The call for applications, opened from April 20-May 20, 2021, drew 58 submissions. The selection committee, comprised of Katie Buckland (Executive Director, The Writers Guild Foundation), Kymber Allen (Executive consultant, Writers Guild of America West), Olivier Pouponneau (Writer), Djiby Badiane (Writer), Emmanuelle Guilbart (Joint CEO, About Premium Content), and Emmanuelle Bouilhaguet (CEO, TOP-The Oligarchs Productions), reviewed all the applications and selected 6 projects for the Los Angeles Residency Program.
The awardees
- Yours Truly /Bien bien à vous, Chloé Marcais
- Chains/Enchaînés, Alain Moreau
- Friendly, Julien Anscutter & Maxime Berthemy
- The Dead/Les Morts, Mathieu Leblanc
- Sweet Sixty, Noémie Saglio & Julien Teisseire
- Sarajevo, a Siege/ Sarajevo, un siège, Jean-Baptiste Delafon
In addition to considering the international potential of the project, jury members paid particular attention to the project’s artistic value, the originality of the concept compared to series already on the market, the commercial potential in the current industry, the universal social value of the proposal, as well as the writer’s experience.
“Boulevard des Séries, The Factory”
The residency will extend over a period of three consecutive weeks, from October 11 through October 29, 2021, in Los Angeles, and will welcome seven French writers. The program will be tailored to each writer and conducted in English, with the guidance of well-known screenwriters and showrunners, scripts specialists, public speaking coaches, agents, and other production, distribution, and regulation professionals. Each resident writer will be paired with a Hollywood mentor whom he/she will work one-on-one with to develop his/her project. Group visits to studios and production companies, as well as convivial opportunities for networking, will also be on the agenda. By the end of the residency, the projects will be ready to be presented to potential American partners (such as producers, TV studios, and distributors).
Contacts
Villa Albertine?– Lucie Carette, Head of film & TV and Director of Villa Albertine Los Angeles lucie.carette@frenchculture.org
SACD?– Caroline Collard, Press Officer caroline.collard@sacd.fr
CNC?– Vivien Plagnol, Head of Public Relations vivien.plagnol@cnc.fr
The Writers Guild Foundation - Katie Buckland, Executive Director kbuckland@wgfoundation.org
