“It all starts with a spark. A glimmer of an idea. And for the millions that fade away, the few that shine the brightest become something bigger. A story! A script! A production! And finally, a movie that takes its place in cinema history.”

That’s how it all works, at least according to the movie theater pre-roll (you know, the non-Nicole one). And while we all love bright shiny things, writing a screenplay is a little more complicated.

Just ask our 2025 Screenwriting Lab Fellows. They know the agony and the joy of creating from a blank page. “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,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs. “We feel lucky to be able to give them a space to further develop their exciting screenplays and careers in the program.” 

Over the course of two weeks, this year’s Fellows will workshop their projects with creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Ellen Shanman and Jeff Stockwell, and have help from additional guest speakers and advisors.

This year in partnership with Plot Shift Media, we’re also introducing the Climate Entertainment Development Grant, which has been awarded to Quintessence McGee, who will receive a $25,000 grant for their climate-focused fiction feature Over and Over.

Without spilling any more ink, here are your 2025 Screenwriting Lab Fellows and their projects:

Honora Talbott is a comedy writer and director originally from Virginia. Her short films have screened at Tribeca, AFI Fest, Montreal’s Just For Laughs, Mill Valley, and were licensed by NBC News, Revry, Gunpowder and Sky’s Dust. An alum of MTV’s First Time Directors Initiative and a NBCU Short Film Festival Finalist, her work has been featured in Huffington Post, US Weekly, Cosmopolitan, the LAist and Bustle. She has developed projects with Good Thing Going, Huge Fan Productions and Spyglass. In particular, she loves to tell stories about women who defy social pressures, often with awkward, cringe-worthy results.

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. 

Nina Ljeti

Nina Ljeti is a Bosnian-Canadian filmmaker and musician. After co-writing and co-directing her first feature Memoria, Nina began directing music videos for artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Wallows and Crowded House. In 2016, she formed the band Kills Birds, which has released two studio albums and opened for artists like the Foo Fighters. Nina is passionate about combining her knowledge of music with her love for visual storytelling, and her interest in pop culture and mixed media defines her work. In 2023, she began working as the Video Director at Vogue, creating editorial content across all brand platforms.

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. 

Quintessence McGee

Quintessence McGee (they/them) is a writer. Their work explores late stage capitalism, the necessity and oddity of language, and our experience of time. Also bad jokes but like good bad jokes. Playwriting credits include their psychedelic romp through the global financial system Party in the USA! (Edinburgh Fringe, 2014) and its yet-to-be-staged sequel Wrecking Ball, a heist caper about sentient AI, election hacking, and the collapse of a strudel empire. This is their first screenplay.

Over and Over

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.

Satinder Kaur

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.

 

Aron Kantor

Aron Kantor is a filmmaker, producer and artist currently based in Los Angeles. Throughout his career, Aron has been and remains committed to telling stories that center queer experience, lives and characters. His films explore themes of queer dynamics and gender identity through a lens of absurdity and dark humor. Aron’s extensive body of short-form work has been presented over 60 film festivals worldwide, as well as in galleries and museums, including the 2024 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In 2023, he was selected for his first public art commission to create an experimental film for a large-scale video installation in a San Francisco city government building. Aron has been awarded grants from the Endeavor Foundation for the Arts, the Great Meadows Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, SFFilm/Rainin Foundation, and a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, California.

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.

 

Daniel Barosa

Daniel Barosa studied film in Argentina and lives in Los Angeles after spending ten years directing documentaries and music videos in Brazil. His latest short, Boi de Conchas, premiered at Sundance and won the Grand Jury Award in Seattle, qualifying for the Oscars. With the Eave workshop, he wrote and directed the feature Boni Bonita, which won a post-production grant from Vision Sud Est. After screenings in Mar del Plata and Slamdance, the film was released theatrically in Argentina and Brazil.

 

Natália Sellani

Natália Sellani is from Minas Gerais and lives in São Paulo, Brazil. Her feature film project The Crossing was selected in the Laboratório Novas Histórias program which led to join Incubadora Paradiso. She is also one of the screenwriters of Lov3 (Amazon and LB Entertainment). Alongside Lúcia Tupiassú, Sellani’s project Celeste was a semifinalist in the FRAPA treatment competition. In partnership with Daniel Barosa, she is developing the feature film Boi de Conchas, selected at the Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab.

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.