Six Book Trip To 2nd Annual Black List Screenwriters Lab
From the Black List:
Early career writers to join mentors
Jessica Bendinger, Max Borenstein, Jesse Wigutow, & Scott Myers
in Las VegasLOS ANGELES (September 25) — This morning, the Black List unveiled the names of the six screenwriters who will make the trip to downtown Las Vegas on Monday for its second annual screenwriters lab.
Hosted by Tony Hsieh’s Las Vegas Downtown Project, the Lab will consist of a week-long intensive workshop with mentors Jessica Bendinger, Max Borenstein, Jesse Wigutow, and Scott Myers (of Black List official screenwriting blog Go Into The Story) focused on elevating the writers’ best sample as identified by the Black List website and further preparing each writer for the realities of life in the professional trade.
The 2014 Black List Lab fellows and their projects are as follows:
John Arends — A Chicago native and father of three with a journalism degree from Iowa State, Arends is a two-time Academy Nicholl Fellowship Semifinalist. Arends is the author of TRICE, inspired by the true story of Jack Trice, the only African-American to have a major college football stadium named in his honor.
Savion Einstein — Israeli former TV commercial producer Einstein recently relocated to Los Angeles and was this year’s winner of the BlueCat Joplin Award. Einstein is the author of THE LONGEST BIRTHDAY, the story of a single mother who takes her son who is dying of terminal cancer on a journey, utilizing multiple time zones to make his eighth and last birthday the longest and best he’ll ever have.
Callie Lane — A London-born screenwriter and novelist, Lane is the author of SUN AND MOON, which chronicles a devastating but ultimately triumphant period in the life of acclaimed New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield.
Troy Anthony Miller — Austin native Miller is a previous winner of the Darkwoods Productions Horror Award at the Austin Film Festival. Miller is the author of THE HITCH, the story of young British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in 1927 Los Angeles going on the run to prove his innocence after being accused of murder.
Simon Nagel — From Ventura, CA, Simon is a graduate of the American Film Institute who has had two semifinal screenplays in the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. He is the author of THE WIND AT SPANISH NEEDLE, the story of an old, blind gunslinger trekking across the Mojave Desert to a mountain peak in the Sierras to reunite with the love of his life.
Kevin Oeser — A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Oeser also wrote and directed The Milford Project, a musical comedy that was named Best of the Hollywood Fringe in 2011. Oeser is author of TERRIBLE PARENTS, the story of two lucky parents whose dream of getting their child into the best elementary school in town turns into a nightmare when rival parents set their eyes on the last available slot.
THE BLACK LIST
The Black List is an online community where moviemakers find scripts to make and writers to write them and screenwriters find moviemakers to make their scripts and employ them. Google for screenplays, if you will.
Begun in 2005 as an annual survey of several dozen executives favorite unproduced screenplays, the Black List has grown to survey over 500 executives each year (virtually 100% of Hollywood’s studio system’s executive corps.) 270 Black List scripts have been produced into films grossing over $23 billion in worldwide box office. Black List scripts have won 37 Academy Awards — including three of the last six Best Pictures (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, THE KING’S SPEECH, and ARGO) and seven of the last fourteen screenwriting awards (JUNO, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, THE KING’S SPEECH, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE DESCENDANTS, ARGO, and DJANGO UNCHAINED) — from 196 nominations.
In October 2012, the Black List launched an online database of every screenplay circulating Hollywood and all those submitted by English language screenwriters from around the world. Since its launch, it has hosted more than 16,000 screenplays and completed more than 25,000 script evaluations. Scores of writers have found representation at major agencies and management companies or sold/optioned their scripts as a direct result of introductions made via the site.
In November 2013, the Black List expanded to include original pilots for episodic content (television, web series, and miniseries). At any given moment, more than 2500 screenplays are actively hosted for perusal by over 2500 film industry professionals ranging from agency assistants to studio chairs.
The inaugural Black List Screenwriters Lab in 2013, which you can read about here and here, was a huge success and based on the incredible experience for everyone involved last year, I’m confident the upcoming session will be equally special.
This is yet another example of how the Black List continues to be an innovative force in creating new opportunities for outsiders to break into the Hollywood filmmaking community. I applaud Franklin Leonard for his continuing commitment to a vision he has had since the inception of the Black List nearly a decade ago: To honor and advocate for great screenwriters and superior screenplays.
Congratulations to Callie, John, Kevin, Savion, Simon and Troy. I look forward to working with you in Las Vegas next week!
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