 women in film.
The selected participants 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").
You can find out more about this initiative and others from Nywift Here...
- 8/14/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Read More: A Female Hollywood Producer Details How Industry Discriminates Against Women New York Women in Film & Television (Nywift) and Iris, a collective of women filmmakers, have announced the selected screenwriters to participate in the inaugural year of The Writers Lab. The program is the only kind in the world devoted to providing script development for women writers over the age of 40 and is fully funded by Oscar winner Meryl Streep. The Writers Lab is presented in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae). Receiving over 3,500 submissions and overwhelming praise from women writers across the globe, the program has decided to expand the number of total participants from eight to twelve. Members of the Wgae were active participants in the judging process. Other support for The Lab came from Final Draft. The 12 chosen participants for the The Writers Lab 2015 are:Sarah Bird, "Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen"Vanessa Carmichael,...
- 8/10/2015
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
School Ties: Kent’s Latest Film Doesn’t Make the Grade
If you’re at all familiar with director Billy Kent’s previous film, 2006’s The Oh in Ohio, then his latest effort, HairBrained, will seem like an even greater disappointment. An oddly paced film revolving around mismatched underdogs wading through an overwhelming miasma of collegiate clichés feels far removed from the real world and isn’t charming or engaging enough to achieve the status of a situational parody or satire. Instead, Kent’s screenplay, which was co-written with Sarah Bird and Adam Wierzbianski, presents itself as a potential gimmick that soon reveals itself as nothing more than a cobbled together formula of wan dramatic tension with a grating finale that’s egregiously stale.
Eli Pettifog (Alex Wolff) is a 13 year old genius that’s skipped five grades and is about to enter his freshmen year in college. Sporting an unkempt bowl of gnarly,...
If you’re at all familiar with director Billy Kent’s previous film, 2006’s The Oh in Ohio, then his latest effort, HairBrained, will seem like an even greater disappointment. An oddly paced film revolving around mismatched underdogs wading through an overwhelming miasma of collegiate clichés feels far removed from the real world and isn’t charming or engaging enough to achieve the status of a situational parody or satire. Instead, Kent’s screenplay, which was co-written with Sarah Bird and Adam Wierzbianski, presents itself as a potential gimmick that soon reveals itself as nothing more than a cobbled together formula of wan dramatic tension with a grating finale that’s egregiously stale.
Eli Pettifog (Alex Wolff) is a 13 year old genius that’s skipped five grades and is about to enter his freshmen year in college. Sporting an unkempt bowl of gnarly,...
- 2/28/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
HairBrained is a dumb movie about a smart character named Eli Pettifog, a 13-year-old prodigy that does not have a discernible area of expertise for his talents, except for an encyclopedic mind. In Billy Kent’s prodigy-heads-to-college comedy, we rarely see him reading, studying or behaving like a regular person with an invaluable intelligence. He feels more like a quirky tool ripped off from Max Fischer’s precociousness and other hyperintelligent characters from books and the movies than a fully realized creation. Eli’s wacky, Einsteinian hairdo is his most unique quality.
Alex Wolff, already a multi-talented musician, plays Eli with a sarcastic tone and rarely offers more than a sullen look. In HairBrained, the young prodigy begins classes at Whitman, which he tells the audience is “the 37th best liberal arts college on the East coast.” He is 13 years old on his first day, while dorm neighbour Leo Searly (played by Brendan Fraser,...
Alex Wolff, already a multi-talented musician, plays Eli with a sarcastic tone and rarely offers more than a sullen look. In HairBrained, the young prodigy begins classes at Whitman, which he tells the audience is “the 37th best liberal arts college on the East coast.” He is 13 years old on his first day, while dorm neighbour Leo Searly (played by Brendan Fraser,...
- 2/28/2014
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
Vertical Entertainment has acquired all Us rights to the college comedy Hairbrained starring Brendan Fraser and Alex Wolff. Premiere Entertainment will handle international sales at Afm.
Billy Kent directed from the screenplay he co-wrote with Sarah Bird and Adam Wierzbianski about a teenage prodigy and Harvard reject who strikes up a friendship at college with a 41-year-old gambler.
Hairbrained is scheduled for release in February 2014.
Bird, Kent and Avram Ludwig produced and Stacy Blain, Stephanie Ingrassia, Tim Ingrassia and Jason Mraz served as executive producers.
Vertical and Premiere struck the deal.
Billy Kent directed from the screenplay he co-wrote with Sarah Bird and Adam Wierzbianski about a teenage prodigy and Harvard reject who strikes up a friendship at college with a 41-year-old gambler.
Hairbrained is scheduled for release in February 2014.
Bird, Kent and Avram Ludwig produced and Stacy Blain, Stephanie Ingrassia, Tim Ingrassia and Jason Mraz served as executive producers.
Vertical and Premiere struck the deal.
- 11/1/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Good evening, readers. We’ve just had this in our mailbox which might get UK and Irish Harry Potter fans in a lathe, even if it is late on a Friday night. UK and Ireland fans of the boy wizard have the opportunity to vote for their favourite artwork with the winner going on the cover of the UK and Irish Blu-ray. You can take a gander at the individual designs and vote for them through the movie’s Facebook page. Below is the full press release and link.
To celebrate the countdown to the Blu-ray and DVD release of the record-breaking “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger, announced today that fans will be given the opportunity to choose the cover art for the UK and Irish Blu-ray release via the Harry Potter UK Page on Facebook.
A poll within the Facebook page...
To celebrate the countdown to the Blu-ray and DVD release of the record-breaking “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger, announced today that fans will be given the opportunity to choose the cover art for the UK and Irish Blu-ray release via the Harry Potter UK Page on Facebook.
A poll within the Facebook page...
- 1/28/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
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