Show Me Shorts Film Festival and Script to Screen have announced the names of six up-and-coming screenwriters who will participate in New Zealand's fifth Short Film Lab.
The 2014 Short Film Lab participants are: Linda Hughes, Miles Murphy, Chantelle Burgoyne, Kelly Walker, Mark Prebble, and co-writers Prue Cunningham and Zanna Gillespie.
In the interests of talent identification and professional development for New Zealand screenwriters, Show Me Shorts Film Festival and Script to Screen collaborate to provide the Short Film Lab, hosted by the University of Auckland's Screen Production Programme and supported by the New Zealand Film Commission.
This hothouse mentoring scheme enables writers to workshop fresh new ideas for short film. Over the course of a full day development workshop, participants will be guided in breaking down their scripts by experienced industry practitioners who have excelled in short film making, including Jackie van Beek (In Safe Hands, Go the Dogs), Jake Mahaffy (Free in Deed, Wellness, Miracle Boy) and Shuchi Kothari (Firaaq, Apron Strings, Coffee and Allah).
A total of 69 applications were received for the Short Film Lab this year, demonstrating the health and vitality of this thriving sector of the screen industry. The selection panel was made up of director and producer Paul Swadel (Poppy, When A City Falls), writer and director Hamish Bennett (The Dump, Ross & Beth), screenwriter Dianne Taylorm(Vice President of the New Zealand Writer's Guild), Esther Cahill-Chiaroni (Executive Director of Script to Screen), and Gina Dellabarca (Festival Director of Show Me Shorts).