HIFF’s Screenwriters Lab Is Back For 2019

The Hamptons International Film Festival’s (HIFF) 19th annual Screenwriters Lab takes place April 5 to 7 in East Hampton and will pair rising screenwriters with established and knowledgeable screenwriters, directors and producers for a weekend of one-on-one mentoring sessions.

The three selected screenplays for mentoring this year are Barbara Cigarroa’s “El Otro Lado (The Other Side),” Sontenish Myers’ “Stampede,” and Kirsten Tan’s “Higher.” For the second year in a row, all of the selected lab participants are women.

“Over the years our annual Screenwriters Lab has become a wonderful opportunity for writers to explore the possibilities of their work and receive guidance from some of the industry’s most prolific storytellers,” said David Nugent, artistic director of HIFF.

This year’s mentors include Michael H. Weber, screenwriter of “The Disaster Artist,” for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and “The Fault in Our Stars”; and Caroline Kaplan, producer of more than 70 films including “Sorry To Bother You” and “Boys Don’t Cry.”

Oscar-winning screenwriter Jim Taylor and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Tamara Jenkins will lead this year’s screenwriting Master Class, which is open to the public. Mr. Taylor won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Sideways,” while Ms. Jenkins was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her film The Savages,” and is also known for “Slums of Beverly Hills.” The pair worked together recently on “Juliet, Naked” and they will use clips and personal experiences to detail all that goes into writing a script for every type of audience.

The Master Class will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, at the Ross School in East Hampton.

Also during lab weekend, HIFF will present a special screening of “Terms of Endearment” on Friday, April 5, at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, with a post-screening conversation between David Nugent and Alec Baldwin. Tickets for the Master Class or the film screening are $25 at hamptonsfilmfest.org.

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