Film Independent Selects Six Participants For Inaugural Episodic Lab

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and LA Film Festival, announced the writers selected for its inaugural Episodic Lab. The Lab is an intensive four-week program designed to help Fellows gain the tools needed to revise and refine their pilots and navigate a changing industry landscape through personalized feedback from experienced showrunners, creative producers and executives.

The Episodic Lab Creative Advisors and guest speakers include: Alan Poul (The Newsroom, Six Feet Under) and Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin (The Killing, Carnivàle).

"With the explosion of great creative work being done outside the traditional feature film model, we're so excited to launch a Lab focused on the episodic form," said Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development at Film Independent. "As with all of our programs, our goal is to introduce bold new voices to the industry and provide mentorship and access for underrepresented talent, so that the stories on screen truly reflect our diverse culture. We couldn't ask for better partners in this endeavor than Netflix, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Time Warner Foundation."

Film Independent Artist Development promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work through its Filmmaker Labs (Directing, Documentary, Episodic, Producing and Screenwriting), Grants Program which awards over $800K annually to filmmakers, the Fast Track finance market, Fiscal Sponsorship and Project Involve, Film Independent's signature diversity program, that this year celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Film Independent will also present the Alfred P. Sloan Episodic Grant, a $10,000 development grant to support a pilot that explores science and technology themes or that depicts scientists, engineers and mathematicians in engaging and innovative ways, to Michael Kogge for his project The Age of Reptiles.

The Film Independent Episodic Lab is supported by Lead Artist Development Funder the Time Warner Foundation and Founding Sponsor Netflix. Additional support is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

For more information on Film Independent Artist Development, please contact Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development, at 310 432 1275. Additional information and an application form can be found at filmindependent.org.

The 2017 Episodic Lab participants and their projects are:

Title: Age of Reptiles
Writer: Michael Kogge
Logline:  Playboy-paleontologist Barnum Brown battles rival dinosaur diggers and cutthroat museum politics in his quest for the Holy Grail of fossils, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Title: Battle Buddies
Writer: Lynelle White
Logline: Two female Army soldiers return home from the Afghanistan war tormented by mental and physical disabilities.  Rather than allow society to shove them into a forgotten corner, the women put their military training to use and reinvent themselves as private investigators.

Title: City #2
Writer: Eddie Quintana
Logline: After the zombie apocalypse, the government gathers 1,000 of the country's leaders in art, science, politics, and culture and puts them in a fortified city to survive. Well, this show is not about them. It's about everyone else, doing their best to survive.

Title: Paragon
Writer: K.D. Dávila
Logline: In 1876, the lives of an illegal diamond dealer, a cutthroat English businessman, a street-wise hustler, and a mixed-race lawyer collide as they struggle for control of the diamond fields of colonial South Africa. Based on the early days of the De Beers Diamond Company.

Title: Tilting
Writer: April Shih
Logline: A math teacher with a secret reinvents herself in Vegas as a poker player and finds a tribe of supportive degenerates. This half-hour dramedy follows people with nothing left to lose while they discover the unlikely optimism that comes from being at rock bottom.

Title: Young Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Danny Daneau
Logline: An adolescent Alfred Hitchcock finds his true calling when he interns for a camera-wielding Jesuit Priest and is thrown into a world of mystery and murder within the dreary Edwardian district of East London.

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About Film Independent
Film Independent is a nonprofit arts organization that champions creative independence in visual storytelling and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds an audience for their projects, and works to diversify the film industry. Film Independent's Board of Directors, filmmakers, staff and constituents is comprised of an inclusive community of individuals across ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual orientation. Anyone passionate about film can become a Member, whether you are a filmmaker, industry professional or a film lover.

In addition to producing the Spirit Awards, Film Independent produces the LA Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA Film Series, a year-round, weekly program that offers unique cinematic experiences for the Los Angeles creative community and the general public.

With over 250 annual screenings and events, Film Independent provides access to a network of like-minded artists who are driving creativity in the film industry. Film Independent's Artist Development program offers free Labs for selected writers, directors, producers and documentary filmmakers and presents year- round networking opportunities. Project Involve is Film Independent's signature program dedicated to fostering the careers of talented filmmakers from communities traditionally underrepresented in the film industry.
For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org.

Contact: Alia Quart Khan, Film Independent
Tel: 310 432 1287 or [email protected]

Ryan Collins, Ginsberg/Libby
Tel: 323 645 6800 or [email protected]

SOURCE Film Independent

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