“Variety Announces 10 Screenwriters to Watch of 2017”

The 20th annual list from Variety.

From Variety:

The Whistler Film Festival in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada will host Variety‘s 10 Screenwriters to Watch for the sixth year in a row.

The 10 Screenwriters to Watch of 2017, announced Monday, are:

Liz Hannah, “The Post”
Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, “Chappaquiddick”
Hallie Meyers-Shyer, “Home Again”
Maggie Betts, “Novitiate”
Tracy Oliver, “Girls Trip”
Daniel Stiepleman, “On the Basis of Sex”
Dorothy Blyskal, “The 15:17 to Paris”
Sarah Ruhl, “My Life on the Road”
Samuel V. Franco and Evan Kilgore, “Keeper of the Diary”
John Whittington, “The Lego Batman Movie”

The class of 2017 screenwriters will share their personal stories and challenges related to succeeding in today’s film industry and insights behind their upcoming projects at an afternoon conversation on Dec. 2 as part of the festival’s Signature Series. Variety VP and executive editor Steven Gaydos will host the event. Eight of the 10 screenwriters being honored, including two in teams, will attend the festival and be present to accept their awards at the Whistler Film Festival Award Celebration on Dec. 3.

I met Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan at a special screening of their movie Chappaquiddick as part of the 2017 Black List Feature Writer’s Lab. In a post-screening dinner with the lab writers and Allen and Logan, we heard some fascinating inside stories about the writing and production of their movie. It’s an excellent film which will hit theaters in April 2018.

I’m also excited to be interviewing Liz Hannah in December in a conversation to be featured here at Go Into The Story early next year.

Congratulations to all the writers who made the 2017 Variety 10 Screenwriters To Watch list. It’s a tasty appetizer for the annual Black List which drops in December.