For over two decades, the HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab has championed the artistic visions of up-and-coming filmmakers from around the world, pairing selected fellows with established writers and creative producers for a weekend of one-on-one mentorship. Learn more.
Note: entries in blue received the Melissa Mathison Award.
2024
Chheangkea | Little Phnom Penh
Sarah Mokh | Diary of a Muslim Cynic
Agnes Skonare | Pygmalion
Mentors: Michael Covino, Bart Freundlich, Celine Song
2023
Keisha Rae Witherspoon, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers | Arc
Tyler Riggs | Blue Boy
Shehrezad Maher | Theory of Colors
Mentors: Samuel D. Hunter, Ekwa Msangi, David Hinojosa
2022
Jamil McGinnis, Pat Heywood | In Search of Time
Farida Zahran | The Leftover Ladies
Jimmy Goldblum | Marilou is Everywhere
Mentors: Mollye Asher, Peter Hedges, Alice Wu
2021
Lana Wilson | Back Seat
Zoë Maltby | Bear Lake
Charlotte Rabate Samir | The Accidental Spy
Mentors: James Ponsoldt, Jesse Andrews, Sara Colangelo
2020
Kelly O’Sullivan | Mouse
Adinah Dancyger | Different Place, Different Air (fka Gracefully)
Max Walker-Silverman | Esther’s Guide to Sex and Death
Mentors: Peter Hedges, Darius Marder, Anne Carey
2019
Barbara Cigarroa | El Otro Lado (The Other Side)
Sontenish Myers | Stampede
Kirsten Tan | Higher
Mentors: Michael H. Weber, Caroline Kaplan, Bill Collage
2018
Esra Saydam | The Mesopotamian
Anu Valia | We Strangers
Aemilia Scott | Birthday Suit
Mentors: Sabrina Dhawan, James V. Hart, Alec Sokolow
2017
Annabelle Attanasio | Mickey and the Bear
Jess dela Merced | Chickenshit
Andrew Semans | Resurrection
Mentors: Robin Swicord, David Siegel, Ted Griffin
2016
Shane Andries | The Delegation
Marshall Curry, Davy Rothbart | Biggz
Cathy Yan | Dead Pigs
Mentors: Debra Granik, Michael H. Weber, Mike Jones
2015
Kendell Courtney Klein | Jane
Jared Goodman | European Zero
Ísold Uggadóttir | And Breathe Normally
Philip Aceto | The Gloaming
Mentors: Helen Schulman, Nicole Perlman, Alexander Dinalirs, Evan Hayes
2014
Christina Choe | Nancy
Michael Sladek | Phantom Limbs
Ben Nabors, Michael Tyburski | Sound of Silence (fka Palimpsest)
Evan Schwartz | Televisionaries
Mentors: Jamal Joseph, Lawrence Konner, Robert Siegel, Susan Stover
2013
Caveh Zahedi, Arnold Barkus | The Gift
Sara Colangelo | Little Accidents
David Schwab | Francis Turnbull
Joan Stein Schimke, Averie Storck | The Buried Life
Mentors: Oren Moverman, Lisa Muskat, Andrew Bienen, Bill Collage
2012
Eleanor Burke, Ron Eyal | Bright As Day
Carolyn Kras | Magnetic
Seith Mann | Come Sunday
Laura Oaksmith | The Buck Decision
Mentors: Jon Robin Baitz, Laurie Collyer, Sophia Lin, Hawk Ostby
2011
Destin Daniel Cretton | Short Term 12
Sheryl Glubok | The Prisoner and the Professor
Claudia Myers | Fort Bliss
Eugene Ramos | Newton’s Laws of Emotions
Mentors: Anne Boden, Ryan Fleck, Billy Frolick, Mark Heyman
2010
Robert Cohen | Bystander
Todd Krainin | Tube Wars
Justin Schwartz | The Discoverers
Dušan Sekulovic | The Folly of Cicada
Mentors: Billy Frolick, Maria Maggenti, J.D. Zeik, Karen Chien
2009
Tom Ellis | Homeland
Kirk Davis, Sam Sloves | The Transformation
Karen Odyniec | Charm School for Primates
Ian Ogden | Child in the Dark
Mentors: James Vanderbilt, Mark Christopher, Bill Collage, Michael Cunningham
2008
Alex R. Johnson | La Sobrina
James Ponsoldt | Refresh, Refresh
Bradford Tatum | The Book of Water
Avi Zev Weider | Zeroes and Ones
Mentors: Jeffrey Sharp, Whit Stillman, Maria Maggenti, Ira Sachs
2007
Pawel Grajnert | The Anatomists
John Buffalo Mailer | With Prejudice
Caitlin McCarthy | Wonder Drug
Geoffrey O’Connor | The Experiment
Mentors: Henry Bean, Tom Gilroy, Paul Mezey, Joshua Marston
2006
Jeffrey Altshuler | Brilliant Pebbles
David Baxter, Gretchen Somerfeld | Face Value
Jordan Melamed | Twelve
Heidi Neurauter, Amy Rice, David Wain | The Steins
Mentors: Warren Leight, Whit Stillman, Charles Randolph, Alison Maclean
2005
Dan Harnden | Employee of the Month
Bill Rebeck |Mapping Swack
Adam Tobin | Edison’s Thugs
Oliver Jolliffe | Vapor
Mentors: Chap Taylor, Dylan Kidd, Nicole Quinn, Vanessa Guest, George Bugliarello
2004
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz | Mutter
Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell | These! Conquered the Earth
Camille Leslie | Buy Borrow or Steal
Hakim Quest | I Love NY
Casper Wong | Baby Face
Mentors: Sabrina Dhawan, Jon Robin Baitz, Theresa Rebeck, Tony Spiridakis, Chap Taylor
2003
Marylou Bongiorno, Jerome Bongiorno | Watermark
Eric Conner | Just Enough
Sylvia Gale Kinard | The Tenzig Principle
Carter Anne McGowan | In Ntesinan
Mentors: Peg Haller, Bob Scheider, James V. Hart, Susan Rice, Gregory Widen
2002
Guy Cimbalo, Matthew Ross | Complete Control
Denise Pullen | Riding Fire
Chris Romero | Anika’s Room
Stefan Schaefer | C-O-N-F-E-S-S.COM
Thomas Simmons | Rose of Sharon
Robert Whitehill | UXO – Unexplained Ordinance
Mentors: Maggie Greenwald, Belinda Haas, James V. Hart, Lawrence Lasker, Michael Weller, Kaylie Jones
2001
Victor Bevine | Certainty
Matthew Dawson | The Low Spark of Reuben Morris
Maria Essen | Changing Directions
Nicole Quinn | Pretty Bird
