Stowe Story Labs
Stowe Story Labs Programs and Fellowships Application
2020
Active Since 2013
Nonprofit collective helping top emerging screenwriters and filmmakers hone craft and work.
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About

Thank you for applying to Stowe Story Labs.

About Stowe Story Labs:

Now in our eighth year, Stowe Story Labs is a nonprofit collaborative dedicated to helping top emerging screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers get work made and seen. This application is for our narrative story labs and writers' retreats. Program dates are:

  • Stowe Narrative Lab (Stowe, VT) - June 6 - 9
  • Sidewalk Narrative Lab (Birmingham, AL) - August 25 - 28
  • Stowe Writers' Retreat (Stowe, VT) - Sept. 11 - 15
  • West Coast Writers' Retreat (Palm Springs, CA) - Nov. 6 - 10

Details about our programming and template agendas can be found here.

We work to keep the cost of programming low. The 2020 fee to attend the four day Lab will be $2,450. The fee to attend a five-day writers' retreat will be $2,700. Fees include all content and some meals. Travel and lodging are not included. Lodging is offered through our lodging partners, who all offer deep and meaningful discounts to participants (and most include breakfast ....).

We offer several fellowships to the Stowe Narrative Lab. We do not yet have fellowships for other programs. The fellowships cover the fees for one participant to attend the Lab (and in some instances lodging as well as other benefits). Please check the website for information about each fellowship

You do not need to make a separate application to be considered for a fellowship. Just click 'yes' when asked and you will be considered for all applicable fellowships. You will be asked what fellowships you are most interested in (and why you are a good candidate for a fellowship) in your answers.

We offer limited partial scholarships for all programs. Again, there is not a separate application process for scholarships but we do ask about need.

When applying, please rank the programs you are most interested in, which will help us sort applications during the review process. As we review material, we may reach out and suggest one program over another and ask follow up questions.

Please note we do not provide feedback on projects through our submission process.

Thank you again for taking the time to apply and best of luck in the process.

Team Stowe Story Labs

Benefits

Stowe Story Labs bringsemerging screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers from around the worldtogether with seasoned industry professionals to help get projects made and seen. We do this through labs, retreats, ongoing mentoring programs, and other opportunities to develop projects.


Our four-day Narrative Labs include:

·       Skill development and focus on story structure, character and theme;

·       Conversation about story; packaging; elements of creative production;

·       Casting and adaptation; and

·       Finance and distribution

·       Direct access to working industry professionals, top in their fields

·       Opportunities to build knowledge, skills, and insights to navigate the film industry

·       A network of talented peers, vital in this collaborative art and business

·       Workshop, roundtable and social time


Our five-dayWriters' Retreats include:

      Three one-on-one, one-hour meetings with three different industry mentors (mentors link below)

      Daily structured one hour, small group, peer to peer meetings

      Group workshop sessions on subjects vital to developing the craft and navigating the business of screenwriting

      Shared mealtimes, evening drinks and activities

      Time to write, reflect, revise

Our host of top industry mentors include people such as: Award-winning UK-based Creative ProducerAlex Boden (CLOUD ATLAS, SENSE8); Academy Award-winning Screenwriter and Producer David Magee (FINDING NEVERLAND, LIFE OF PI); Award-winning Iconic Casting Director Ellen Parks (SIDEWAYS, SECRETARY); Academy Award-nominated Creative Producer Amy Hobby (SECRETARY, WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?)

Learn about all of our mentorshere.

Writer Success

I cannot recommend submitting work to the Stowe Story Labs enough. No matter your placement status, the community present at the Labs was worth its weight in gold, for the professional advice, screenwriting craft work, educational materials, and - perhaps most strikingly for me - the genuine peer group I met and have stayed in active contact with since my (remote) time at Stowe. Very much worth the price of submission.
William Winston
2021 Finalist
This is a first-class experience. The communication from start to finish is outstanding and the people running the program are friendly, helpful and concerned that you have a good experience. It’s one of the best “competition” experiences I’ve had.
Scott Cox
2021 Finalist
Stowe Story Labs was an amazing experience. The Stowe team is knowledgeable, organized, and really helps you dive deeply into your creative work. I learned a lot in the Narrative Lab and got to meet so many peers from around the world as well as connect with industry professionals. My peer-to-peer small group was picked perfectly for me to be a part of and we've stayed in contact after the lab ended. Truly can't say enough good things about Stowe and I'm honored to be the ISA 2021 Narrative Labe Fellow.
Rachel McClard
2021 Winner
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Coverfly Program Insights
Coverfly vets all programs on its platform, but not every program is right for every writer. Program Insights help you decide where to submit your work.

2024 Honorable Mentions on Coverfly

Fatherland
Private
Feature  · Drama  · 107 Pages
When a young Jewish-American expat’s fun-loving German-American Buddhist dad comes to mend their relationship on an unwanted road-trip through Europe -- he accidentally illuminates a devastating family history, and pattern of betrayal, that threatens their father-daughter bond forever.
Los Angeles, CA
Rachel Serada Barth is a filmmaker originally from the Bay Area chicken town of Petaluma. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she subsequently worked at CNN on a twice-Peabody winning team, and received two fellowships with the International Center for Journalists in Berlin and Moscow. Rachel works as a Director, Writer, Actor and Producer. She has Produced ...
Show more
County of Coosa
Private
Feature  · Drama  · 102 Pages
Two women from vastly different backgrounds find their worlds colliding in a small Alabama town when they’re each pulled into the dying town’s fight for its survival and confronted by a deeply embedded resistance they don’t understand.
Bloodletting
Private
TV Script  · Horror  · 44 Pages
When her teenage daughter is turned into a vampire after a brutal attack, an ER nurse must find ways to satiate her daughter's new craving, ultimately blurring the lines of morality and pushing the boundary of how far a mother will go to protect her child.
Brooklyn, New York
No bio available.
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Announcements

No announcement dates listed.

Rules

At the program's request, Coverfly will automatically remove your title page for you if you include one when submitting to this program.

Application Season:

  • Early Bird - Nov. 5 - Dec. 16
  • Regular - Dec. 17 - Jan. 20
  • Late - Jan. 21 - Jan. 31

Agreement

Applicants must agree to the terms of the submission and participation agreement

Announcement Dates

Unlike contests, we do not set announcement dates, but will start to announce decisions late spring, 2020. We make every effort to write to applicants about application status, and will post semi-finalists, finalists, fellowship winners, and admitted participants on our website.