Writers' Retreats

In beautiful, inspirational surroundings, each Retreat provides:

• Three one-on-one, one-hour meetings with three different industry mentors to discuss your script, approach to project or career pathway
  

• Daily structured one hour, small group, peer to peer meetings
  

• Group workshop sessions on subjects vital to developing the craft and navigating the business of screenwriting
  

• Shared meal times, evening drinks and activities in the area giving an opportunity for broader conversations between peers and mentors
  

• Time to reflect and write

Here is a typical agenda:

Day 1:
- Introductions
- Workshop -- Theme and Character
- Facilitated Lunch time discussions, Writing and Revising
- Welcome Dinner

Day 2:
- Writing and Revising / small group structured story discussions
- One-on-One Meetings
- Mentor Q & A
- Workshop -- logline and synopsis

Day 3:
- Writing and Revising / small group structured story discussions
- Optional Outdoor Time
- One-on-One Meetings
- Mentor Q & A
- Dialogue BBQ

Day 4:
- Optional Early Morning Mountain or Desert Adventure
- Writing and Revising / small group structural story discussions
- One-on-One Meetings
- Mentor Q & A
- Farewell Dinner and Drinks - Pitch if you want to!

Day 5:
- Slow Start / Optional Bike Outing
- Writing and Revising
- Workshop - Subtext
- Sad and long farewells

The fee to attend a Writers’ Retreat is $2,500. Our lodging partners offer steep discounts (and breakfast), and we provide other meals and receptions during the time together, so expenses during the program are kept to a minimum.

2019 Mentors will include

Storied Casting Director Ellen Parks, C.S.A. Ellen has cast films for Martin Scorsese, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Joel and Ethan Coen, George Romero, David Letterman, and Debra Granik, in addition to working with numerous emerging talents. Ellen cast such films as ‘Sideways,’ ‘Secretary,’ and ‘Flirting with Disaster.’ Ellen serves on the Stowe Story Labs Board of Directors.

Writer and Story Editor Eszter Angyalosy. Eszter recently left HBO-Europe to focus on her own work. At HBO she worked as a script editor. She has developed half a dozen TV projects, in a wide range of genres, from comedy through Sci-Fi to teen drama.

Jenny Halper is Director of Production and Development at New York-based Maven Pictures. Jenny is a graduate of Northwestern and Emerson, where she received a 2008 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Grant. She is as well an Athena List winner, an Our Stories Emerging Writer Award winner, a Pushcart Prize nominee, a Sloane Grantee, and her story collection was a finalist for the 2015 St. Lawrence Book Prize. Jenny has worked on films including ‘The Kids Are All Right,’ ‘The Whistleblower,’ ‘Bernie,’ ‘Still Alice,’ and ‘American Honey.’ Jenny is always on the lookout for distinctive stories with strong female characters.

Robyn Greene Arrington is an award-winning screenwriter and television producer. Robyn is a marvelous content creator adept at developing both scripted and unscripted programming. She has extensive experience shepherding network programming and production, producing award-winning films and series, and writing compelling content for series, marketing campaigns, and episode wraps. She is also a joy to work with. Robyn serves on the Stowe Story Labs Board of Directors.

Ryan Silbert is a screenwriter, producer and filmmaker. He founded Origin Story,  a multiplatform entertainment company with a global focus. He is as well co-creator of a new universe of heroes for Amazon’s Audible Studios, and is writing/producing an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for film. As is represented by Foundry Literary+Media.

Stowe Story Labs’ vision is to support the collaborative process of writers, filmmakers and creative producers as they work to create wonderful films. 

Through the labs, retreats, ongoing mentoring and participation in film markets, we hope to build a powerful tool both to compel projects forward and into production and to build a strong community of story tellers who work together, support and nurture each other, and get great works made and seen.

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