Reflections of 2021 Black List Feature Writer’s Lab Participants

Writers who participated in this year’s Black List Feature Writer’s Lab reflect on their experience.

Every year since 2013, the Black List has held a feature writer’s lab. The first two years, they took place in Las Vegas. In 2015, they were long weekend events in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto. From 2016–2019, week-long sessions were conducted in Los Angeles.

The 2020 iteration was different. Of course, it was different. It’s 2020, when everything is different. Due to the pandemic, that year’s feature writer’s lab was a virtual experience with multiple Zoom meetings spread across the month of September.

This year’s lab turned out to be a hybrid event. The six 2021 lab writers gathered in Los Angeles for a long in-person weekend. I was supposed to join them, but guess who tested positive with COVID-19? Fortunately, my symptoms were minor, so I was able to participate via Zoom. That part of the lab experience worked out pretty well, but based upon the comments you are about to read, nothing compared to the time the group shared together.

Here are the reflections of the 2021 Black List Feature Writers lab writers.

Patrick Clement

I can’t say enough about the amazing people I met at the Black List Feature Lab! The mentors and guests, the killer BL team that makes it all happen (Megan, Claire, Tayo, Kate, Terry & Franklin) and my insanely talented lab mates (aka the “Labateers©“). From the moment you get the acceptance email and fall off the toilet from pure shock; to sitting on the toilet and realizing you have a post-lab reflection due to Scott in an hour, it’s a singular, transformative experience. I’d love to share a few thoughts for all those future Labateers© out there.

1. Cold mornings in the Hills are for tea and jacuzzi nozzles. Hot baths are medicine. Sorrow, regret, self-pity, imposter syndrome, thinking you are living in the Matrix and compartmentalized emotions (thought safely tucked away) may bubble to the surface. Embrace them, they’ll remind you of your humanity.
2. If you want cream cheese stuffed croissant French toast with salty sweet butter apples and hardwood smoked bacon, make enough for the entire house. Be a hero.
3. You’re not always going to get the top floor master bedroom with the private deck and that’s okay. The universe is infinite, time is a construct and our lives are essentially meaningless. The Cal King ground floor en suite will do fine.
4. Find humanity on long drives from the airport and between steamy wine-glass strangers at 2am; writing is about truth in a life! Make yourself available.
5. Last but not least, be sure to do the lab with Gabriella, Shauna, David, Manfred and Ella. I’m not sure it can be done any other way.

With peace and love, Patrick “Seabold Krebs” Clement.

Ella Gale

For me the big theme of the weekend was ‘bubbling cauldrons’. Partly because the lab took place near Halloween, and partly because our base camp had a luxurious hot tub, but mostly because of Scott’s thoughtful concept of character. The people in your screenplay are more than just a flaw plus a goal. They’re roiling mixtures of emotion, personality, and shifting desire. The crew of lab participants was a pretty fantastic roiling mixture as well. Everyone was the real deal, with scripts that were a pleasure to read and discuss. The Black List sent us home with useful, specific script notes, a few screenwriting tools I’ll have for the rest of my career, and a group of new friends. Plus super prune-y hot tub hands.

Manfred Lopez

My first mentor zoom call was scheduled on a day when I was traveling. My wife, facetiming in from back home, asked if I was nervous. I counter-asked her: “Me? Why in the world would I be nervous? It’s just one writer talking to another writer.” Sure, it happened to be Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, writer of several classics in the genre like Legally Blonde, Ten Things I Hate About You and The House of Bunny.

Me nervous? Definitely not.

Then I went on a hotel room furniture-rearrangement rampage. I must have tested more angles, lighting arrangements and framings than on my first student film. I obviously had no freakin’ idea what I was doing. And worse, I had no freakin’ idea what to say once she called.

But then the call started. What followed was one of the most relaxed, personal and eye-opening conversations I’ve ever had about my work.

This is how the Black List Feature Lab mentoring started. What followed was one of the best 6 weeks I’ve ever had. It was the first time Franklin Leonard and Megan Halpern decided to try a hybrid approach by expanding the lab over a longer period with virtual meetings, and combining it with the famous in-person Los Angeles experience.

The result was a transformative period where I learned what it was like to work, live, talk, eat and drink like a professional writer. Yes, there were copious amounts of food and drink involved — All of it paired with great conversations. But if I’m being 100% honest, the biggest lesson of all was a simple one… that I belonged. All six of us belonged. For someone like myself, someone who’s coming from Mexico and who’s just entering the Hollywood industry, that was life-changing.

Gabriella Moses

My revelations from the Lab experience start out with this Carl Jung quote shared with us by Scott that I have been reflecting on long after the lab, “THE PRIVILEGE OF A LIFETIME IS TO BECOME WHO YOU TRULY ARE.” I found the lab to be a safe space to dive specifically into character and focus on the needs of your character and to listen to what they are truly saying, who they are becoming. Not what you want them to say because we can only discover our characters wholly and who they’ll become when we listen to them openly when we challenge what we want for them vs what they want and need. Another thing that stays with. me that I knew, but also resonates especially as a writer/director is that it’s not just what characters are saying, but what they’re doing which is universally understood through human behavior. I’ve never been particularly precious about dialogue and this helped validate that a strong choice of action for your character will tell your far more than any words sometimes especially for myself who has a project about a non-verbal, quadriplegic characters and relationships that revolve around people not always speaking the same language.

Overall — had an excellent series of Mentors who I got to engage with in feedback sessions and their words reinvigorated what was on the page. Sometimes as writers we get so caught up in rewrites and bettering things — — “writing is rewriting” after all, right? We’ve all heard that. But after Scott and my peers kind words about what was working I was left with something more powerful surround “protecting” what was on the page and my characters. As writers we must find spaces like this lab to protect our voice and characters sometimes in a world of reboots and sequels. (I mean some of those are great. Don’t get me wrong.) But I am most appreciative of the Black List, Scott, my advisors, mentors and coordinators for helping me and my peers protect our voices and discover new ones.

Shauna Sperry

One day you’re beached on your couch in sweats watching While You Were Sleeping for the 84th time because you’ve gotten a smidge too comfortable with the homebody lifestyle in the pandemic era, and the next you’re sitting at a posh LA restaurant ordering the perfect light red wine so as not to stain your mouth purple because you’re seated right next to Franklin Leonard, a famous person. Magical things still happen, people! And being selected for the 2021 Black List Feature Lab was proof of that for me.

I will forever be grateful for and bewildered by the sheer amount of thought and care that goes into this program. While in LA together, we were wined, dined, snacked, appetized, entrée’d, second entrée’d, desserted, and then rolled home each night to our luxurious house in the Hollywood Hills. Yet that was merely the deep-fried outer breading used to encase the coveted melted mozzarella center. At its core, the lab is about setting you up for a successful career in screenwriting. This is accomplished through mentor sessions, peer workshops, Q&As with industry professionals, and a consistent stream of guidance and encouragement from everyone on the Black List team. I went into the lab unsure of what I would change about my script, but after digging into the heart of my story and its characters through the process — including during 1:1 feedback sessions with Kiwi Smith, Tess Morris, and Amanda Idoko, three brilliant screenwriters whose work I adore — I am now genuinely excited for a substantial rewrite. Bitch Got Out, and all of my future writing, will be better for it.

This part may sound cheesy, but we’re on the heels of a loose mozzarella stick analogy, so let’s lean in. My five lab mates are all talented, wonderful, inspiring humans whose scripts belong on the big screen. Meeting them was a beautiful reminder that there are new friends out there to be made in the vaccinated world, and I cannot wait to cheers to our future successes in the jacuzzi, nay, heated plunge pool, the next time we reunite.

Speaking of spectacular people, I am in awe of the kind, funny, supportive, and ridiculously talented group of people who work at the Black List. Franklin, Megan, Claire, Tayo, Terry, Kate, and Scott: I cannot thank you enough for believing in my work, and for trusting me with this opportunity. At the outset of the lab Megan encouraged us to keep a journal, and I’d like to share with you a snippet from my first entry after our first meeting:

“I am scared sh*tless, but also extremely excited. Like I think this could be life-changing? But also I need a Xanax.”

I was right about more than just the Xanax — the experience has already been life-changing, because it’s made me believe that I just may have a place in this wild & crazy biz. So from the bottom of my awkward heart…THANK YOU.

(And to anyone reading this who needs a sign: It’s never too late! Follow your dreams! The world is your mozzarella stick.)

David Turner

The Black List Feature Lab is essentially a Screenwriter’s Fantasy Camp: A month of incredible virtual meetings and notes sessions with a four-day in-person writing retreat in the middle. In the letters from previous lab participants, I’d been told I had no idea what I was in for, and they were absolutely right. The lab exceeded my expectations in every possible way.

Before I even got to the in-person sessions, I had one-on-one meetings with three brilliant mentors: David Rabinowitz, Minhal Baig, and Amanda Idoko. They not only took the time to read my script and compile notes on it, but they were also incredibly generous and thoughtful in talking through my story and answering questions about my script specifically and the industry in general.

Then, for four glorious days in October, my fellow lab participants and I got to meet up at an insanely amazing house in the Hollywood Hills to workshop our scripts and spend time learning from working writers. For those few days, we happy few got a glimpse of what it would be like to be professional screenwriters. And more than the incredible house and some of the best restaurants L.A. has to offer, it was the people that made the experience unforgettable.

Scott Myers kicked off one of our first sessions on Zoom by doing a deep dive into our intentions and inspirations for our scripts that left me incredibly eager for the lab to start. When he couldn’t make it to the lab in person, Scott heroically still led workshops on all of our scripts (each of which he read twice!), demonstrated how to pitch our stories, and all the while made it feel like he was right there in the room with us. I don’t know how Scott does it all (I suspect he might secretly have one of the Time-Turners that were supposedly destroyed at the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter 5), but I’m grateful for all the time he spent helping us become better writers.

Franklin Leonard hung out with us on the deck one afternoon, answering all of our questions about the industry and stressing that there are no stupid questions. Hearing Franklin talk about the state of Hollywood for two hours is like being hooked up to an IV and having a thoughtful analysis of every Deadline article from the past five years sent right into your system. His generosity is outdone only by his humility, so I know Franklin deflect this praise, but what he’s created with the Black List and the Feature Lab is really special.

To say that Megan Halpern took care of us is a gross understatement. She had every possible snack and breakfast item we could ask for, arranged everything down to the tiniest detail, and made special requests at every restaurant to cater to my picky vegan diet. The rest of the Black List team — Claire, Tayo, Kate, and Terry — all worked tirelessly to make the lab an unforgettable experience, and I loved talking to them about movies, cross-country road trips, and our varying tolerances for spicy food (mine is none).

Of course, the biggest takeaway from the lab was the new friendships I gained with my fellow lab participants. Shauna, Manfred, Ella, Gabriella, and Patrick: you’re an inspiring, brilliant group of writers. I loved every minute of talking about our scripts, squishing into Ubers on the way to restaurants around L.A., discussing movies in the hot tub, and hearing about why I should get a tattoo (I’m still not there yet). I know we’ll continue to push and support each other as we embark on our careers, and I’m excited to go on the journey with you.

Even though the lab itself is over, it feels like a real beginning for my screenwriting career, and I’m eternally grateful to have had the experience in the Black List lab.

I just counted it up: This was my 19th Black List feature writer lab or mini-lab. This group of writers — or “Labateers” as they called themselves — shined like previous lab participants. Each of their script projects has merit and I look forward to seeing where their rewrite process these compelling stories.

Once again, kudos to the Black List team for organizing this year’s feature writer lab. In fact, Megan Halpern and crew handled three feature writer labs simultaneously including the annual joint session in association with the excellent outfit Women In Film and a new one featuring writers in New Zealand. That schedule, combined with pandemic planning made 2021 a massive challenge in terms of planning and oversight.

I look forward to seeing what 2022 brings in terms of future Black List labs.

For reflections of writers who have participated in previous Black List feature writer labs, here are some links for you.

Reflections: 2020 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2019 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2018 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2017 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2016 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Update: 2015 Chicago, New York, and Toronto Black List Screenwriting Labs

Update: 2015 Los Angeles and San Francisco Screenwriting Labs

Update: 2014 Black List Screenwriting Lab

Update: 2013 Black List Screenwriting Lab

Reflections: 2021 Black List New Zealand Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2020 Black List/Women In Film Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2019 Black List/Women In Film Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2018 Black List/Women In Film Feature Writers Lab

For more information on the Black List educational programs, go here.