Realness Institute and Netflix Extend Episodic Lab Entry Deadline For African Writers
Realness Institute has extended calls for submissions calls for Episodic Lab in partnership with Netflix from African writers. Online submissions will now close upon receiving 150 additional applications or on the 8 February 2021.
Realness Institute announced a new partnership with streaming giant Netflix in December last year to create an Episodic Content Development Lab for African writers. The Lab offers writers from South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria the opportunity to nurture their concepts into the series format, receive feedback and pitch them with the possibility of further production with Netflix.
As part of the partnership, Realness Institute and Netflix will also run a Development Executive Traineeship (DET). While the Episodic Lab is open to applicants from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, the DET will be open to applicants from across Africa and the Diaspora. It is aimed at film professionals with an interest of being trained as story consultants or to gain insight into the story development process, working with writers and directors in the development of their stories.
“Development is a crucial part of the creative process in storytelling. At Netflix, we’re fully committed to partnering with organisations like Realness Institute to achieve our goal of ensuring Africa’s creative professionals are equipped with all the skills necessary to deliver the quality best-in-class stories from our continent,” said Dorothy Ghettuba, Netflix Manager for African Originals.
Trainees will shadow and work alongside the creative producers and creative consultants as they run the Episodic Lab and be active contributors in the writers’ rooms. They will also engage with guest experts in story development and have separate sessions from the group of writers.
“The biggest strength of this initiative is the living breathing journey they will embark on. Different writers work in different ways and trainees will have the opportunity to witness and learn from this with projects in active development” said Elias Ribeiro, co-Founder and Head of Creative Studies.
Trainees will receive a stipend of $2000 a month for the three months, to be able to dedicate their full time to the programme. DET will take place at the same time as the Episodic Lab from 1 June until 31 August 2021.
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