Aspiring Screenwriters, HBO Is Looking For You
HBO is giving aspiring screenwriters an big opportunity. The premium cable channel is looking for writers from diverse backgrounds for its HBOAccess Writing Fellowship. Those writers who are accepted will take part in a week of master classes held at the HBO campus in Santa Monica, California. These classes will be centered on writing disciplines on and off the page including character and story development, pitching ideas and projects, securing an agent, and networking.
After the classes, participants in the fellowship will go through an 8 month program where they are teamed with an HBO development executive who will personally take them through the script development process. At the end of the program, HBO will hold a reception where the fellowship students will be meet with industry professionals for a stage reading of their work and introductions to the business insiders.
Kelly Edwards, Vice President, HBO Talent Development, said the writing program was a natural spin-off of the one HBO did with aspiring directors. She said, “With the success of our first year of the HBOAccess Directing fellowship, we wanted to expand our focus to other areas of the creative process. We are looking for emerging writers with a deep passion for storytelling and a unique voice who will want to bring that talent to HBO and Cinemax. In turn, they will be nurtured by some of the best creative executives and showrunners in the business. HBO has a long legacy of supporting writers and we are excited we can begin those relationships at this early stage.”
The application process for the HBOAccess Writing Fellowship begins on Wednesday, March 4th. Each person applying is required to have “a resume, a writing sample, a completed release form and a personal essay in 500 words or less explaining how his/her background has influenced his/her storytelling.”
To apply and for more information, go to Withoutabox.com.
