The Black List Names 2026 Writers Lab Participants
The Black List has selected six writers for its 2026 Writers Lab, a programme that offers mentorship and professional support as participants develop feature screenplays. The initiative aims to help promising writers strengthen projects for potential sale to studios or as samples of their work.
The selected writers are Elton de Almeida, Yasmin DeWinter, Scott Leddy, Marcelle Pallais, Alexander Seltzer and Kyle Jutkiewicz, and Emma Taylor Stock. They will take part in a weeklong workshop in Ojai, California, with peer sessions and individual meetings led by professional screenwriters, followed by a year of monthly support from industry figures. The programme is in its 13th year; submissions for the 2027 Labs are open, and the Projects Lab cohort is due to be announced in November.
- Six writers have been chosen for the 2026 Black List Writers Lab.
- The programme pairs a weeklong workshop with a year of industry support.
- Submissions for the 2027 Labs are open.
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The Black List is a film industry organisation best known for sharing lists of screenplays that industry readers rate highly. Its Writers Lab is a separate development programme for emerging screenwriters, offering guidance as they work on feature-length scripts.
The programme combines a week of workshops and one-to-one meetings with a year of monthly support from people in the industry. It is intended to help writers improve scripts that might be submitted to studios or used to showcase their work to potential employers.