Our eleventh edition of our annual Lab took place in New York City on November 2, 2025. Writers, Mentors, and the TWL Team gathered in New York City for five days focused solely on their projects, community building, and career strategizing.

New York City

For the first time, The Writers Lab International took place in New York City. Writers were in the thick of this creative hub, enjoying everything the city has to offer and feeding off its inimitable energy. We traversed midtown for our one on ones, panels, workshops, screenings, and informal meetings.

The in-person intensive—with select virtual elements—balances workshops and discussion, along with individual script work and group sessions. We’ll focus on building craft, community, and career skills with this cohort, which includes feature and pilot writers bringing a diverse array of genres, profiles, creative voices and lived experiences. The on-site mentors—writers, directors and producers—offer generous and candid unscripted interaction, as well as hours of deep craft and career exploration. Virtual discussions with additional speakers and guests further enrich the retreat.

The writers left with detailed plans for revisions and tools to advocate for themselves and their work. The cohort will continue to work together and support each other, with advocacy and guidance from The Writers Lab team, the mentors, and the alumnae community.

Susannah BohlkeRoni Brown-ByrdCylin BusbyLisa ColeZsofia DaridaSara HallowellMarty JohnsonJaime KawamotoTamika LamisonDeb McCurdyMK McGeheeVeronica Reyes-How
Help Yourself (Half-Hour Comedy)Susannah Bohlke
HELP YOURSELF An uptight book editor on the brink of midlife and a veteran self-help author who doesn’t practice what she preaches must work together to save their careers. Along the way, they discover that sometimes it takes someone else to truly help yourself.
40 Acres (Half-Hour Comedy)Roni Brown-Byrd
40 ACRES Having all just crossed the 40-year mark, five lifelong girlfriends looked at their lives and decided to wake up from the American dream, toss aside societal norms and build a brighter future by purchasing a homestead together.
Extremophile (Feature Sci Fi/Horror)Cylin Busby
EXTREMOPHILE Trapped in a deserted mine, three miles under the earth, a female scientist discovers that the insidious microorganism she’s searching for has evolved into a terrifying parasitic predator that now hunts her.
Unclaimed (One-Hour Drama)Lisa Cole
UNCLAIMED When a detached deputy coroner, who investigates unclaimed bodies and moonlights as a professional cuddler, finds herself falling apart after a client’s suicide, she’s forced to confront her carefully constructed isolation—and her dead brother’s ghost won’t shut up about it.
Aryana (Feature Drama) Zsofia Darida
ARYANA Kabul, 2021. When the Taliban imprison her sister and abduct her niece, a young Afghan woman must pose as a teacher in a Taliban compound to save the girl – but rescuing one child means indoctrinating others with the ideology that tore her family apart.
Lady M. (One-Hour Historical Drama)Sara Hallowell
LADY M. In 11th century Scotland, a willful noblewoman claimed as a spoil of war must restore her position, avenge her husband’s death and save her only son by transforming into the scheming, murderous icon whose name we will never forget: Lady Macbeth.
Public Way to Water (Half-Hour Dark Comedy)Marty Johnson
PUBLIC WAY TO WATER A hard-living New England townie becomes an unlikely activist when a powerful outsider moves to town, and attempts to block the locals from accessing an oceanfront path.
Pickled (One-Hour Ensemble Dramedy)Jaime Kawamoto
PICKLED Dumped by her bougie boyfriend, a discontent Hooters bartender plays dirty to beat him in a pickleball tournament, where she wins membership to his elite country club that could change her life — if her three troublesome teens don’t fuck it up for her!
Superman Doesn’t Steal (Feature Family Drama)Tamika Lamison
SUPERMAN DOESN’T STEAL Inspired by a true story- this dramatic coming-of-age feature set in the 70’s – is about a comic book loving girl who, during the Atlanta child murders, must find her inner hero to solve the mystery of her missing best friend before becoming the next victim.
The Waters and the Wild (Feature Comedy)Deb McCurdy
THE WATERS AND THE WILD Set on a remote Irish island, a trio of sisters must overcome their differences and delusions in order to fulfill their mother’s last wish and collect their inheritance.
The Re-Education of Jane Brown (Feature Horror)MK McGehee
THE RE-EDUCATION OF JANE BROWN Imprisoned in a nightmarish re-education facility for women who have had or aided in abortions, a guarded and grief-hardened young doctor must find a way to escape before she’s stripped of her identity and forcibly impregnated.
American Doctor (One-Hour Drama)Veronica Reyes-How
AMERICAN DOCTOR 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.

Previous labs
in the US

2015
2016

2017
2018

2019
2020

2021
2022

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