FilmColumbia announces screenwriting lab |

CHATHAM - FilmColumbia, the hometown for independent films, is now accepting applications for a five day screenwriting intensive in an idyllic rural setting. Sponsored by the Chatham Film Club, the screenwriting lab provides an opportunity for accepted applicants to refine and perfect their screenplay for a nominal fee. Both feature length and already established short format screenplays will be considered. The lab includes participant room and board. Participant room and board is included.

Influences such as a new generation of filmmakers, the Internet, changes in platform viewing, challenges in finding financing and the need for succinct and powerful storytelling are forcing the film industry to take notice of short films. Screenplays submitted in at least a first draft stage will be honed during the course of the lab into ten to fifteen page shorts, creating finished scripts that can easily be filmed and used as a trailer or final portion of a finished cut.  Each workshop day includes lab time, work time and exclusive insights from an experienced independent screenwriter.  

During the FilmColumbia Festival, October 17-21, one finished screenplay from the screenwriting lab will be awarded a live script reading by noted actors, plus $500 cash towards filming the project.  The FilmColumbia Festival screens major independent and award-winning films, many prior to general release, with a number going on to international acclaim each year. In 2011, FilmColumbia screened The Artist, Kid with a Bike, My Week With Marilyn, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Melancholia, Bully, Pariah, A Dangerous Method and many others.
 
The FilmColumbia Screenwriting Lab is led by actor Scott Cohen (The Other Woman, Kissing Jessica Stein, Necessary Roughness) and screenwriter/playwright Anastasia Traina (Horton Bliss, Sparticles and String, From Riverdale to Riverhead). Guest speakers include John Orloff (A Mighty Heart, Anonymous), Michael Cristofer (The Witches of Eastwick, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Cassanova), Courtney Hunt (Frozen River, In Treatment), Marc Levin (White Boyz), Seth Zvi Rosenfeld (Sunset Park, King of the Jungle) and writer Peter Biskind (Easy Riders, Raging Bull, Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America).

Applications are now available and can be completed online, HERE. Application fee is $35. Seven finalists will be accepted to the screenwriting lab, at the cost of $465 per person. Deadline for applications is August 15, 2012 at 11:59 pm.