WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab
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Diverse Voices Competition and Lab promotes new voices in Hollywood by encouraging stories from perspectives that are often underrepresented in the industry today. This includes writers of color, female writers, writers with disabilities, writers over 40, writers in the LGBTQ+ community, and any other voices and stories that are currently underrepresented in Hollywood.
Every entry includes 1-2 pages of free, written feedback from their first round judge.
The top scripts are read by our industry jury:
- Jen Ray (Literary Manager, Heroes and Villains) Jen Ray is a literary manager at Heroes and Villains Entertainment where her focus is on developing strong female voices across genres. On top of a stellar client list, she produced the comedy FOR A GOOD TIME CALL... that premiered at Sundance and was distributed by Focus Features.
- Jacquelina DeMarco Jones (Manager, Cartel Entertainment) Jacquelina DeMarco Jones is proud to bring The Cartel’s creativity and drive to the East Coast with the launch of the New York office, she focuses on identifying and signing new and emerging clients out of NY and working closely with the Cartel development team to find IP. Cartel has offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London and has clients involved in the biggest movies and television shows.
- Ryan Mickels (Creative Executive, Universal Content Production) Ryan Mickels is an executive for Universal Content Production, a premium content studio that operates with a curated sensibility, while simultaneously leveraging the scale of NBCUniversal. As advocates for creators, the UCP team develops award-winning scripted programming with partners such as Amazon (HOMECOMING), Netflix (THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY), Hulu (THE ACT) as well as NBCUniversal networks.
Benefits
Past winners have signed at Gotham Group, Heroes and Villains, and Industry Entertainment. One of the winners from the first season of Diverse Voices just wrapped writing a show for Netflix and sold his spec in a bidding war with Kerry Washington and Sterling K. Brown attached!
Three to four winners will be flown to Los Angeles and put up in an iconic LA Hotel for a Diverse Voices Four Day Screenwriting Lab. The Lab will include hands-on development with industry executives, WeScreenplay staff, writers, and each other. It'll also include meetings with executives and managers about you, your writing career, and your projects in development.
Beyond that, the winners' work will be strategically sent to producers, agents, and managers with whom WeScreenplay has a relationship. All Finalists will be publicly recognized through our website and email lists.