Film Independent has named Daniel Barosa, Aron Kantor, Satinder Kaur, Nina Ljeti, Quintessence McGee, Natália Sellani and Honora Talbott as its seven screenwriters selected for its 27th annual Screenwriting Lab.
The lab is designed to provide individualized story and career development for screenwriters with fiction feature screenplays.
Dea Vazquez, associate director of fiction programs said, “The writers selected for the 2025 Screenwriting Lab approach their work with such curiosity, boldness and authenticity while exploring a wide variety of genres, characters and worlds.” Vazquez added, “We feel lucky to be able to give them a space to further develop their exciting screenplays and careers in the program.”
Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Ellen Shanman and Jeff Stockwell. Additional guest speakers and advisors include Ruth Atkinson, Tyler Boehm, Amanda Marshall, Alexandria Martin, Laura Moss, Kiva Reardon, Lauren Shelton, Amelia Shugrue, Shuchi Talati, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Ti West and Alex Williams.
McGee was awarded with the inaugural Climate Entertainment Development Grant, in partnership with Plot Shift Media. They will receive a $25,000 grant for their climate-focused fiction feature “Over and Over. “
Past Screenwriting Lab projects include Jing Ai Ng’s “Forge,” which had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival; Billy Luther’s “Frybread Face and Me,” winner of the best narrative feature at the 2023 Urbanworld Film Festival, nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding film and currently on Netflix; Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao’s feature debut “Songs My Brothers Taught Me”; Andrew Ahn’s debut “Spa Night;” “37 Seconds” by Hikari, which won the Panorama Audience Award and CICAE Art Cinema Jury Prize at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival and is now on Netflix; Ani Simon-Kennedy’s “A Short History of the Long Road,” which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and received a Special Jury Mention for best screenplay; and Kate Marks’ “The Cow of Queens,” which was a 2020 recipient of the Nichols Fellowship.
The 2025 Screenwriting Lab participants and their projects are below:
“Bad At Sex”
Writer/Director: Honora Talbott
Logline: A millennial filmmaker spirals after her boyfriend admits she’s not his best sex, so she makes a doc interviewing every man she’s ever slept with to prove she can’t be that bad at sex.
“Drown”
Writer/Director: Nina Ljeti
Logline: A struggling band embarks on a cross-country tour when its frontwoman becomes haunted by a terrifying presence that follows the band wherever they go.
“Over and Over” – The Climate Entertainment Development Grant Awardee
Writer: Quintessence McGee
Logline: In an age of climate anxiety, a young historian begins to suspect that their recurring nightmares and startling hallucinations may hold the key to humanity’s future.
“Searching for Arlo”
Writer/Director: Satinder Kaur
Logline: A battle-scarred veteran’s world unravels when her perfect boyfriend vanishes without a trace—erased from existence. As she digs for answers, she uncovers a chilling conspiracy that forces her to question reality, her past and the truth about the man she risked everything for.
“Stud”
Writer/Director: Aron Kantor
Logline: After adopting a hyper-masculine persona for the sake of a job, a genderfluid farmhand’s desperate pursuit of online validation unwittingly attracts the carnal fixations of his psychopathic employers, whom he must escape before they sadistically transform him into the embodiment of their monstrous fantasies.
“The Shell Covered Ox/ Boi De Conchas”
Writer/Director: Daniel Barosa
Writer: Natália Sellani
Logline: While mourning her missing sister, Rayane practices for a music festival – provided she doesn’t become an ox first, a misfortune assailing local teenagers.
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