Young Women's Screenwriting Contest Panel Discussion
Come and support up-and-coming screenwriters! Also gain valuable insight for your own scripts! Panelists include 3 WIFSFBA Board members.
A joint effort by the Intuitive Writing Project (TIWP) and Women in Film San Francisco Bay Area (WIFSFBA), the Young Women Writers Screenwriting Contest aims to uplift young women and non-binary people in film. By promoting and running this contest, WIFSFBA and TIWP have created a space where young screenwriters can feel empowered in their writing.
The contest includes two parts:
- A screenwriting contest, and
- A subsequent panel event run by WIFSFBA
The top three scripts selected from the contest were passed on to the event panelists, all of whom are WIFSFBA members and professional filmmakers, producers, and writers. During this event, the screenwriters will read their scripts aloud to the panelists and audience and then will be given feedback by the panelists. At the end, audience members will be able to ask the panelists and writers questions.
Because of WIFSFBA's involvement, young screenwriters are connected with established and experienced women in the industry and have a chance to learn and grow in their own right.
Panelists include:
Carol Lee Hall, WIFSFBA Script Incubator Coordinator, Founder of Blue Carp Productions LLC, Executive Producer at Jeweled Bird Pictures
Carol was born and raised in Oakland, California, and formed her own film production company, Blue Carp Productions LLC, in January 2020 to produce some of her screenwriting projects. Prior to that, she had been a screenwriter since 2009. Carol’s passion is to produce films that portray positive and important images of women and Asians. Carol has written seven work-for-hire scripts as part of her freelance writing business. She also has ten years of experience producing stage productions. As an accomplished speaker, she has taught at various conferences and writers’ groups. Besides Women in Film San Francisco Bay Area, Carol is also a member of the California Writers Club.
Nil Unerdem, WIFSFBA Script Incubator Member, WIFSFBA Secretary
Originally from Istanbul, Nil Unerdem grew up in Silicon Valley and majored in electrical engineering at Stanford and Columbia. She worked in tech for 18 years until she started to pursue filmmaking full-time. Over the years, she’s taken screenwriting & film classes at SFFILM, the Writers Grotto, and Sundance Collab, and completed a one-year film program at the San Francisco Film School. Nil has written several screenplays including a horror comedy feature Human Stalk (Stowe NYX Horror Fellowship Finalist, Screencraft Virtual Pitch Semifinalist, Blacklist Real Time Top List 2023, Screencraft Feature Semifinalist, Cinestory Retreat 2023) and wrote/directed her own short Pearl in the Window (SF Short Film Festival, Cascadia Women’s International Film Festival). Nil is drawn to character driven, female lead, poetic stories about loneliness and connection, interwoven with comedy.
Ami Zins, WIFSFBA Board Chair, Former Oakland Film Commissioner
Ami was born in San Francisco and as a teen moved to Berkeley/Oakland where she has lived ever since. A civil rights and social justice activist her entire life, Ami has found a way to infuse these themes into the over 15 plays she directed, as well as into the communications courses she teaches at UC Berkeley. With over 25 years’ experience in the film industry Ami is also a producer, consultant, and worked 13 years as director of the Oakland Film Office. She is proud to have worked with films such as Fruitvale Station, Matrix 2 & 3, East Side Sushi, a Carlos Santana music video, among hundreds of other projects ranging from commercials and music videos to student, independent, and studio films. Ami also serves on the board of The LoveLife Foundation, an Oakland based, youth violence prevention program.
