Training course designed for international scriptwriters, writer/directors and producers willing to develop original and commercially viable TV series projects.
SeriesLab is open to professional international scriptwriters and writer-directors preferably alongside with their producers, and it’s aimed at all kinds of fiction series projects at an early development stage.
The purpose of the training course is to create a solid and clear concept document of the project, highlighting its main selling points, and the first draft of the pilot episode script. The final package should be enriched by additional materials, strengthening the selling potential of the project - such as mood board, mood video, and a pitch.
SeriesLab takes place over a period of approx. 6 months, from June to November 2024, and foresees three 5-day long residential workshops (June, September, and November 2024). It ends up with a final industry pitching presentation during the TFL Meeting Event in Turin, during which all participants present their projects publicly to an audience of international producers, sales agents and other film industry professionals, have one-to-one meetings with market guests.
For a complete overview of the programme, please visit the SeriesLab page.
SeriesLab is organised by TorinoFilmLab - National Museum of Cinema with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Sub-programme of the European Union. SeriesLab 2024 is realised in partnership with VAF - Flanders Audiovisual Fund, hosting the 1st workshop in Belgium; and with Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid and Madrid Film Office, thanks to which the 2nd residential workshop will take place in Madrid, Spain.
If you missed the SeriesLab and SeriesLab Story Editing 2024 Q&A online session with the Head of Studies Eszter Angyalosy please contact presbitero@museocinema.it.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Friday 1st March 2024, 12:00 p.m. CET (noon).
SeriesLab is open to professional international scriptwriters or writer-directors, preferably - but not necessarily - with a creative producer attached to the project.
The programme is open to both original concepts and adaptations; in this second case, the team must have secured the rights for the original material.
Eligibility criteria:
a. Applicants must send a concept for fiction TV series – mini (limited) series and multiple-season series; series (episodic format) or serials (continuing format) are all acceptable. Concepts for documentary series projects will not be accepted.
b. Each applicant can submit only 1 project per year, individually or in a team. However, a project that is refused one year, can be resubmitted another year if the project has gone through substantial changes.
c. Applicants must confirm their full availability for all the residential and online workshops, as well as for the TFL Meeting Event. They also must commit to working on their assignments between workshops.
d. The working language of all SeriesLab workshops, meetings, and events is English; thus, a good knowledge of English is mandatory in order to participate.
Participation fee: 3,000 Euro (+ VAT, if due) per team (1 or 2 people). A third participant (co-writer, director or attached producer) can join in exceptional cases, with an additional fee of 2,000 Euro (+ VAT, if due).
The fee covers training activities (residential and online sessions) and organizational support (including accommodations and part of the subsistence during the residential workshops). Participants must pay their travel costs.
Our commitment is to guarantee accessibility to the TFL’s activities to as many talented participants as possible and to ensure diversity and inclusion through selection of projects/participants.
Across TFL programmes, a limited number of scholarships - covering half of the participation fee - will be available for participants from racial and ethnic underrepresented groups and/or being from a country not providing scholarships for this kind of training; or participants in any other proven situation of need for financial support. We strongly encourage our applicants to research and apply for financial support within your national/regional funding bodies first, who may have bursaries and grants to cover the training costs.
In addition, thanks to the support of Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid and Madrid Film Office one filmmaker from Madrid selected in SeriesLab 2024 will be offered a scholarship covering half of the participation fee; thanks to the partnership with VAF - Flanders Audiovisual Fund, one Flemish project selected in SeriesLab 2024 will be offered a scholarship covering half of the participation fee.
1st residential workshop: 1st – 6th June 2024 (Leuven, Belgium)
2nd residential workshop: 9th – 14th September 2024 (Madrid, Spain)
3rd residential workshop, final presentation and meetings: end of November (Turin, Italy)
Plus, some online sessions in between the workshops.
The requested materials – to be submitted all together in one single PDF and all in English – are:
- logline (2 lines maximum)
- updated CV for each applicant (2 pages maximum, per CV)
- concept presentation (7,500 characters, spaces included)
- pilot step outline structured in bullet points:
a) if the pilot is a half-hour format (under 44 minutes), the outline must be 25 points maximum and 7,500 characters (spaces included)
b) if the pilot is a one-hour-format (between 45 and 60 minutes), the outline must be between 35 and 45 points maximum and 10,000 characters (spaces included)
- producer’s letter of interest (if the project has a producer attached, this document is mandatory)
- audiovisual approach documents (mood board, etc.), if available
- a short video introduction (2 mins maximum), in which the applicants explain, in their opinion, the most important selling points of their project and why an audience should be interested in watching the series. The video should be uploaded on YouTube, Vimeo, or Google Drive. The video’s link - and password, if necessary - should be included in the application package
- a short presentation of each applicant for communication purposes (including the information listed HERE)
The written material must be redacted using the font Courier, 12 points.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Friday 1st March 2024, 12:00 p.m. CET (noon).
Click on the "APPLY NOW!" button in the right-side column of this page to access the application form. Before starting the application process, you need to create an account on the TFL platform.
For more information please contact: presbitero@museocinema.it
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