The Writers Lab International |
2025
TWL Int’l (formerly known as TWL US) is a retreat in New York City focusing on craft and career development for women and nonbinary screenwriters 40+.
Placement
Genre
Format
Representation Status
Quarterfinalists
(Former) Agent Conroy
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Other
· 51 Pages
No logline available.
Los Angeles, CA
Margot Newcomer specializes in fish-out-of-water comedies about women who are thrown a curveball by life and must adapt to survive. She is originally from Kansas City where she spent most of her childhood marinating in chlorine. After being recruited to swim at the University of Pennsylvania, she continued her education at the University of Texas w...
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30 MILES
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Historical
· 23 Pages
1800's Nantucket Island: Sisterhood, adventure and scandal abound as the women of whaling era Nantucket Island experience unobstructed freedom, while the men are away at sea.
Katonah, NY
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Comedy
· 37 Pages
40 Acres follows the lives of five lifelong girlfriends who purchase a homestead together. Having all just crossed the 40-year mark, the ladies looked at their lives and decided to wake up from the American dream, toss aside societal norms and build a brighter future together.
Mcdonough, GA
Roni is a full time writer working on both live action and animated projects.
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Sci-fi
· 84 Pages
A creative spirit is trapped by her family duties, when a freak accident thrusts her onto an alternate timeline where she is a celebrated fashion designer- but not a mother. She must choose which life she wants.
Brooklyn, New York
Chantal is a curious and impatient brand consultant, poet and screenwriter living in Brooklyn, NY.
A Mostly Human Girl
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 96 Pages
When misfit Eloise Fitzgerald loses her only friend, her grandmother, she discovers a family secret and goes on a quest for a hidden portal to the faerie world.
New York, NY
Christine Vartoughian is an Armenian-American writer and director. She began as a 1st Team PA on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and went on to direct her award-winning debut feature film about love and suicide, Living with the Dead: A Love Story. It is available on iTunes and Amazon Prime in the US and internationally. Christine is a member of Lincoln C...
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A Will To Live
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Historical
· 90 Pages
A creative retelling of the true story of Larcena Pennington, attacked and left for dead in an act of retribution by Tonto Apaches in 1860, who crawled, wearing nothing but a thin petticoat, 16 miles over the snow-covered Santa Rita mountains for 14 days, to survive.
No bio available.
adarna
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 87 Pages
Jiha and Shiloh are lifelong best friends who just recently moved to New York City together after college. On Halloween, they receive a surprise visit from Addi, an estranged high school friend, whose ominous presence resurrects past resentments and reveals startling truths that could lead to their destruction or their deliverance.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 60 Pages
Fifteen years after a virus renders all men incompetent, women in the U.S. are incentivized to foster displaced males like pets. When her socially conscious teen daughter begs her to take on a foster, a documentary filmmaker comes face to face with a dangerous man from her past, improvising a plan to destroy him.
Valley Village, CA
Joslyn is a Los Angeles based playwright and screenwriter.
Again Again
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 95 Pages
In multiple universes, a set designer struggles to forge a true connection with an enigmatic poet who might be her soul mate.
No bio available.
Al and El
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 93 Pages
Life is hard. You either learn to take the world by the hand or it will grab you by the throat.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 84 Pages
An obsessive scientist’s extermination of an invasive species leaves no-man’s land in its wake, escaping ignominy, she accepts a job at a remote wellness retreat investigating a “healing” mud, her skepticism is penetrated by a creeping feeling that the mud is sentient, this turns to terror as her feelings grow into love. She must choose whether to l...
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Ciudad De Mexico, Distrito Federal, MX
Lucy was a member of the Lux Associate Artists Program 2011 (London), studied Painting at the Royal College of Art (London) and Cinematography at the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School (Lodz).
Lucy is a screenwriter and filmmaker with a fascination for the role narrative structure has in our lives. Her scripts have been premiered...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 110 Pages
A retired tennis player turned fitness celebrity travels to her hometown to help her injured brother, but her odds of relapsing from an eating disorder increase when she is forced to reconnect with her former high school coach.
Monrovia, CA
Leticia is a woman who may not hold the qualities of a "typical" Latinx. However, she believes she is not the only one and uses her writing to speak to those who may feel are outsiders themselves. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Chapman University, her work features insecure characters, generational divide and a passion for sports and...
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Always & Everywhere
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Family
· 105 Pages
A free spirited nine-year-old girl with Williams Syndrome, escapes into an imaginary reality in order to help grant her big brother’s dying wishes and heal her family.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 58 Pages
Amid the civil unrest of the late 1960s, a determined Filipina doctor with an eidetic memory emigrates from the Philippines and fights for respect while navigating the chaos of an understaffed Detroit hospital.
New York, NY
Veronica Reyes-How is an award winning writer/director/producer. Her project Mother, May I Have a Kidney? that she created, wrote and Executive Produced will have its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival. A Sesame Street Writers Room Fellow, her other projects have been a finalist in the Screencraft Fellowship, the Orchard Project Lab,...
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Amy Goodheart
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 29 Pages
After her mother's death, a small town teenager lands in a Philadelphia private school. Set in the 1980s, it's The Runaways meet the Preppy Handbook
Los Angeles, CA
Amy is an award winning writer, actress & producer. She has several film, tv & stage acting credits but is best known as Ellen the Bartender in Comedy Central's hit show Nathan For You. Writing credits include the comedic web series Another Day With You on WhoHaHa & her post-pandemic one-act play "Date" an ITArtsIncubator 2022 selection. You...
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Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Comedy
· 39 Pages
After a century stranded on Earth, embittered Martian refugee Tarish has given up trying to find a way off-world – until she meets a naive extraterrestrial hell-bent on saving humankind from planetary self-destruction, and together they conceive a risky plan to trade places that ignites unintended intergalactic consequences.
Leah’s feature film GREAT WITH KIDS won the 2024 PAGE International Screenwriting Award Gold Prize for Comedy, was an official selection for The Women’s List in 2024, and placed in Coverfly’s Overall Top 1%. Her half-hour “sci-fi climate change comedy” pilot, ANOMALOUS, is currently in development. Also an actor for over two decades, it’s entirely p...
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Archetypal
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Comedy
· 37 Pages
No logline available.
Jamey Claffey
No bio available.
Aryana
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 95 Pages
No logline available (project set to private).
Paris, FR
Growing up in socialist Hungary, Zsofia developed an early passion for storytelling. After a career in journalism and international development, she has recently found her true calling in screenwriting. Now based in France, she channels her life experiences and research skills into character-driven stories that are both life-affirming and socially c...
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BACK TO ONE
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Comedy
· 37 Pages
Set in a college town in the American Southwest, BACK TO ONE is a pilot for a half hour dramedy series following Val, a film director turned film professor, who is trying to balance her dreams with the dreams of others. When her ex Michael, an exiled studio film producer, is suddenly hired to run her department, Val is forced to reconcile profession...
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No bio available.
Belly Dancing for Beginners
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 114 Pages
When her belly dance troupe abandon her on the eve of a contracted mobility and positive ageing tour, cash-strapped British expat MARISSA (60s), a sexy, dope-smoking, Harley-riding loner-hippy, impulsively recruits two starkly different middle-aged women from her beginners’ class to join her on a life-changing tour across outback Western Australia. ...
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No bio available.
Better Angels
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 115 Pages
When their mother, a pastor, suffers an accident at church, two estranged sisters are forced back to their childhood home, where they discover a hidden notebook that threatens to expose three generations of family secrets - and the traumas that bind them.
New York, New York
Shannon Denise Evans is a multidisciplinary creator whose work spans film, television, literature, theater, and music. As co-founder of Storycraft Eleven, Shannon is focused on voyeuristic, character-driven stories where human choices lead to supernatural consequences.
Her literary portfolio includes the psychological thriller novel “Velvet Moon ...
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Better!
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Comedy
· 35 Pages
A recently-dumped millennial tries to avert rock bottom by diving into a toxic self-help cult for women that promises Full Self-Impactivation™ through rivalry and competition.
Wellington, NZ
Teresa Bass was destined for (or doomed to) a career in entertainment from the moment she saw her first Broadway show and asked to go up after curtain call to touch the stage. She's received funding from the New Zealand Writers Guild Seed Programme (for feature comedy EXIT STRATEGY), the NZ Film Commission (for feature comedy WORST BEST FRIENDS), an...
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Bird of Paradise
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Other
· 119 Pages
A gracious, immortal servant of God tasked with protecting human knowledge is burdened by centuries of memories and grief. Now destitute in America, he struggles to carry on.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 58 Pages
Pilot Logline: Black, White & Blue
"Rising Sun"
When her daughter is kidnapped by Russian traffickers, a biracial detective must reluctantly team up with her estranged father and twin brother—whose supernatural connection to her may be their only advantage—uncovering a web of corruption that reveals her family's dark secrets and threatens to tear Ne...
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Glendale, CA
Tamika sold her first script for 6 figures. Unfortunately the check was bad. Everyone has a story. Hers inspired her to create Make A Film Foundation. Her Original Pilot: B.E.E.S was a PGA Power of Diversity Finalist. She recently sold 2 TV series. Produced "Ferguson Rises". (Audience Award/Tribeca). And got greenlit from a studio to write a pr...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Family
· 93 Pages
Separated from her mom while fleeing Colombia, June finds solace flower-bombing her new city of Philadelphia. She couples with a fellow teen street artist to revive and save an abandoned mansion but their efforts jeopardize June’s hope of reuniting with her mom and, ultimately, her life.
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 59 Pages
A successful plastic surgeon trades breast implants for bullet wounds when she becomes a private doctor for a cartel to repay her husband's drug debt.
No bio available.
Bound by Ice
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 110 Pages
Chicago, 1961. Lucy Bledsoe, a plucky lesbian scientist, works at an Army-funded research facility using ice cores to study climate variation. When she uncovers dangerous nuclear secrets with dire environmental consequences, she is forced to choose between her conscience, her lover and her work.
Berkeley, CA
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 98 Pages
A crime drama that examines the American Dream through the lens of an immigrant family. Set in San Jose during the mid-1990s, a disenfranchised teenager finds identity and security within the exhilarating world of a Vietnamese gang. The joy ride ends when the leaders put a hit on his parents’ food truck business.
Brooklyn, New York
Veanne is a writer and director of Vietnamese and Chinese heritage. Her work, ranging from dramas exploring the Asian diaspora to comedies inspired by life's absurdities, have screened at festivals worldwide. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two shih-tzus.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 57 Pages
When estranged daughter Thalia is called back to her childhood home to assist her sisters in the care of her mother dying of Alzheimer's, she stumbles across a long-hidden family mystery. To solve the puzzle of the past, she must confront her fractured relationship and extract the clues from the matriarch's rapidly fading memories.
Van Nuys, CA
Marguerite (Meggie) grew up in the exciting town of Cheshire, the bedding plant capital of Connecticut, having moved there from Staten Island, NY with a heavy accent that made her wildly popular (reader, it did not). One of five children in a very loud Irish-Jewish house, she writes outsiders surrounded by outlandish characters usually dealing with ...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 86 Pages
Jess, an orphaned 16-year-old, lives peacefully on her family’s remote island after her mom dies until her estranged older sister shows up and decides a real estate deal is more important than sisterhood. The sisters find themselves in a life-and-death struggle as Jess risks her life to carry out her mother’s dying wishes to save the priceless islan...
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Maggie Doyle is a Vancouver-born writer raised in a competitive storytelling family of thirteen, where she first learned how to keep an audience engaged. Maggie worked in theatre in Canada and the US and went on to develop award-winning immersive narratives for leading research universities in Canada. She was recognized for her innovative story proj...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Animated
· 103 Pages
Deported from the U.S., a cat travels across the world on a quest to return home, only to find that home is everywhere and nowhere at all.
Bronx, NY
I spent time in the West Bank—Jenin Refugee Camp—from 2011 to 2013. During that time, I had to renew my visa, taking me through Jalameh and Qaladiya checkpoints and across the borders with Jordan and Egypt.
Camel Diving is inspired by my time in the region and my life with Mama, my Palestinian cat. This animated story has family appeal but will ...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 89 Pages
Grappling with the loss of her father and the end of a long-term relationship, a young woman embarks on a cargo ship journey, where she and a young officer ignite a secret affair, exploring sex, intimacy, and what it means to live in the moment.
Los Angeles, CA
Writer-director Erin Cantelo has spent the majority of her adult life working on set, racking up thousands of hours of production experience. With a belief as a filmmaker you must live stories worth telling, her favorite accomplishments are her adventures, including a 4-month solo trip to Southeast Asia and a 16-day cargo ship ride home from Hong Ko...
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Chemistry Lessons
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Other
· 100 Pages
Teen science whiz Maya experiences heartbreak for the first time – and tries to fix it in a lab. In this coming-of-age story about love and family, Maya must learn, with friends, that there is no cure for the common breakup.
No bio available.
Cities Of Women
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 59 Pages
In 15th Century Avignon, rebellious Anastasia discovers a portal to modern-day New York City, where she must navigate the complexities of the 21st-century struggle for women’s rights while evading her powerful patron's attempts to keep her tethered to the past. As she fights to establish Cities of Women in America, Anastasia realizes that true freed...
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New York, New York
No bio available.
City of Love
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Historical
· 91 Pages
In City of Love, set in 1850, a devoted Shaker woman is tasked with reigning in a mysterious visionary in a secluded village, but as sexual attraction grows between them, a struggle between spiritual fervor and strict doctrine threatens to unravel the community.
Los Angeles, CA
Cynthia Wade is an Oscar-and Emmy-winning director. Her work includes the Netflix docuseries “MerPeople,” about the dangerous, beautiful world of underwater performers (100% Rotten Tomatoes); “The Flagmakers” (Disney+, Emmy winner, Critics Choice Nominee), “Gutsy” (Apple TV+, starring Hillary Clinton) “Grit” (PBS, Emmy® Nominee), “Mondays at Racine”...
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Clean
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Thriller
· 64 Pages
Caitlin, a journalist and recovering alcoholic, tries to re-connect with her kids as her ex-husband enrols them in an unorthodox school on a Scottish island. But is the school a front for something more sinister, or is it just Caitlin’s paranoia working overtime?
No bio available.
Colonel Anne
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 116 Pages
1745, Scotland. When Charles Edward Stuart incites a Jacobite uprising to reclaim the British throne for his exiled father, staunch supporter Lady Anne Mackintosh is keen to play her part, even if it means risking her new marriage to Captain Angus Mackintosh, who happens to be fighting for the other side.
No bio available.
Come Fly With Me
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 88 Pages
After fleeing political turmoil in Ceylon in the 1950’s, Eliza De Sarum battles prejudice in Australia and fights to escape the cultural and patriarchal binds of her past.
Brisbane, Qld, AU
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 49 Pages
A therapist’s ex-husband attempts to destroy her life by hiring fake clients to manipulate her into a mental breakdown.
Los Angeles, CA
Wendy’s screenwriting journey took flight after her fascination with the OC Roller Girls morphed into a documentary short featuring these captivating women. This experience inspired her to write "Derby Queen" which placed as a Finalist in Launch Pad and ScreenCraft Comedy Feature competitions and was recently optioned. Her genre is dramedies that f...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 97 Pages
In the harsh reality of apartheid South Africa, a young privileged white girl forms a deep bond with her African nanny. In order the save her friendship, she must face her superficial ways and own her prejudices.
Woodland Hills, California
Evelyne attended LACC Theatre Academy and went on to study screenwriting completing the Writers Boot-camp. Her work was highly recommended by the LA Weekly, comparing her humor to Monty Python. She has won over 21 finalist and semi-finalist in many contests. She wrote, produced, and acted in the film Somebody's Mother and The Stand Up Doll. Both f...
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Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 109 Pages
CURE is a David vs. Goliath drama about a gifted Nigerian medical student developing a malaria vaccine derived from marine life, racing against a multinational drug company aiming to patent the creatures from which the lifesaving vaccine will be made.
San Francisco, CA
In love with stories since childhood, Lisa is an AFI Screenwriting graduate focused on creating compelling dramatic narratives. Her recent feature scripts have been recognized by Austin, ScreenCraft, and the Writers Lab. She has written for productions that have received an Emmy, a Codie, an Action for Children's Television Award, and a nomination f...
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DANCE MASTERS
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 91 Pages
A down-on-her-luck Indian dance teacher goes to extreme lengths to save her failing dance school, even though it means taking on her oldest friend and rival.
DC, Washington
No bio available.
DARK LIFE
Private
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Sci-fi
· 67 Pages
In the near future America, on the brink of ecological collapse, Sam and their Grandmother’s discovery of something truly “wild” shatters their evacuation plans and launches them on a journey where survival, evolution and the land itself will offer a radical potential for transformation, and maybe... hope.
Brooklyn, NY
Samantha Soule is an award winning filmmaker and actress. She has appeared on stage, television, and film for over 20 years as an actress and has recently expanded her work behind the camera as writer, director and editor.
Daughter Universe
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Sci-fi
· 99 Pages
When she’s diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s after watching her mother and grandmother deteriorate from the disease, a withdrawn scientist discovers that her dementia episodes are actually transporting her to parallel universes. Can she find the one where there’s a cure?
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 115 Pages
A once-acclaimed Bulgarian actress, struggling to stay afloat in the chaos of immigrant life, bets it all - family, love, and sanity - on one last shot at Hollywood, only to collide headfirst with the industry’s dark underbelly, her buried past, and the Me Too era, all while navigating the absurdity of showbiz with biting humor.
Maria Bobeva, born in Burgas, Bulgaria, grew up in the theater, where she fell in love with acting. She landed her first role at age nine and later studied at The National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. While still a student, she starred in The Queen of Kazalar and was invited to join the renowned Satirical Theater. After a successful stage ca...
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Death Valley
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 102 Pages
A guilt-ridden adventure guide at an exclusive Death Valley resort finds herself protecting a billionaire's daughter when a catastrophic storm unleashes not only nature's fury but also the murderous greed of those who would kill to escape with buried Spanish Mission gold.
Who will survive ... Death Valley?
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 55 Pages
Moulded by the spectacular events shaping Haiti, over three decades BAPTISTE transforms from Aristide foot soldier to rogue gang leader in a fight for survival.
Toronto, Ontario, CA
Nadine Pequeneza is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and owner of HitPlay Productions, an indie production company headquartered in Toronto. Her screenplays are based on more than two decades of observing and documenting true stories around the world.
Her first feature screenplay 1047 DAYS was selected for the CFC/Netflix Calling Card Acce...
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Desire
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 120 Pages
In 1947, forty-year-old Irene Mayer Selznick, daughter of one Hollywood mogul and wife of another, abandoned her storied marriage and place in society to pursue a career as a Broadway producer, overcoming sexism, ageism and a closed New York theatrical community, bringing together three legends in the making - Tennessee Williams, Marlon Brando and E...
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Studio City, CA
No bio available.
Quarterfinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 59 Pages
Recovering addict Jude starts to chase the brand new high of helping other people whether they want their help or not, only to find the road to hell is paved with good intentions when they accidentally uncover a decades long crime connected to their own family.
North Hollywood, California
Goldie Jones is a nonbinary, Wyoming born writer/director, aerialist, and author with 20 years of production experience and a passion for circus arts. Their gritty genre stories center characters across the gender spectrum finding the glimmers of hope in the darker places in the world. They're a Universal Writers Program Finalist, Stowe Story Lab...
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Dinkum
Private
Quarterfinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 96 Pages
In 1886 teenage sisters, one with bound feet, the other able-bodied, leave China to marry the mandarin of a Tasmanian tin mining camp; challenging their relationship and ability to survive the hardships of a primitive culture.
No bio available.