Film Independent Sets Screenwriting Lab Participants For 2024

Matt Grobar
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent has named Omer Ben Shachar, Mary Dauterman, MG Evangelista, Naomi Iwamoto, Thomas Kivney, Juan Paulo Laserna and Jhanvi Motla as the screenwriters selected for the 26th edition of its Screenwriting Lab, an intensive program designed to provide individualized story and career development for screenwriters with fiction feature scripts.

Over the course of the program, Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Jessica Sharzer, Jeff Stockwell and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Bridget Savage Cole, Lauren Craniotes, Ellie Foumbi, Priyanka Kapoor, Danielle Krudy, Amanda Marshall, Josh Peters, Jon Schumacher, Ellen Shanman, Lauren Shelton and Caddy Vanasirikul.

“We are honored to provide the tools and support necessary for these exceptional filmmakers to propel their projects and careers forward,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs for Film Independent.

More from Deadline

Past Screenwriting Lab projects include Billy Luther’s Frybread Face and Me, Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao’s feature debut Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Andrew Ahn’s Independent Spirit Award-winning debut Spa Night, Hikari’s Berlin prize winner 37 Seconds, Ani Simon Kennedy’s A Short History of the Long Road, and Kate Marks’ The Cow of Queens, which landed a Nicholl Fellowship in 2020.

Read more about the projects of this year’s participants below.

Burning Well
Writer/Director: MG Evangelista
Logline: In a re-imagining of the Prodigal Son story, on receiving news of his mother’s illness, a young trans man returns home to mend complicated relationships and rediscover what love and family really mean.

Not My Name
Writer/Director: Juan Paulo Laserna
Logline: 1996 – As Colombia descends into bloody insurgent warfare, a family must travel on a perilous country road to visit their ailing grandfather. Their fear of kidnapping forces them to rely on their youngest child to conceal their fake identities, exposing him to the reality of war.

Promise
Writer/Director: Naomi Iwamoto
Logline: A coming of age story that follows an ambitious teen with a drug habit who learns how to grieve and love her mom.

Role Play
Writer/Director: Omer Ben Shachar
Writer: Thomas Kivney
Logline: A struggling actor agrees to help a powerful casting director boost her newly-out son’s confidence by posing as the most supportive guy on Grindr. But as he starts developing feelings for her son, they all realize that even the most well-conceived plot can’t protect you from the realities of love.

The Manager’s Wife
Writer/Director: Jhanvi Motla
Logline: Reunited with her husband Abhi after nearly two years at his newly acquired motel, Nitya arrives in California only to discover dark secrets about her new life that threaten to unravel their marriage.

Thirty Grand
Writer/Director: Mary Dauterman
Logline: Two Gap employees discover a bag of cash in a dressing room at the top of their shift on Black Friday. All hell breaks loose.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.