By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

THE BLACK LIST AND WOMEN IN FILM LOS ANGELES LAUNCH INAUGURAL FEATURE FILM LAB FOR FEMALE WRITERS AND ANNOUNCE SECOND-ANNUAL EPISODIC TV LAB

Posted Monday, July 17th, 2017 - Comments Off on THE BLACK LIST AND WOMEN IN FILM LOS ANGELES LAUNCH INAUGURAL FEATURE FILM LAB FOR FEMALE WRITERS AND ANNOUNCE SECOND-ANNUAL EPISODIC TV LAB
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(Los Angeles, CA, July 17, 2017) – The Black List and Women In Film (WIF), LA announced today that they will again partner on an episodic TV lab for women writers, now in its second year, and will join forces for a newly inaugurated Film Feature Lab for women screenwriters. The Black List/Women In Film Episodic Lab will take place on regular weekday nights over four weeks in October 2017. The Black List/Women In Film Feature Labwill be a one week residency in February 2018. Both Labs will take place in Los Angeles.

“In the inaugural year of the Black List/WIF Episodic Lab, we learned just how vital programs like these are — for emerging female writers and for those looking for talent. With our expanded program, we are excited to discover a new crop of writers and help guide them to the next stage of their careers,” said Kirsten Schaffer, Executive Director, WIF.

“We’re incredibly excited to expand our work with Women In Film to include feature screenwriters. It’s important for organizations like the Black List to hold space for all women in the film and television industry. To that end, I must give special credit to Megan Halpern, who has really made this happen,” said Franklin Leonard, Founder and CEO of The Black List.

“The numbers speak for themselves. As of the latest studies, only 29% of working TV writers are women and less than 12% of top grossing films are written by women. The screenwriting world is a long way from anything remotely resembling real gender inclusion” said Megan Halpern, the Black List’s Director of Events. “We’re enormously excited to support a talented, up and coming group of new women writers.”

The Black List and WIF will select six female writers to participate in this first Feature Lab. The lab, a weeklong residential program, will consist of one-on-one mentoring with established screenwriters and peer workshopping sessions. Additionally, participants will attend a series of events and screenings that will further expose them to the realities of a life as a professional screenwriter.

The Episodic Lab will select six to eight female writers and run for four weeks starting in October, emphasizing both craft and professional development, in order to equip participants with the knowledge on how to build and sustain their careers, through programs on script development, pitching, a mock writer’s room and round tables with established writers and industry executives.

All Lab participants will be hosted by the Black List website for free following the Labs and have their final scripts read by a variety of agencies, studios and networks, to be announced at a later date.

The 2017 Feature and Episodic Labs are supported by go90. “In storytelling, one size does not fit all, so we at go90 give a voice to the next generation of talent and content creators to bring fresh perspectives to our passionate fans,” said Ivana Kirkbride, Chief Content Officer, go90. “Partnering with Black List and WIF is a valuable opportunity to invest in the female creators of tomorrow, supporting them as they master their craft and drive the future of entertainment,”
said another go90 spokesperson.

The Black List, WIF and go90 are also pleased to announce a new fellowship in support of developing scripts in the young adult genre. The submission process also begins today and runs until November 26, 2017. As part of the Verizon go90 Fellowship, go90 will grant $15K to two screenwriters — one feature and one episodic pilots — as they work to develop a new young adult project over a six-month period. At the end, each writer will present their work to go90 and address how the grant was used to develop the projects. go90 will then have the opportunity to purchase the project.

Participants for both the Episodic and Feature Labs and the go90 Fellowship will be selected through script submissions to the Black List. Additionally, WIF members can submit applications for the Episodic and Feature Labs through WIF. Applications for both Labs and the Fellowship are open as of July 17, 2017 atwww.blcklst.com or www.wif.org.

About The Black List
The Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood executives’ favorite unproduced screenplays, was founded in 2005. Since then, more than 319 Black List scripts have been produced, grossing over $26 billion in box office worldwide. Black List movies have won 51 Academy Awards from 264 nominations, including four of the last nine Best Picture Oscars and ten of the last twenty Best Screenplay Oscars. In October of 2012, the Black List launched a unique online community where screenwriters make their work available to readers, buyers and employers. Since its inception, it has hosted more than 40,000 screenplays and teleplays and provided more than 65,000 script evaluations. As a direct result of introductions made on the Black List, dozens of writers have found representation at major talent agencies and management companies, as well as sold or optioned their screenplays. In only three years, a half dozen films have been produced from scripts introduced on the website including Golden Globe nominated NIGHTINGALE, starring Dave Oyelowo. Currently, the Black List hosts over 2,600 scripts for consideration by over 3,500 film industry professionals ranging from agency assistants, to studio and network presidents, to A-list actors and directors. More information on the Black List is available atwww.blcklst.com.

About Women In Film
Women In Film advocates for and advances the careers of women working in the screen industries – to achieve parity and transform culture. Founded in 1973, Women In Film is a non-profit organization that focuses on advocacy and education. Programs include: ReFrame, a partnership with Sundance Institute; Trailblazing Women, a partnership with TCM;  the WIF/Blacklist Episodic and Feature labs;  an annual Financing Intensive; a speaker & screening series;  a production training program; mentoring, scholarships, film finishing funds and the Legacy Series, preserving the history of women in entertainment. For more information, visit www.wif.org.

About go90
go90 is a free, digital entertainment platform that makes it easy to discover and view content from the most beloved networks, distributors, creators, audiences and brands in online entertainment. Available on the web, iOS and Android, go90 brings together and delivers premier entertainment experiences across every screen. go90 is part of the Verizon Communications family of companies. Anyone with a smartphone can download go90 for free via the App Store or Google Play. Start watching now on go90.com.

For further information on submissions, email
support@blcklst.com

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon