Reflections of 2019 Black List Feature Writer’s Lab Participants

6 writers. 5 mentors. 6 days. 1 incredible experience.

From August 4–10, 2019, six screenwriters gathered in Los Angeles for the 6th Annual Black List Feature Writers Lab. The writers — Claire Ayoub, Dominique Genest, John Hoffler, Jimmy Keyrouz, Tony Martin, and Dustin Sohn — had been selected on the basis of scripts they had uploaded to the Black List website and a personal statement about the story they are writing as well as their creative aspirations.

It was an incredible week and a fantastic learning experience for the lab participants. Easy to see given the slate of professional screenwriters who served as mentors for the lab writers: Jessica Bendiger, David Rabinowitz, Kiwi Smith, Victoria Strouse, Charlie Wachtel, and myself.

I asked the lab writers to share thoughts on their experience. Here they are!

Claire Ayoub

In short: The best week of my LIFE!

Being part of The Black List Feature Lab in LA was a powerful and transformative experience. I’ve never felt so completely supported and challenged as a writer before, and the combination of learning craft and industry knowledge left me walking out of that (beautiful, oh so stunning) house with my head held high.

They tell you not to meet your heroes, but I met mine and they RULE! I had the honor of workshopping Empire Waist with screenwriters Kiwi Smith (Legally Blonde), Jessica Bendinger (Bring It On), and Victoria Strouse (Finding Dory), and their feedback and support for my work changed the game.

Thank you to The Black List Team — Franklin Leonard, Megan Halpern, Kate Hagen, Terry Huang, and Caroline Johnson — for your ongoing support for Empire Waist and my writing! And thank you to the incredible Scott Myers for being such an incredible teacher and guide throughout the week.

Thank you to my fellow Feature Lab writers — John C. Hoffler Jr, Dustin Sohn, Tony Martin, Jimmy Keyrouz, and Dom Genest. You’re stuck with me for LIFE. (You’re welcome)

Dominique Genest

Immersive, inspiring, and a hell of a lot of fun. Those are but a few words that come to mind in my futile attempt to properly articulate my experience at the Feature Lab. But even those words seem to fall perilously short of capturing the entirety of that week. Maybe I should consult a thesaurus, but I doubt it’ll help define the Lab. Maybe that’s the point.

It’s stunning to think of the level of talent and wisdom we were exposed to that week. For six days, we were given access to true masters of the craft. Seasoned, working writers whose words we’ve all heard on the screen but never dreamed we’d meet in person. But we didn’t just meet. My mentors (Victoria Strouse, David Rabinowitz, and Charlie Wachtel) had actually read my script in advance, and they delivered thoughtful, insightful notes that have without question elevated my script.

And through it all, Scott gave us the tools to dig deeper into character, harness the power of structure, and adopt a willingness to rethink our narrative approach.

Equally impactful for me was an underlying, consistent message: That these seasoned, working writers were just like us when they started out. Just as dedicated to improving, just as hopeful for a future as professional writers, and at least a little insecure about our ability to do so.

I never expected the level of community that was forged with my fellow Lab-mates. All of us read each others’ scripts with a critical but wildly constructive eye, and my script has benefited from their selfless efforts. By day two, we felt like old friends. By day five, we were a family, except we truly enjoy each others’ company and we value each others’ perspective. These are memories and relationships I’ll cherish and nurture for the rest of my days, or until the world devolves into full-blown apocalyptic chaos. Whichever comes first.

We had fun. A lot of it. More than I’m used to or believe I deserve. By day we workshopped and absorbed our mentors’ guidance, but at night we were treated to incredible dinners and events, and we used rare unencumbered free time for carefree shenanigans that reminded us, above all, that the term “writers’ community” is anything but an industry platitude. It’s very real. It’s powerful and uplifting and supportive. And if you avail yourself of it, that community can make all the difference in the world. Not just for ourselves, but for every writer staring at a blank page.

John Hoffler

The Black List Feature Lab is a singular experience. A fun, intense, communal exercise in the business and craft of screenwriting. The level of generosity, camaraderie and support I experienced in that single week was an unparalleled whirlwind that I find hard to put into words.

So much of writing is typing all alone, screaming into the void, constantly wondering if you’re on the right path. Wondering if you’re good enough or if
anyone understands what you’re going through.

So when I arrived at a house on Mulholland in early August and found an eclectic group of welcoming, talented, and likeminded people… for possibly the first time in my life, I didn’t feel alone in my process.

My fellow writers were whip-smart, thoughtful, hilarious people who’d written amazing scripts that humbled and challenged me. I was reunited with the fabulous Black List Team, who bonded with us over amazing meals and late-night chats by the pool.

Together, our weird little family met industry professionals who treated us as peers and equals. We met the incomparable Scott Myers, who broke our brains open on a daily basis with his grasp of storytelling and his ability to distill our work down to its essence. We were able to develop our scripts with mentors, including Kiwi Smith (10 Things I Hate About You), Jess Bendiger (Bring It On), Victoria Strouse (Finding Dory), and the team of Charlie Watchel & David Rabinowitz (BlacKkKlansmen). Black List Founder Franklin Leonard, “Chernobyl” screenwriter Craig Mazin, former-WGA President Howard Rodman and screenwriter Mike Risolio each took time to sit with us and discuss everything from meetings, to process, to the greatness of “Columbo”. We also met former Labbies, who imparted advice on navigating our post-lab lives and how to synthesize the onslaught of information coming our way.

And all along, we were shepherded and over-fed by the killer team at The Black List. Megan, Caroline, Terry, Kate and Olivia are simply the greatest and I really can’t praise them enough.

If I take anything away from that week, it’s going to be the friendships I’ve gained. It’s a privilege to be in such awesome company.

Oh, and that void I was talking about earlier? It’s not empty anymore. It’s been filled by my weird little family from Lab Island. That’s a real gift. I can’t thank them all enough.

But I suppose this is a start.

Now if you’ll excuse me… I have a rewrite to do.

Jimmy Keyrouz

I try to avoid superlatives when describing any experience but the Black List Annual Feature Lab is truly one of the BEST experience a writer can ever dream of early on in her/his career.

First, to be among 6 writers selected from over a thousand applicant makes you feel very special, and even more so when that recognition is coming from the Black List. It is arguably, the most prestigious screenwriting institution in the United States (and probably the world) and the closest thing LA and Hollywood have as the Academy, but for scripts. 53 Academy Awards, 262 nominations… The screenplays featured annually could hardly have a more successful journey.

With that in mind, what can I say about my week with the Black List? It was just PERFECT. First, you meet a group of writers with incredible talent. You also meet Franklin Leonard’s team to whom, you can easily grant the Oscar for “Best Hospitality”. You get to meet with the likes of Kristen “Kiwi” Smith, Victoria Strouse and Jessica Bendinger and get amazing feedback on your script. You attend meetings with industry leaders and last but not least, you get mentored by Scott Myers, who is some kind of script wizard.

“This tension between what the Protagonist wants and what they need is generally at the core of their Disunity and provides a dynamic tension that fuels their metamorphosis.” Listening to Scott Myers speak about story and structure helped me shed some light on the biggest and most ambiguous issues I struggled with when writing my script.

In short, I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity and the time I was granted that week. Finally, I am very proud to be a part of the Black List Lab family.

Tony Martin

A while back, someone told me that expectations = premeditated stress. I really took it to heart. And so, when I received an email saying I’d been selected for the 2019 Black List Feature Lab, I worked tirelessly not to get excited going so far as to convince myself the email was a deep fake. Even as I climbed aboard my JetsuiteX flight, I didn’t allow myself to jump ahead to think how amazing the next week could be. Walking into the four story mansion in the Hollywood Hills, I simply told myself, ‘yeah this is great, but it’s probably haunted.’ And then I met them: my five fellow Lab participants and the Black List squad. Amazing humans each and every one. Brilliant storytellers. Supportive friends. It was a bridge too far. From then on, I expected nothing but unbridled awesomeness. I would not be disappointed.

Incredibly astute and supportive notes from Hollywood A-listers Victoria Strauss, David Rabinowitz and Jess Bendinger. From the first night at Little Dom’s to Mozza to the final night at Republique we were wined and dined as if we were A-listers. Boundless advice and genuine friendship from the soulful Scott Myers. Insight and wisdom about the inner workings of Hollywood from the likes of Franklin Leonard, Mike Rosalio and Craig Mazin. A deep bench of former Lab participants offering to make connections and not only read my current script but future projects too.

By far the most amazing pant of the week was a little hot tub with an unreliable heater and a violent jet spray. It was in and around that bad boy where the truly special magic happened. I laughed harder than I ever have. I saw the world through the eyes of a diverse and powerfully intuitive group of people. They have forever changed my own outlook. I bared my soul and it was met by 12 of the most amazing souls I will ever be blessed to witness. That hot tub was the set of our version of The Big Chill, perfectly nicknamed by our fearless leader, Megan Halpern, The Small Hot. In a fast paced, transactional world, we soaked and held each other in the highest regard.

Dustin Sohn

I tried my hardest to soak up the entire 2019 Black List Feature Lab experience like a sponge, but as soon as I blinked, the week was over and it all felt like a distant dream. Did it even happen? I’m not sure, but I have all these contacts in my phone now…who’s Terry?

Remember in school when you were surrounded by people you were forced to see and interact with every day, and chances were good that at least one of those idiots would turn into an idiot friend? Well I’m 30 and I am a writer so I thought those days of friend-making were behind me, but this lab dragged and dropped me into a community of top-notch individuals who were nothing but kind, humble, supportive, creative, enthusiastic, supportive, caring, funny, supportive, and supportive. And did I mention supportive?

Allow me to elaborate. So I wrote this thing, right? But I got to a point where I couldn’t look at that thing anymore and I had no idea how I was doing, but then these five people and this slightly older, much wiser person helped me breathe new life into that thing, and then three other people who wrote things I loved and won shiny gold things looked at my thing and helped turn it into a better thing, and this other person connected me with more people who could make more things happen! This sentence may or may not be indicative of how I write or speak, but the point is, I met so many people who understood me, acknowledged my work, believed in my dreams, and outfitted me with the right gear for my long writing expedition. And this dream, which at first felt like an elusive, unattainable concept, somehow became very accessible, and it all started with an idea…an idea that manifested into a screenplay that could one day become a movie enjoyed by many in theaters — or better yet, enjoyed in secret by few, inside a country under authoritarian rule (I wrote about a North Korean defector).

For better or worse, art is meant to be shared and experienced, enjoyed, judged, or even criticized. The first few times I shared my screenplay for feedback, I felt unbearably naked. Whether in the future Rotten Tomatoes says my movie stinks, or a regime puts a target on my forehead — social fear and self-preservation could kick in at any given moment and have me wanting to withdraw and recant my work, leaving me afraid to create ever again. It’s very easy when we’re just starting off to let the opinions of others hold power over our perception, but our mentor Scott reminded us black [list] labradors why we wrote our stories in the first place, and to let that source of inspiration be our guiding beacon. So whatever shape or form your creativity manifests, start with the truth. Nourish it, and watch it grow. It won’t be perfect at first, or ever, but you created something out of nothing like a baby god. And when your creation turns into something that resonates with others, you’ll be surprised by the places it takes you and the people it brings into your life (who’s Terry?).

I’m proud to have been a mentor at every single Black List feature writing lab and mini-lab event — 14 total at this point — along with some incredible screenwriters who took time from their busy schedules to mentor the lab participants.

Thus, we add six more members to the Black List Labbies: Claire, Dom, Dustin, Jimmy, John, and Tony. It was great spending a week with you, working on your stories and doing a deep dive into the craft and business of screenwriting.

Onward!