Selected writers will develop feature scripts alongside advisors including Robin Swicord and Phil Hay

A long running program built specifically around craft development

Film Independent has selected seven screenwriters, Andres Perez-Duarte, Emma He, Maddie McCann, Sam Osborn, Rammy Park, Alissa Torvinen and Alejandra Vasquez, for its twenty-eighth annual Screenwriting Lab, according to the organization’s official announcement. The program pairs fellows with creative advisors for individualized story and career development across several months.

An advisor roster with genuine industry depth

Creative advisors for this year’s cohort include Linda Yvette Chavez, Phil Hay, Javier Fuentes-Leon, Matt Manfredi and Robin Swicord, according to Film Independent’s fellow profiles, alongside guest speakers including filmmaker HIKARI, whose own return as an advisor marks a full-circle moment after previously participating in the lab herself.

Projects span a genuinely wide range of subject matter

This year’s fellows are developing scripts covering everything from a religious Mexican-American community grappling with identity to the rediscovery of a mythic bird, reflecting the program’s consistent emphasis on distinctive, personal storytelling over commercial formula.

Fazit

Programs like this rarely make headlines on their own, but they quietly shape who gets a real shot at a screenwriting career. For more on the lab, visit Film Independent. For lighter British commentary elsewhere in our network, see The London Prat’s Starmer’s Final EU Plan.