Screenwriters & Directors Labs

SCREENWRITERS
WRITERS &
DIRECTORS LABS

Information & Application Details

The next Screenwriters and Directors Labs will be held in Summer of 2024. There will not be a 2023 edition.
Applications will open in fall of 2023.

Please note that Greek candidates can apply from October to December every year through an open call.
The international submissions are by invitation only.

Location
Costa Navarino, Messinia, Greece
Dates
2024
Duration
8 days
Commitment
Full-Time
Application Deadline
TBA

From 2016 to 2018, Oxbelly organised the Faliro House | Sundance Institute Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop, in partnership with the Sundance Institute and filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari with the aim to support first and second-feature filmmakers from the Mediterranean region.

Following the workshop’s successful 3-year run, Oxbelly launched its Screenwriters and Directors Labs in 2019, based on the same principles, expanding its outreach to include countries from around the world. The Oxbelly Screenwriters and Directors Labs are held every summer in the coastal area of Costa Navarino, Greece, and allow first and second feature filmmakers to further develop their projects, with guidance from established filmmakers, under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari.

Screenwriters Labs

The Screenwriters Lab aims to support exceptional narratives in all genres, by emerging filmmakers from around the world. The Lab is curated to offer 8-10 fellows the opportunity to work on their first and second feature film scripts, under the guidance of established film professionals (advisors).

Over the period of one week, each fellow has meetings with three separate advisors, as well as the opportunity to attend group workshops and panels/masterclasses, presented by filmmakers, producers, sales agents, festival programmers, and other industry professionals.

Alongside the Screenwriters Lab, the Directors Lab supports the fellows as they direct a scene from their scripts, preparing them for the challenge of conveying the emotions from the page to the screen.

The fellows get the chance to cast the scene prior to the Lab, then storyboard it shot-by-shot, shoot it and edit it at the Lab, accompanied by a casting director, DoP and editor accordingly. Their paired advisors observe and advise during the process until the scenes are ready to be screened and discussed amongst all Lab participants.

Directors Labs

Open Call for
Greek candidates

The open call for Greek candidates for the 2022 Screenwriters and Directors Labs is now closed. The international submissions are by invitation only.

Please submit the first ten pages of your script (both in English and Greek) along with the requested materials (in English) through the application form below.

Should your project be selected for the second round of applications, you will be notified via email in January, and you will be asked to submit the complete draft of your script, as well as a few additional materials (e.g. synopsis, cover letter).

If you have previously applied with the same project, your application can only be eligible for consideration if your current script is significantly revised from the previously submitted draft.

Please note that the Directors Lab is accessible only to fellows attending the Screenwriters Lab; that includes writers planning on directing their own project and writer-director teams.