EXCLUSIVE: The Writer’s Lab, a first-of-its-kind program dedicated exclusively to elevating the work of women and nonbinary screenwriters over forty, has made its 2025 selections.
This year’s program will be held in New York City for the first time, over the course of five days, in early November. Take a look at the list of participants and mentors below. The program has had backing in the past from both Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, who continue to be involved, and now also on board in this capacity is MountainA, the production company formed by Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas.
The Writers’ Lab focuses on tools and strategies to navigate the ever-shifting landscape of professional opportunities and to build sustainable careers. As always, writers will work with accomplished women creatives as mentors to elevate their craft. With MountainA’s involvement, the Lab is developing an Industry Advocacy Program, a new scheme to build a pipeline for Lab participants, bring projects to the attention of industry representatives and executives, and open pathways to employment and production.
Partner organization Roadmap Writers, a screenwriting education and training platform organization that offers real-world tools and a path to professional success, has signed on to promote the 12 winners and additional top scorers this year. Other partner organizations include collaborators The Writers Guild of America East, New York Women in Film & Television, The Black List, Film Fatales, the Alliance of Women Directors, and Firecracker Department, the Female Eye Film Festival and Untamed Stories.
Accepting scripts from writers across the globe, The Writers Lab is now operational in the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Canada. The Lab has set up over 400 meetings for writers with leading industry members, seeing three of its projects be produced and released, with another three currently in pre-production. Of the program’s 201 alumnae, 49 have been signed by representation and 34 hired to write.
“The industry’s contraction has been tough on all writers,” said The Writer’s Lab co-founder Nitza Wilon, “but we continue to advocate fiercely for women and nonbinary writers over 40, who bring sophisticated skills, distinctive POVs and exciting new stories for audiences in this turbulent world.”
2025 PARTICIPANTS
Susannah Bohlke, Help Yourself (Half-Hr, Comedy)Roni Brown-Byrd, 40 Acres (Half-Hr, Comedy)Cylin Busby, Extremophile (Feature, Horror)Lisa Cole, She Presents Well (One-Hr, Drama)Zsofia Darida, Aryana (Feature, Drama)Sara Hallowell, Lady M (One-Hr, Drama)Marty Johnson, Public Way to Water (Half-Hr, Comedy)Jaime Kawamoto, Pickled (One-Hr, Dramedy)Tamika Lamison, Superman Doesn’t Steal (Feature, Historical Drama)Deb McCurdy, The Waters and the Wild (Feature, Dramedy)MK McGhee, The Re-Education of Jane Brown (Feature, Horror)Veronica Reyes-How, American Doctor (One-Hr, Drama)
2025 MENTORS
Anne Carey (Nightbitch, Dead Ringers)Susan Cartsonis (What Women Want, The Duff)Anya Epstein (The Affair, In Treatment)Amy Fox (The Connors, Equity)Pamela Gray (Megan Leavey, A Walk on the Moon)Jenny Halper (Unicorns, American Honey)Rita Hsiao (Mulan, The Monkey King)Meg Lefauve (Inside Out, 1 & 2, My Father’s Dragon)Amenya Makuku (FilmNation, Madeline’s Madeline)Mary Jane Skalski (Hello I Must Be Going, The Visitor)Shelby Stone (The Chi, Bessie)Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Memoirs of a Geisha)Pat Verducci (Disney/Pixar, True Crime)Tracey Scott Wilson (The Americans, Respect)Jamie Zelermyer (Focus Features, Boys Don‘t Cry)
