Meryl Streep is celebrating 10 years of the Writers Lab with the 2024 lineup of female and non-binary screenwriters to watch.
Academy Award winner Streep has funded the Writers Lab since 2014, and the program is still the only offering in the world dedicated exclusively to elevating the work of women and non-binary screenwriters over the age of 40.
This year, the program is working with 14 writers across 12 projects, with Labs now operational in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Europe. The 14 selected women screenwriters will gather in early November in Saugerties, New York to focus on tools and strategies to navigate the ever-shifting landscape of professional opportunities and build sustainable careers.
Each writer will be paired with an established mentor, including returning mentor Susan Cartsonis (“What Women Want”), Lisa Cortés (“Little Richard: I Am Everything”), Anya Epstein (“The Affair”), Amy Fox (“The Conners”), Pamela Gray (“Megan Leavey”), Rita Hsiao (“Mulan”), Meg LeFauve (“Inside Out, 1 & 2”), Mary Jane Skalski (“American Animals”), Robina Lord-Stafford (“Moonshine”), Shelby Stone (“The Chi”), Robin Swicord (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Pat Verducci (“True Crime”), Anna Winger (“Unorthodox”), and Jamie Zelermyer (“Boys Don’t Cry”).
Mentors for the Canada Lab include Morwyn Brebner (“Coroner”), Jessie Gabe (“Hudson and Rex”), Allana Harkin (“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”), Wendy Litner (“How to Buy a Baby”), Shannon Masters (“The Sticky”), and Carolyn Taylor (“Baroness von Sketch,” “I’ve Got Nothing”).
“Out-of-touch gatekeepers and reductive algorithms narrow the range of stories and ignore the interests and appetites of women over 40 — who are 25 percent of the world market and control $19 billion in household spending. That’s short-sighted and bad business, and it diminishes social discourse,” co-founder Elizabeth Kaiden said.
Along with Streep, Nicole Kidman, the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, the Lynch Hall Charitable Foundation, and the Alex & Meg Weidner Family Foundation also support the Lab.
The Writers Lab partners with New York Women in Film & Television, the Writers Guild of America, East, The Black List, Falco Ink, Film Fatales, Roadmap Writers, and Untamed Stories. New alliances for 2024 include Canadian partners Firecracker Department and the Female Eye Film Festival, alongside U.S. industry jurors like Kyra Sedgwick, and production companies Hyde Park Entertainment and Tinygiant, the executive producers of Sundance and Cannes breakout film “Good One.”
Cynthia Lopez, the CEO of New York Women in Film & Television, said, “Congratulations to this year’s cohort, who join an esteemed group of women storytellers who have become part of The Writers Lab’s legacy. These talented artists offer a unique perspective we can’t wait to share with the rest of the world.”
Since the Lab launched in 2014, the program has worked with 179 screenwriters, 37 of which have been signed by representation and 33 hired to write. Additionally, three Lab projects have been produced and released, with another twenty-six currently in various stages of pre-production.
The full list of 2024 Writers Lab participants is below:
Charmaine Colina, Booked (Half-Hour)
Yvonne Condes, Hacienda del Sol (One-Hour)
Johanna Factor, Metamorphosis (One-Hour)
Angelle Gullett, Cumberland Gap (One-Hour)
Claire Ince, Night Catch (Feature)
Eliza Kennedy & Nicole Newnham, Control Your Wife, Mr. Wilson (Feature)
Tiffany Lo & Ethel Lung, Mom Died (One-Hour)
Thato Mwosa, Rati (Feature)
Heidi Nyburg, Fab Girls (One-Hour)
Molly Rydzel, Skin Contact (Half-Hour)
Cathriona Slammon, Eater (One-Hour)
Cheri Steinkellner, Betwixtmas (Feature)
