Screen Queensland (SQ) launches a new initiative, SQ Re-Told with Wendall Thomas, supporting three early to mid-career writers or writing teams to fast-track feature film projects with a focus on script and story development.
SQ Re-Told is being convened by renowned story consultant Wendall Thomas and will take place in 2017-2018. Applications close 9.00am (AEST) Monday 13 February, 2017.
[NOTE: The successful participants are Ben Southwell, Fiona & Richard Westwell and Evelyn Saunders]
SQ Re-Told is specifically looking for imaginative projects that re-tell a popular, public domain story and reimagine it to focus on diverse characters in fresh landscapes. In line with SQ’s commitment to bring more diversity on and off screen, SQ Re-Told will have a strong focus on promoting diverse faces and stories supporting gender equality, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation and all cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations.
‘We are so excited to be launching this initiative and supporting Queensland practitioners to take risks and be innovative by re-telling well-known stories without the stereotypical characters, points of view and narratives,’ said SQ CEO Tracey Vieira.
‘Wendall has been working with Queensland practitioners for SQ Projector and is an incredible talent and mentor who can offer our early to mid-career writers fresh insights into how to write screen stories that can succeed in the global feature film market.’
Funding for SQ Re-Told is for three writers (or writing teams) and projects must be at conceptual stage and have the potential to connect with audiences both domestically and internationally.
The three writers or writing teams will attend four development workshops over an eighteen-month period commencing in late March 2017 and receive one-on-one development support from Wendall Thomas. They will pitch to producers in December 2017 with a view to taking the projects to market in mid-2018.
Eligible applications will be assessed by SQ executives and Wendall Thomas and short-listed applicants will be asked to complete further work on their idea prior to interviewing with SQ and Wendall Thomas.
Applications close 9.00am (AEST) Monday 13 February, 2017. To apply, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
For more details, please refer to the SQ Re-Told with Wendall Thomas GUIDELINES HERE and should you require further information, contact the SQ Development and Production team at:
P: 07 3248 0500
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Key dates:
– Applications close: 9.00am (AEST) Monday 13 February, 2017
– Assessments / Interviews: February / March 2017
– Applicant notifications: March 2017
– First workshop: March 2017
– Second workshop: June / July 2017
– Third workshop: December 2017
– Fourth workshop: TBD 2018
Who can apply?
Eligible applicants for SQ Re-Told are:
– Bona fide Queensland writers or writing teams with no more than one credit on a produced feature film.
– In exceptional circumstances, more experienced practitioners (those with two or more feature film credits as a writer) may form a writing team with those with fewer credits where it can be demonstrated that the opportunity will build the career and experience of an early-career practitioner.
– All participants must be available to attend the four workshops in Brisbane.
– Projects that intend to shoot in Queensland will be viewed more favourably.
When do I need to apply?
Applications close at 9.00am (AEST), Monday 13 February 2017. Late applications will not be assessed.
How do I apply?
Applications are through SmartyGrants via: http://screenqueensland.smartygrants.com.au
An automated application email will be sent to you within 30 minutes as confirmation that SQ has received your application. It is the applicant’s responsibility to contact SQ if you do not receive this application receipt email.
What documents do I need to provide?
All applications must include:
– A concept or pitch document outlining your idea.
– CVs for all writers in the team.
– A writing sample of writer(s) previous work.
– Incomplete applications will not be assessed.
How will my application be assessed?
SQ will assess each application against the following criteria:
– the strength, originality and commerciality of the idea or concept.
– the track record of the writer or team of writers.
– the writer’s inventiveness in diversifying their story.
– Eligible applications will be assessed by SQ executives and Wendall Thomas.
– Short-listed applicants will be asked to complete further work on their idea prior to interviewing with SQ and Wendall Thomas.
Screen Diversity
Please note that SQ is committed to promoting diversity of opportunity in the screen industry as well as the diversity of screen stories. For details of the SQ Gender Parity Program please READ HERE.
About Wendall Thomas
Since receiving her M.A. in English in 1986 from the University of North Carolina, Wendall Thomas has worked in Los Angeles as a casting director, director’s assistant, script reader, story editor, development executive, entertainment reporter, script consultant and screenwriter, writing and developing projects for companies including Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Showtime, PBS, RKO, A&E, NBC, and Scottish Screen. Her story Loser Friend appeared in the LA Crime Anthology LAdies Night in 2015 and Eggs Over Dead will appear in Last Resort (2017).
In addition to writing and consulting, Wendall is in her 20th year as Adjunct Professor of Screenwriting in the Graduate Film School at UCLA, has been a Star Speaker for the annual Los Angeles Screenwriting Expo, and runs the Living Room Lecture series. She has consulted for the Atelier du Cinéma Européen Producing Program in Paris, served as Writer’s Mentor for Screen South’s Good Foundations program 2005-2007, and directed the LA FEATURES writer’s mentorship program in the UK for 2007-2009. She also consults for Australia’s Film Victoria and The New Zealand Film Commission, and has directed Screen Queensland’s SQ PROJECTOR program for emerging feature filmmakers for 2015 and 2016. She served on the board of the Sisters in Crime “Adapting to Hollywood” Conference in 2016.
As a lecturer, she has worked throughout Europe for the Arista Screenwriting Workshops and in the U.K. for the Welsh and Northern Irish Film Commissions, Northern Film and Media, the Folkstone Literary Festival, and Screen South. She has also presented a series of dialogue and rewrite workshops for the New Zealand Film Commission and was opening speaker for the Santa Fe Screenwriting Conference in 2009. She has presented her “Wendall Thomas Talks Scripts” series at the Melbourne International Film Festival since 2011.
Recent student/client projects include The Water Diviner (Warner Bros. 2015), Web Therapy
(Fremantle Media/ Moviestar+ 2016), Superstore (NBC 2015), Killing Joan (Todfilm, 2016), The Republic of Rick (official selection Slamdance Festival 2014), Any Day Now (winner Audience Award Tribeca 2012, Music Box Films, 2012), The Republic of Two (Winner Chris Brinker Award San Diego Film Festival, official selection Hollywood Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Circus Road Films 2013), The Space Between (Official Tribeca Selection 2010, USA Films 2011), The Truth Below (MTV Films 2011), and The Most Fun You Can Have Dying (NZFC 2012).
