Participants Named for Writers Lab, Backed by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Writers Lab, backed by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, has unveiled it dozen 2018 participants — all women writers over 40, Variety has learned exclusively.

The program is the only lab devoted exclusively to women writers over 40, with the goal of fighting both ageism and sexism.

The Writers Lab 2018 is produced by IRIS and New York Women in Film & Television, in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America East, with support from The Black List, Film Fatales, Relativity Ventures, Stony Brook Southampton+Manhattan & Tribeca Film Institute.

The 12 participants for The Writers Lab 2018 are:

Billie Bates, Spirit Halloween
Catherine Craig, Suspended Belief
Nadia Fares, Diplomatic Corps
Avra Fox-Lerner, Lady Kate
Lynn Esta Goldman, On the Wing
Pippa Hinchley, One White Crow
Teisha Hickman, Sundays and Mondays
Ann Hawker, An Austrian Holiday
Shelagh McLeod, Nexus
Cornelia Ravenal, On the Blade
Gail Segal, Lila Rose
Shelley Thompson, Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor

The mentors attached to the Lab, slated for Sept. 26-29, 2018 include: Susan Cartsonis (“What Women Want”), Lisa Cortés (“Precious”), Amy Fox (“Equity”), Pat Verducci (consultant, Disney/Pixar), Mary Jane Skalski (“Win Win”), Pamela Gray (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), and Jenny Lumet (“Rachel Getting Married”).

The Writers Lab will take place at the Wiawaka Center for Women in upstate New York. The 12 writers and the mentors will meet for intensive one-on-one discussions to develop and refine their scripts.

IRIS champions the female voice in fictional narrative film. The organization was founded by Elizabeth Kaiden, Kyle Ann Stokes, and Nitza Wilon. New York Women in Film & Television advocates for equality in the moving image industry and supports women in every stage of their careers with membership of nearly 2,500 women and men working in all areas of the industry.