2012 Screenwriters’ Lab
April 13-15, 2012
East Hampton, New York

The Hamptons International Film Festival’s Screenwriters’ Lab, going into its 12th year, is an intimate gathering that takes place each Spring in East Hampton, New York. The Lab develops emerging screenwriting talent by pairing established writers & creative producers with up-and-coming screenwriters (chosen by HIFF in collaboration with key industry contacts). The mentors advise in a one-on-one creative laboratory setting while additional events bring the participants together with board members, sponsors, the local artistic community, and other friends of the festival. With scripts from past writers produced year after year, the Lab continues to be a safe and inspiring place for artists to find and hone their creative vision.

Recent mentors at the lab include Michael Cunningham (The Hours, Evening); James Vanderbilt (Zodiac); Mark Heyman (Black Swan); Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar, It’s Kind of a Funny Story); Billy Frolick (Madagascar); J.D. Zeik (Ronin); J. Robin Baitz (People I Know, The Substance of Fire); Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco); Ira Sachs (40 Shades of Blue, This Married Life); Jeff Sharp (Producer, You Can Count on Me, Evening); Maria Maggenti (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love); Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding, Cosmopolitan); Gregory Widen (Highlander, Backdraft); Mark Christopher (54); Maggie Greenwald (Songcatcher, Ballad of Little Jo); Lawrence Lasker (Sneakers, War Games); Chap Taylor (Changing Lanes, National Treasure); and Dylan Kidd (Roger Dodger, P.S.).

We seek a broad selection of screenplays addressing a wide subject matter. Additionally, in collaboration with The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s initiative in furthering the public understanding of science, we encourage writers to submit screenplays that explore science, technology, mathematics, invention, and engineering in fresh and innovative ways.

SPECIAL SUBMISSIONS ONLY • Final deadlines have passed. If you have a deadline waiver or special instructions from the event, select a Category of Entry to continue.

Last Year’s Screenwriters’ Lab Finalists and Project Descriptions:

SHORT TERM 12 by Destin Daniel Cretton

Based on the Sundance award-winning short film, SHORT TERM 12 follows Grace, a young supervisor at a foster care facility, as she struggles to look after her teens while desperately avoiding the residue of her own dark past. When Jayden, a new arrival, is placed in her care, Grace is forced to confront her own scars in order to help the teenage girl with whom she has been charged to look after.

THE PRISONER AND THE PROFESSOR by Sheryl Glubok

THE PRISONER AND THE PROFESSOR is based on a true story. When an uneducated prisoner in Alcatraz discovers he has an aptitude for mathematics, a straight-laced professor from Stamford University agrees to tutor him. With a love of mathematics as a common language, an unlikely friendship evolves and the prisoner is given one last shot at redemption.

FORT BLISS by Claudia Myers

In FORT BLISS, a female Army medic and single mom returns from an extended combat tour in Afghanistan to find she must now win back the love of her five-year-old son. When news of another deployment threatens the fragile balance she has achieved, she is forced to choose between her role as a mother and her obligations as a soldier.

NEWTON’S LAWS OF EMOTION by Eugene Ramos

Issac Newton and his friend, Edmund Halley, travel to London to present before the Royal Society, England’s brotherhood of scientists, in the hope of becoming members. Unbeknownst to Newton, Halley is a spy for the English crown and is tasked with stealing an equation discovered by Newton that may be able to predict the future and thus prevent a costly war between England and its archenemy, the Dutch Republic. Newton, meanwhile, meets Sophia, a beautiful Prussian royal who has her own aspirations to become a Society member. As he pursues Sophia’s affections, Newton makes his greatest discoveries: calculus, the laws of motion, and love.