Reflections of 2024 Black List Project Lab Participants

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

Every year since 2013, the Black List has held an annual feature writer’s lab. This year, they added a Project Lab focusing on writers whose goal is to take the script they are developing and ultimately direct it. Here are the six writer-directors selected for the lab who convened in Ojai, California from November 11-November 15.

I was pleased to participate as a mentor and workshop facilitator for what turned out to be an amazing experience.

Here are the reflections of the 2024 Black List Project Lab writers.

Dylan Amick

When I was selected for this opportunity with the Black List’s Projects Lab, my first exposure to the other five fellows was their scripts. Five beautiful, personal scripts. With every page, I felt like I was not just meeting them, but really seeing them. When I was finally able to put faces to these pages by the pool in Ojai it felt like a homecoming.

During the application process, we had to submit a portfolio of our work: artistic statements, directing samples, and a finished script. The culmination of these materials was meant to answer the same two questions every application asks: Who are you, and what are you hoping to get out of this experience? I knew I was a horror writer looking to expand my community, but this fellowship provided the amazing opportunity of exploring those core questions through my lab cohorts.

For our first meeting, we gathered in the writer’s cottage with Scott where he asked essentially those same questions: who are we, and what do we want out of this? Hearing my co-fellows describe their work and their intentions as artists was one of my most memorable experiences from the retreat; it was an honor to be among such a thoughtful and passionate group. I met writers who told stories of addiction and apathy; about community and isolation; stories about the households they wished they had grown up in and the homes we can never go back to. This moment set the tone for the entire week: we saw each other and we were here to grow together.

I am immensely grateful for this opportunity. The Black List showered us with support, encouragement, and snacks. The workshops, the conversations, the diners, and the late night campfires are memories I will hold dearly. But what I really wanted out of this fellowship was community. I wanted to meet artists that I could grow and create with; a team of cheerleaders and co-conspirators. The Projects Lab more than delivered on that.

My co-fellows were each amazing writers; I am a better artist and person for having met them. There were so many conversations over the short week but each of them took the opportunity to be vulnerable, gave me helpful notes on my script, and said at least one thing that blew my mind. The same was true for our mentors, whether it was a one-on-one meeting or a group Q&A, the Black List found mentors that were invested in stories and new voices. From the practical to the theoretical, they were honest, open, and willing to tackle any question.

The entire Black List team made it their mission to help us: from pastry suggestions to career advice, they made it clear they believed in our taste. Throughout the week, Megan and Shelby reminded us that this was more than one opportunity, this was our introduction to the Black List family. The Projects Lab facilitated relationships that I hope to have for years to come. Filmmaking is collaborative by nature, and this fellowship was a celebration of collaboration and personal journey.

On the final night of our week in Ojai, after walking back from another amazing dinner, the six of us fellows took a moment together to appreciate how fortunate we were to share this opportunity. I shared a mantra I learned in college at Virginia Tech, “I am here, in this room, with all of you.” It’s a statement about connection, openness, trust, and commitment. It means that whatever is happening outside or elsewhere, you will always respect and remember the others working toward the same goal as you. It is meant to remind you that we are all in this together.

There are a lot of opportunities that it would be hyperbole to describe as life-changing: the Projects Lab was not one of them.

Steve Anthopoulos

Like any troubled individual, who spends sunny weekends rewriting a script that might not ever get made, I have a ravenous appetite for any morsel of hope, that helps feed my delusions for another day. A positive email from a producer might keep me going for another month. A good festival screening — another three.

In that context, the Black List Project Lab provided an all-you-can-eat hope and dreams buffet. And although, like with any binge-eating experience, I crashed immediately afterwards, it gave me so much belief in myself, and my projects, that it might sustain me for a full year.

I don’t even know what to say about the mentors. It was surreal to sit next to people whose films I’ve loved, and realise they’ve read my weird script and can’t wait to talk about it.

My fellow writers, and their projects, were bursting with talent. I was so impressed by the scripts that I briefly considered becoming a full time producer and buying the rights to every one of them.

And finally, the entire Black List staff who brimmed with support and confidence for us and our projects. To only mention a few — Shelby and Megan making sure we felt supported beyond this one week. Scott Myers, who made me cry while pitching Pixar’s UP. And Franklin, who I discovered is a storyteller (you can tell because of how character-driven his Hollywood anecdotes are, I reckon he’s read Scott’s book.)

The lab made everything feel possible. I felt like I was exactly where I wanted to be, at that very moment. Thanks for the feed.

Meghan Lennox

After nearly twenty years of maneuvering my way through various careers in this industry, I had, at times, become skeptical about the future of film, even more so, about my role in it. Then I got invited to the Black List lab, and suddenly, I was spinning in a field of emotional lavender and butterflies, full of whimsy and optimism. Did I bring some gummies to Ojai? Sure. Was there a lot of fireside smoke inhalation and nightly cocktails? Yes. But the source of my sudden delight was only minimally attributed to these factors. Three weeks after returning from Ojai, I am still digesting it all, but spending the week with the Black List team, the excellent mentors and educators, and the loving, talented writer/directors who participated alongside me has truly renewed my excitement for filmmaking. It’s shocking, really.

Writing can be incredibly isolating, even terrifying. We must be self-reliant and committed to create something from nothing and see it through. Participating in this Black List lab, having a creative community of support, swapping stories and learning from each other was unlike any other experience I have had as a filmmaker. It was wild to spend five dense days with a group of people who were genuinely enthusiastic about each other’s work and future success. Everyone that the Black List brought together to share their knowledge and experience with us was kind, generous, and fun as hell.

Spending the day with my fellow Brekkie Club lab mates learning from Scott Myers was an exceptional gift. He eloquently and lovingly crammed so much useful, memorable and vital information into our time together. Whether passionately discussing the hero’s journey over dinner, or beautifully demonstrating the importance of emotional connection in a pitch, Scott was an excellent teacher. He created such a kind and safe atmosphere as he guided us through our individual note’s session, it made me want to go back to school. Truly- if he was teaching in LA, I would sign up for all of his classes.

Regardless of what happens next, the Black List Project’s Lab experience was remarkable- not just because of the beautiful Ojai, the camp feel or the amazing dinners (and great beer menu). It was the Black List team and the people they thoughtfully and lovingly put together who made us instantly feel like family. I miss them all already.

Alex Murawski

Wow. I knew the Black List Projects Lab would be good. But not that good.
 
 It was so good that on the Saturday following the Lab I woke up and wondered if it had all been a dream. Had I really been immersed with a bunch of talented passionate screenwriters discussing all things filmmaking for a week in Ojai, California? Were the friendly and super helpful Black List team real humans or concoctions of my unconscious? And if it was all a dream, how will I ever access my copious notes in my (Black List supplied!) notebook?!
 
 But fret not, I told myself. The campfire smoke baked into my jacket from our evenings around the fire attested this was real.
 
 I arrived at LAX to be met immediately by two other Lab participants. With the ever-chill Scott Meyers leading the charge, we journeyed up the highway to Ojai. Scott previewed the week ahead, including the fabulous food and strong water pressure in the showers that we’d enjoy. (He wasn’t wrong on either). 
 
At Camp Rancho we met the other participants. Each member of the Lab had written intimidatingly amazing scripts, but what I didn’t know was how close we’d all get over the five days. How exactly had the Black List team pulled such an awesomely cohesive collective together? Did they possess a form of time travel, able to conjure the future to view how applicants might mix with one another? Or perhaps, though no less impressively, they simply know exactly what they are doing.

The week was jam-packed, yet every moment helped bring insight into the filmmaker’s we wished to become.

Each of the mentors brought perceptive comments that I furiously scribbled down, trying to control my awe that these people, whose films I’ve watched and loved, had not only read my script, but were invested in making it stronger.
 
 We heard from other industry workers too, who spoke openly, generously sharing war stories and some gossip too. What was said in the writer’s cottage, stayed in the writer’s cottage!

And there was Scott, who was enormous in helping us digest all that we had learned.
 
There was only one bad part. Leaving. It sucked. I wanted to remain in Ojay, talking films with my new besties, while being fed yummy food and having showers with ideal water pressure (though not at the same time).
 
I considered proposing such an idea to the Black List team but I guessed the response.
 
The Projects Lab doesn’t answer all the questions one may have about one’s career. It doesn’t decay all self-doubt. It’s a week, a glorious week, to hone your script and craft, to find solidarity, energize creatively, and realize that you have what it takes to tell stories.
 
At least that’s what the Projects Lab woke me up to; that my desire to become a filmmaker with a singular voice is not a dream. And so, the Lab must end in order to launch a reinvigorated me back into that quest. And if that vision ever stumbles, all I need to do is light a mini-campfire and remember the warmth and support of my Black List community at Ojai.

Gabriella Myka

Picture me, feet still not quite planted back on the ground. The Black List Project Lab was a sort of dream. A week spent bike riding, learning, and doing the work. Note taking. Sitting around the fire. Shivering under space heaters. Not caring that we were shivering under space heaters because we couldn’t stop laughing.

It is joyous and confounding (at least for me) every time I think anything, write anything, make anything that literally anyone else cares about at all. The Black List team cares so much. They care fiercely about independent filmmaking and the filmmakers they welcome into their family with open arms, wildly generous with their insight and experience. The Project Lab was a week jam packed with those joyous and confounding occasions of being truly understood through your work. Thank you to my incredible cohort! Thank you for your understanding, support, humor, passion, and vulnerability. I am literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see what amazing things you all go on to do. No matter what, we’ll owe it all to the energetic vortex that is Ojai, CA.

The Black List Project Lab was a much needed reminder that it is an honor, always, to do the work and to share the work. And it is, of course, also the most fun thing in the whole world and the most massive privilege. Big hugs!

Alexandra Qin

My top 10 memories from the lab (in somewhat chronological order):

1. Reading the other fellows’ scripts and being both blown away and very intimidated by their stories and talent.
2. Our group conversation with Franklin Leonard, in which he shared the most important lesson his lawyer taught him: “Everything is negotiable.”
3. My mentor sessions with Hannah Fidell, Sarah Adina Smith, and Maryam Keshavarz, three incredible women and writer/directors whose career I aspire to have. And our lovely walks through Ojai.
4. One of my mentors telling me my script, Thirstygirl, was one of the best scripts she had ever read :’)
5. Movie Night. Crossing Delancey. Loved it.
6. All the great food.
7. Our Q&As with writer/directors who had been lab fellows some years ago. They got super real about the highs and lows of screenwriting for hire, indie filmmaking, and making micro-budget features.
8. The wonderful Scott Myers’ pitch workshop. He teared up as he retold the plot of the movie Up, and as a result, we all started crying.
9. Our peer notes session. Getting to tell all the fellows how much I loved their scripts. Bouncing around story ideas together. Getting confirmation of what is working and what still needs work in my script.
10. The last night. All the fellows gathered together under the supermoon, held hands, and, led by theatre kid Dylan Amick, said to each other: “I am here, in this room, with all of you.” Then we silently manifested some dreams for the coming year and released them into the night as we whispered “And so it shall be.”
11. Okay one last one. Getting to know the amazing ladies that run the Black List! Megan, Kate, Shelby, Claire, Elisa, Lilian are all awesome and I feel so lucky to have been a part of this magical week in Ojai ✨

Here are some photos of the lab scene.

The Project Lab marked my 25th Black List lab or mini-lab. Each has been notable in its own way. This most recent cohort? Wonderful people. Talented writers. I’m confident they will not only remain friends and support each other’s creative journey … we’ll be seeing their movies come to life in the near future.

Reflections: 2024 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2023 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2022 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2021 Black List Feature Writers Lab

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 Mini-Labs

Update: 2015 Los Angeles and San Francisco Mini-Labs

Update: 2014 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Update: 2013 Black List Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2021 Black List New Zealand Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2022 Black List/Women In Film Feature Writers Lab

Reflections: 2021 Black List/Women In Film 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

I look forward to returning to Ojai in 2025 for the next year’s Feature Writers Lab and Project Lab.

For more information on the Black List educational programs and to learn how you may apply for either lab, go here.