Reflections of Black List / Athena Film Festival Mini-Lab Writers
On the weekend of Thursday, February 18 and Friday, February 19, 2016, four writers gathered at Barnard College in New York City for 6th Black List screenwriters mini-lab. Held in conjunction with the Athena Film Festival, the writers — Dee Chilton, Britta Lundin, Jennifer Noonan, and Kristina Zacharias — had been selected on the basis of scripts they had uploaded to the Black List website and a personal statement about the story they were writing and their creative aspirations.
Over the weekend, they met one on one with mentors Janet Grillo, Deborah Kampmeier, and Darci Picoult, and participated in two workshop sessions with me as group leader. They also stayed through the weekend to enjoy several movie premieres, panels, and festivities associated with the Film Festival.
Here are some reflections about their individual and collective experience from the weekend they spent together. Their observations are both illuminating and inspiring.
Dee Chilton
I read the ‘Go Into The Story’ posts about the previous ‘Black List’ mini-labs before starting to write this. Truth be told, I would just echo everything previous lab participants have said about their experiences and the way the labs work and no one blog post could really do it full justice. However, you can go to the links below to read all those brilliant posts written by previous mini-lab writers.
I’ll try to give you a flavour of my lab experience as an Englishwoman in New York here but I’ll spare you my impressions about the lack of ‘proper’ tea and bacon butties, the too cold real ales and the four seasons in a week weather. You know us Brits and our little obsessions!
It was by an incredible stroke of good fortune that my script was on the ‘Black List’ site right at the time the inaugural Black List/Athena Film Festival partnership ‘window of opportunity’ was open. It was there because Franklin Leonard had generously offered to host my script free for a month as it was an Academy Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist. So I thought, why not? I’d ticked that ‘Yes, I’d like to be considered for’ box without any expectation whatsoever of being selected. I’m so very glad I did that now.
I was shocked and delighted when I received the email telling me I was one of the ten writers invited to submit a resume and personal statement. These would be used to determine which four of us would participate in the mini-lab in Barnard College NYC. I considered it an honour just to be asked. I knew the other nine writers were sure to be very strong contenders so didn’t expect to go any further.
When I found out I was one of the four selected, I was stunned to say the least. I knew what an amazing privilege that was and set about making plans. I utilised the opportunity to fly over from London early and meet with some lovely New York based Industry Executives. I also met some fellow writers I’d only known through social media before. It was like meeting old friends and I was made to feel very welcome by everyone. It’s so true that whilst the world has shrunk in the age of the internet, there is no substitute for face-to-face human contact and interaction.
And so to Barnard and the lab. What a warm welcome we had from the Festival organisers. We were each given gift bags which contained a ‘Supergirl’ T-shirt and chair cape among other things. I met my fellow screenwriters, Jennifer, Britta and Kristina for the first time as well Scott and Megan, our lab leaders. Our mentors, Deborah, Janet and Darci came later. All these talented, knowledgeable and generous people are now high in my all-time favourite Superheroes list. My screenwriting can’t fail to be even better after working with them.
The lab followed the same format as other previous labs so I won’t reiterate that here. Instead I’ll concentrate on the outcomes for me. I learned as much from spending quality time with my fellow writers as a group with Scott, and on their stories, as I did the one-to-ones on my own work. Having brainstormed each other’s screenplays and our mentor’s notes to identify what resonated with us, we each worked out how to address that. I identified some ‘tweaks’ that will make my screenplay even stronger.
I get immense pleasure in helping others if I can and I believe it’s true that we help ourselves by doing that. I surely benefitted from my group’s thoughtful and considered input, as well as Scott’s. Filmmaking is a collaborative medium and we’re all in this together. What an awesome asset to any ‘writer’s room’ we would be. This experience did wonders for my confidence in my writing and solidified my belief that I belong ‘in the room’. In my mind, I grew more and more into my Supergirl T-Shirt.
All this was interspersed with evening social events and two further days at this very special festival with all access passes into films, panels and closed ‘invitation only’ events where we got to do some quality networking. Amongst many other talented filmmakers, I chatted to the Athena Listed screenwriters, shook ahnds with Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black) and had breakfast sat talking with The Honourable Sarah Gavron, director of Suffragette and Brick Lane, how cool is that?!!
Now, in the quiet of my own writing space, I miss the buzz and noise that is the rhythm of Manhattan. I miss the very special creative cocoon we shared in our lab and I know I left a little piece of my heart back there in the city that never sleeps.
I for one treasure the experience and the supportive, generous face-to-face human contact and interaction in our group. I look upon my Black List/Athena Film Festival mini-lab compatriots as friends for life. They are now welcome inside my ‘circle of trust’ as Jack Byrnes would say in’ Meet the Fockers’.
Dee Chilton
Britta Lundin
God, I love working with women. The Athena Film Festival Black List Mini-Lab took four women screenwriters, paired us with women mentors, and surrounded us with women filmmakers and film lovers. It was an amazingly supportive, smart, enthusiastic group of people helping each other make great movies. And then there was Scott, who joined our lady-love-fest so effortlessly we deemed him an honorary woman for the weekend.
The exciting thing about the Black List Mini-Lab is that everyone’s scripts are already in great shape when we arrive — they have to be in order to get into the lab. So as opposed to other workshops I’ve participated in where you’re often reading and workshopping first drafts, this lab was an exercise in taking scripts that already are fundamentally working and making them the best they can be. That’s such an important skill. I had already written four drafts on my script, and I was feeling stuck and plateaued. I didn’t know how to level up. But between Scott, the three other workshoppers, and our three mentors, I walked away with a list of notes and the confidence that I knew how to take my script from 80% to 100%.
I would absolutely recommend a Black List Lab or Mini-Lab to writers, and next time I’m in a damn spot in one of my scripts, I am going to go back to the notes I took during Scott’s lectures and remind myself I can write myself out of any jam.
Britta Lundin
Jennifer Noonan
The Black List/Athena Mini-Lab was truly an incredible experience. I completed the week’s events feeling completely inspired and thoroughly invigorated, which was no doubt a direct result of countless workshops, mentoring and brainstorming sessions, film screenings, discussion panels, and quite honestly, through the simple osmosis of being in the company of such diverse and extraordinary people.
The workshop order was well organized with an introductory session by Scott Myers followed by three mentor sessions. The Mini-Lab finished with a culminating brainstorming workshop with Scott, which synthesized notes from mentors. I found this extremely useful and I loved the energy of brainstorming with Scott and fellow writers.
A very special thank you to Scott Myers, the ultimate screenwriting guru. You are amazing! And a very special thank you to Megan Halpern of the Black List for facilitating such an awesome opportunity for all of us. You are so incredible!
Jennifer Noonan
Kristina Zacharias
Last spring I had a chance to meet Scott Myers when he was in New York for the first Black List Mini Lab in New York. After speaking with him and hearing the reactions from that lab’s participants, I knew I wanted to be part of the next one. When the Black List partnered with the Athena Film Festival for their inaugural writers lab, I opted in immediately and was absolutely floored when I was accepted. I knew I was about to experience something really special.
After email introductions from my fellow writers and reading their scripts, I wondered how I would hold my own when faced with these talented and driven writers. Each of us has a distinct voice and genre, which made it incredibly interesting to hear that we all struggle with the exact same things — character development and how to take our scripts from the page to production.
We received confirmation on our mentors about a week before and it suddenly became very real. Fast forward to Day One of the lab. My fellow writers, Dee, Jennifer and Britta were warm and welcoming, easy to talk to and very serious about their craft. This is one thing that has made a huge difference for me as I try to advance my screenwriting career — I’m surrounding myself with writers who take the work and journey as seriously as I do.
Darcy Picoult encouraged me to dive deep into each characters emotional journey and follow my fear of eclipsing my protagonist. She asked me, “what might unfold in wordless action?” and shared the actors’ perspective of being able to interpret a scene that has little dialogue.
Janet Grillo gave me an amazing piece of writing advice: the fate of all characters rests in the protagonist’s FLAWS, GOALS and CHOICES. Wow. Without this, there’s nothing.
Deborah Kampmeier made me feel like a screenwriter and insisted that I was ready! She listened to everything I wanted from my writing career and then helped me map out my next steps. She is so confident, authentic and kind. When you feel validated, it gives you the energy to go out and fight for what you want. Even though I continue to work on RESTAVEK, I feel ready to move mountains to get it into the right hands!
Peer Workshop with Scott Myers
These 3 hours were the most intense of the two-day lab and it took a somewhat painful conversation with my peer writers and Scott to let go of my fears — fear of losing my main character to another character’s story and fear of changing directions. I was reluctant at first, but within 10 minutes I was writing copious notes and discovered what I think is the key that takes my script to the next (stronger) draft. It’s ALL about the protagonist, but you have to dig deep with all your characters, not just to find out what they want, but why they want it. What does that desire do to everything and everyone around them? Without that crystal-clear goal, you don’t have the engine that moves the story forward. It took an unraveling of the script to discover how to let go…in service of the script. I’m ready to move on from this draft and peel back the next layers.
Darci, Deborah and Scott gave to me in two days what I haven’t been able to reach on my own and I am incredibly grateful for their time, honesty and expertise. This lab is, yet, another incredible partnership that’s a benefit of the Black List. There are so few opportunities for aspiring screenwriters and the Black List labs are some of the best out there. Onward!
Kristina Zacharias
Each of these writers came to some significant insights into their respective stories and, I trust, grew in their understanding of the craft. Moreover they bonded in a big way and as I always do in any workshop I run, I encouraged them to become a writers group and support each other in the future. I think they will!
Look for more Black List screenwriter workshops in the future!