Thank you to everyone who applied to our first ever EPISODIC LAB AOTEAROA this May. Over 95 teams submitted 116 series concepts, showing a real hunger for development opportunities in writing for the small screen.
The selection panel of Australian-based writer/development producer Katherine Fry, writer/director/actor Oscar Kightley and writer/director Fiona Samuel were impressed by the calibre of the ideas and the talented teams behind them. They had a very difficult job choosing only eight projects to be developed in the lab.
Fiona Samuel said on behalf of the selection panel, “We could easily have chosen twice the number of proposals from this crowded and talented field. There are so many entertaining and compelling stories waiting to be told and so many writers with the potential to take on episodic drama and bring something new to our screens.”
The eight selected teams will develop their skills and their projects with guidance from experienced television writers from New Zealand, Australia, USA and Denmark during the five-day immersive lab.
Writers and teams who will be participating in the inaugural Episodic Lab in Auckland July 23-27 are:
- Abigail Greenwood and Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu with APRIL/JUNE
- Cian Elyse White, Mike Jonathan, Piripi Curtis, Richard Curtis, Tihini Grant and Tim Worrall with ARMED OFFENDERS
- Dianne Taylor and Robyn Malcolm with PLANKTON
- Emily Anderton & Rochelle Bright with BELLONA
- Roseanne Liang, Kerry Warkia & Kiel McNaughton with STUNTIES
- Dan Musgrove and Shoshana McCallum with ALL OF ME
- Chelsie Preston Crayford, Michelle Savill and Sophie Henderson with WALL
- Suli Moa with BIG WEDNESDAY.
Participants biographies can be found at here
The Episodic Lab Aotearoa is made possible thanks to the generous support from NZ on Air, Lightbox, NZ Film Commission and Images & Sound.
